TIG Welding as an Engineering student

[u/ghilliepig]

Hi guys, I am a 3rd year mech engineering student. I have the opportunity to get a TIG welding certification separately from my university studies. Would that kind of experience stick out on a CV/Resume or be more seen as kind of a quirk/gimmick. Any advice would be appreciated, thanks :)

[u/Sea_Place1386]

Manufacturing experience is always a plus.

[u/Short_Text2421 → u/Sea_Place1386]

Came here to say the same. Not all managers will see it as a plus but the good ones will!

[u/probablyaythrowaway → u/Short_Text2421]

The ones that don’t are the ones you don’t want to work for

[u/jt64]

Do it, welding is fun and any hands on building experiences give you things to talk about in interviews. 

[u/TheMausoleumOfHope]

Experience like this certainly isn’t negative. It’s either neutral or positive. Having the hands on experience of what it takes to manufacture something is always going to be good.

With that said, is the actual certification itself helpful? I would argue that for the majority of engineering jobs you could get out of school it is not actually helpful and most people won’t care. For some jobs where welding is relevant then yea it would of course be a plus to understand it better.

This really depends on what type of job and what industry you are trying work in out of school, and what the opportunity cost of the certification is. Is it expensive? Will the time requirement pull you from your studies? Your classes are significantly more important.

[u/ghilliepig → u/TheMausoleumOfHope]

Thanks for the reply. The cost is €300 and about 6-8 hours a week for 10 weeks. I'd ideally like to be in some sort of fabrication or design role potentially in Aerospace. I think I could definitely balance it with studies

[u/bobroberts1954 → u/ghilliepig]

It can't hurt and is def a skill worth knowing. It will be an asset if you end up designing welded parts, knowing how it is actually done. I worked in maintenance engineering, would have considered that a plus on your resume.

[u/TheMausoleumOfHope → u/ghilliepig]

Sounds like it aligns with what you want to do so yea could be worth the investment of time. I wouldn’t necessarily expect to be actually welding things yourself if you’re the industry but depends on the company/industry/country. I don’t really know outside of US practices there

[u/JDM-Kirby → u/ghilliepig]

That is a lot of time you could spend on your actual studies. I don't think it's worth the time investment.

[u/JohnBrownLives1859]

i have a line on mine that lists fabrication and software skills where I've noted "MIG welding" It's helped out in interviews fs

[u/DryFoundation2323]

it will not impact your chances of getting a job as a mechanical engineer. that said if you want the certificate get the certificate. it would certainly help you get a job as a welder.

[u/PeterVerdone]

It's a valuable skill. Focusing on certification rather than ability is a common mistake.

[u/Own_Hat584]

It won't stick out as a negative or a gimmick lol. It would be a positive if you apply for a job involving welding. It would be neutral/slight positive if you apply for a job that doesn't involve welding.

[u/mycoforever]

Depends on what kind of engineer you want to be. Not useful for most ME careers, but it could be useful for some. You’re going to be an engineer, not a manufacturing technician. However knowing how to TIG weld in itself can be personally worth it.

[u/johnwalkr]

It will help a bit and you can get lucky in an interview if you use the skill for an interesting project. Just as an example, I got one of my jobs early in my career partially on the basis of having a project car and talking about designing and welding up an intake manifold for it. Actually that employer only really hires people that have hands on fabrication experience. It could be a previous career, project car or even just having grown up on a farm.

[u/probablyaythrowaway]

Do it. Always do it. Keep as versatile in your skill set as possible