WELDING PROGRAM FAQ’S

We are located at 365-A Clinton Street, Costa Mesa, CA 92626. Near the cross roads of Redhill and Bristol in the heart of Orange County California.

The Makerspace portion of Urban Workshop is open Monday through Friday 9 am to 9 pm and Saturday / Sunday 9 am to 4 pm. The youth program classes are scheduled for specific times. For example, we regularly schedule our semester classes from 9 am to 12 noon, 1 pm to 4 pm, and 5 pm to 8 pm. We do offer class times during the day, evening, and weekends. Our Summer and Winter camps run for one full week from Monday thru Friday, 9 am to 4 pm.

Yes! We do free tours anytime we are open. Please feel free to drop by anytime for a free tour. We are happy to show you the welding facilities and introduce you to the instructors. Follow this link to schedule a free tour and welding program consultation: https://meetings.hubspot.com/welding/eval

Urban Workshop is an American Welding Society (AWS) Approved Test Facility (ATF) so every course ends with you taking the related AWS certification test. If you pass that test you will be an AWS certified welder and will receive your welding certificate directly from the AWS.

The AWS is the only internationally recognized welding certification body and they are based in the United States. You can find more information on them here: www.AWS.org.

No. Urban Workshop is an American Welding Society (AWS) Approved Test Facility (ATF) that tests and certifies welders to the AWS standards. What this means to you is, instead of receiving class credit and a transcript for completing a class, we test you to the AWS standards, and if you pass you receive AWS welder certification directly from the AWS.

Use extreme caution when dealing with schools that do not give you an AWS credential. They try to fool you by giving you a certificate of completion (aka diploma) that frankly is not worth the paper it is written on. ONLY AWS certifications are accepted by employers as proof that you are a certified welder. Those certificates might be recognized locally but they are NOT recognized as a legitimate credential by most employers and will not help you get a job at a reputable manufacturer such as Boeing, Space-x and other major contractors.

Our training sessions are scheduled Monday thru Friday at the following times: 1pm to 5pm and 5pm to 9pm. When you enroll in a course we will then coordinate with our team to select the days and times you want for your class. This provides you absolute flexibility to attend classes on your schedule and get them done as fast or slow as you want.

Every session has a limited number of welders, ensuring that welders get lots of one-on-one training time with our welding instructors.  Due to our small class sizes, we want to be respectful of all welders enrolled in our Welder Training programs.

• Welders are required to be scheduled in each session that they plan to attend.
• No drop-ins/walk-ins can be accommodated.

If welders need to reschedule a session, they must notify Urban Workshop at least 24 hours in advance.

If welders notify Urban Workshop less than 24 hours in advance, a $50 fee shall be charged to the welder’s card on file.

Many welders here are receiving funding from a Sponsor, to attend training at Urban Workshop.  Everyone must be respectful of the money being spent to help provide these opportunities.

• Consistent attendance is required to continue receiving opportunities for funding
• Not showing up to a scheduled session will result in the session being forfeited and cannot be rescheduled
• If a welder cannot come to a session, and contacts Urban Workshop during that scheduled session (and not 24 hours in advance as required), this will result in the session being forfeited and cannot be rescheduled
• As applicable, Sponsors or parents will be notified of lack of attendance

Depending on which standard you tested to you may be able to retest right away or there may required to take a couple more sessions before you retest so that you can get additional practice before retesting.

No problem! Urban Workshop is unique in that we allow you to take just the welder qualification test if you feel you are prepared to take it.

You can also sign up for the Test Practice sessions. You get four 4-hour sessions with the instructor on the actual machines you will be testing on. Then you can schedule and take your test right away.

Not yet. As this is a relatively new program we are in the process of applying to the state and federal government agencies to be able to accept those funds and vouchers in the future. Due to the level of bureaucracy involved it will likely be early 2025 before we get any approval information.

Please visit the American Welding Society (AWS) website directly for the most up to date specifications: https://www.aws.org/businesses/facility-accreditation/qc47-specification/weldcert-pro/