Articles
Becoming a CWI, or Certified Welding Inspector, is not an easy task. You have to go through a couple of steps, including passing a six-hour certification exam. However, going through the process is worth it because you can earn more money and increase your career options.
In this article, we’ll go through each step of the process along with some helpful tips to make your life easier. Let’s get started.
Introduced in 1976, the Certified Welding Inspector (CWI) certification is a pillar program in the welding industry. Offered by the American Welding Society (AWS), the certification is recognized worldwide and establishes a well-rounded knowledge base and skill set in the field of welding.
Are you looking to boost your earnings, gain flexibility, and increase demand for your welding expertise? If so, becoming a Certified Welding Inspector (CWI) may be the career path you’re looking for.
To become one, you’ll need to take the CWI exam. But first, what is a CWI?
The CWI (Certified Welding Inspector) exam offered by AWS (American Welding Society) is notorious for being difficult to pass.
You've probably wondered, “What is the exam pass rate?” It can’t be very high. There are too many people who are taking the exam a second time because they failed one or more parts of the test.
In December 2017, ICC started using digital plans instead of physical plans in their special inspector exams. You can view the digital plans on the computer during the exam.
Because of these changes, SI Certs is now including digital plans with all of our ICC special inspection courses.
All of SI Certs’ online courses are developed from scratch to address the challenges of the ICC test and the demanding working schedules of full-time field technicians and inspectors. SI Certs has many advantages that are unique in the training and education industry. These set us above alternate training options, particularly classroom-based instruction.
Not all practice is equal. Not all practice is even beneficial. This is actually a major problem when technicians and inspectors are studying for the next certification. Here’s what we’ve seen in the marketplace, and we’ve rated the approaches. Consider the following:
If your time is worth money, then how much? This is an important question for anyone to consider, and particularly field Quality Assurance persons looking to advance their Special Inspection certifications.
SI Certs ships 1-3 plan sets with their online training courses. For Reinforced Concrete, we currently ship two Training Plan sets with purchase of each course. Our plans follows the same successful teaching method – colored notes and guides right on the plan sheets themselves that show you how to navigate, how plans are structured, and most importantly challenging navigation routes.
Guarantees. We used to get users asking if we would guarantee they would pass if they took our course, but we seldom get that question anymore. Regardless, we wanted to keep a response on our site to users wondering about this kind of guarantee.
When I last took the ICC Reinforced Concrete Special Inspection test (2012), I left the testing center and immediately documented my experience. I wrote this to help others who would be facing this same experience and curious what the testing experience is like. If you’ve never taken the test before, this is for you. If you have, you may find some comfort in shared experiences.
I noticed two things when I first got into the construction materials testing industry:
I about spit out my drink when I called one of our competitors and they told me online courses are a piece of crap. As the founding owner of SI Certs (of course, they didn’t know that), and have spent 6 years (at time of this writing) developing what I consider to be the most relevant, easiest, user friendly approach to preparing for and passing ICC’s Special Inspection certification tests. SI Certs has a team on board consisting of developers, consulting engineers, testing and inspection department managers, and master inspectors who all contribute to making SI Certs’ ICC study courses powerful training and test prep resources.