Welding inspector is a part of QA/QC that involve in the welding work. He is responsible for doing inspection before, during and after welding. Starting from inspection of material receiving till the part completely welded.

To become a certified inspector, you need to pass some requirement. You need to have some years hands–on experience while working then taking a certification, or if you have higher level education that related to metallurgy then after 1~3 years experience in welding you can take the course + international certification such as CSWIP 3.1 (Certification Scheme for Welding Inspection Personnel 3.1) or CWI (Certified Welding inspector.

Your certification achievement status to one of the international certification bodies above signals a degree of professionalism and commitment that you are take seriously in welding inspector profession and typically will reward you with higher wages.

How to become a professional welding inspector?

• You need to have high school education at least and have 7 years experience and QA/QC of welding. Completion of your diploma or university that related to metallurgy or material education drastically reduces the amount of time you need to spend for professional experience.
• Find a vocational institute or training organizer that offers CSWIP training or CWI training. Enroll for the training and certification.
• For the certification purpose, you have to pass some papers with requirement: average score 80 and minimum score for individual paper is 70. Base on the experience, average passing rate is between 0~30%, means if there are 10 people attending the certification, the people that pass between 0~3 people only.
• You need to get expose in welding inspection activities, and all your experience after getting certification will be recorded for next renewal welding inspector certification purpose.

Professional welding inspector job is a quite nice profession with very high pay in the oil gas & its services industries. Many oil companies require CSWIP and CWI certification in their requirement and also insist the subcontractor to get his welding inspector [http://www.oilgasrigs.info] certified to one of the 2 certification bodies.