Georgia's Short Welding Certificates: Codes, Credits and Schools

Most states make you choose up front: a welding certificate or a degree. Georgia’s technical colleges work differently. They split welding into small certificates, each built around one process, and list them alongside a full diploma.

That gives you a choice that fits a tight budget or a full-time job. You can earn one certificate in a term, go to work, and come back for the next. Or you can enroll in the diploma from the start. This guide walks through each certificate, what it’s called, how many credit hours it takes and which colleges offer it.

The Codes You’ll See on Every Georgia Program Page

Georgia’s public technical colleges use shared names and codes for welding awards. Once you know them, you can compare programs across the state quickly. These are the ones that appear most often among the 17 public technical colleges:

A certificate is a Technical Certificate of Credit, or TCC. Shielded metal arc is stick welding, gas metal arc is MIG, gas tungsten arc is TIG, and flux-cored is wire welding with a flux core. A few colleges use their own names: Athens Technical College lists Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SM21) and Gas Metal Arc Welding (GM21) at 11 credit hours each and Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GT31) at 10.

Rung One: Stick Welding

Almost every Georgia ladder starts with stick. The Basic Shielded Metal Arc Welder certificate (FS31) is 12 credit hours, and the Advanced certificate (OSM1) is another 12. At Wiregrass Georgia Technical College in Valdosta, each one takes a single term.

That makes stick the fastest way to hold a welding credential in Georgia. After two terms you can hold both stick certificates.

Five colleges add a Vertical Shielded Metal Arc Welder Fabricator certificate (VSM1) of 11 or 12 credit hours: Central Georgia, Chattahoochee, Georgia Northwestern, Savannah and Southern Regional. As the name says, it centers on stick welding in the vertical position.

Rung Two: MIG, TIG and Flux-Core

The wire and TIG certificates are longer, at 15 or 16 credit hours each. Wiregrass lists its Gas Metal Arc, Gas Tungsten Arc and Flux Cored Arc certificates at two terms each. Gwinnett Technical College in Lawrenceville says you can earn its MIG certificate in 1.5 semesters, and you’ll be qualified to pass a MIG qualification test.

Chattahoochee Technical College splits these processes more finely than anyone else. Next to its 16-credit-hour Gas Metal Arc and Gas Tungsten Arc certificates, it lists Intermediate and Advanced versions of each at 12 credit hours. It also offers a 35-credit-hour Welding Technology TCC, a larger certificate that sits between the single-process awards and the diploma. With twelve welding awards in all, Chattahoochee has the longest list in the state.

Specialty Certificates Only Some Colleges Offer

Beyond the core processes, several colleges add certificates you won’t find everywhere. These are the ones worth driving for if they match the work you want.

Pipe welding. Central Georgia lists a Pipe Welder TCC (PW11) at 10 credit hours, and South Georgia Technical College in Americus at 9. Augusta Technical College offers an 8-credit-hour Advanced Pipe Welding certificate. The biggest pipe award is Pipe Shielded Metal Arc Welding at 35 credit hours, offered by Georgia Northwestern Technical College in Rome and Oconee Fall Line Technical College, where it takes two semesters full-time. See the pipe welder career page for what the work involves.

Master welder. Central Georgia Technical College in Macon offers a Master Arc Welder TCC at 36 credit hours and a Master Welder I TCC at 24 (at one campus only). Savannah Technical College also lists Master Welder I at 24 credit hours.

Automation. Gwinnett offers a 20-credit-hour Robotic Welding Operator certificate, and Southern Regional Technical College in Moultrie a 12-credit-hour Submerged Arc Welder Operator certificate. The robotic welding technician page covers where that leads.

Reading prints and other skills. Atlanta Technical College and South Georgia list a 12-credit-hour Welding Blueprint Reading certificate, and Central Georgia a 4-credit-hour Welding Career Launch Blueprint Reading certificate. South Georgia also offers an 11-credit-hour Welding/Brazing Technician certificate, and Lanier Technical College in Gainesville an 11-credit-hour Basic Metal Fabricator certificate. Southern Crescent Technical College in Griffin lists an Aviation Welding Fundamentals certificate.

The Top of the Ladder: Diploma and Degree

All 17 public technical colleges list the Welding and Joining Technology diploma. At most it’s 54 credit hours. It runs 57 at Atlanta Technical College and Southern Regional, and 52 to 53 at Athens and Chattahoochee. Southern Crescent Technical College builds its diploma around NCCER credentials instead, at 41 to 42 credit hours, with matching NCCER certificates for stick, MIG, TIG and pipe.

How long the diploma takes depends on the college’s layout:

• Three semesters at Southern Regional, and a minimum of three terms at Atlanta Tech and Savannah Tech.
• Four terms at Augusta Tech, and four semesters at Lanier and Oconee Fall Line.
• Five terms at Wiregrass.

Every college describes the goal the same way: graduates have the qualifications of a welding and joining technician and are prepared to take qualification tests.

Above the diploma, Oconee Fall Line Technical College in Sandersville offers the one associate degree among Georgia’s public welding programs: an Interdisciplinary Studies AAS in Welding and Joining Technology at 61 credit hours. It suits you if you think you’ll want to supervise or teach later. In Georgia, welding supervisors earned a median of $69,170 in May 2025, and welding instructors $60,320.

How to Use the Ladder

Before you enroll, check which courses each certificate shares with the diploma at your college, so every term counts toward the next step. Then pick a path.

• You need to earn soon: take Basic and Advanced stick first. At Wiregrass that’s two terms, and you can look for work while you add MIG or TIG.
• You want pipe work: aim for a college with a pipe certificate, such as Central Georgia in Macon, Augusta Tech or Georgia Northwestern in Rome.
• You work days: Savannah Tech offers welding at night and on weekends, Atlanta Tech lists welding as an evening option, and West Georgia Technical College runs evening classes from 4:00 to 9:00 p.m. at its Carroll, Douglas and LaGrange campuses.
• You want the full credential in one go: enroll in the diploma. Southern Regional’s three-semester layout is among the shortest.

Private schools don’t use the ladder. Fortis College in Smyrna runs a Welding Technician diploma of 960 clock hours over 48 weeks, and Aviation Institute of Maintenance in Duluth a 24-credit-hour Combination Welding Certificate over 8 months.

What Each Step Pays Off

Georgia welders earned a median of $48,430 a year, or $23.28 an hour, in May 2025. A single certificate can get you in the door; the diploma and the specialty certificates are how you move up. For pay by metro, from Savannah to Columbus, read what welders make in Georgia, and for tuition and the cost of tools and books, see how much welding school costs in Georgia.

To find a college near you, see the welding schools in Atlanta, Macon, Valdosta, Athens and Gainesville, or compare every program on the best welding schools in Georgia page. The welding certification guide explains how school certificates differ from AWS tests, and the welder career page covers the work itself.

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