Apprentice Welder

Summary

Kickstart your career in welding and join a skilled, supportive team to develop core welding techniques including MMA, TIG, and MIG. As an apprentice welder, you’ll rotate through all departments of our workshop, gaining hands-on experience while building a strong foundation in processes, safety, and operations.

Wage

£19,500 a year

Check minimum wage rates (opens in new tab)

Pay is £10 per hour

Training course

Welder (level 2)

Hours

Monday to Friday 7:30am - 4:00pm. Breaks at 10am - 10:30am & 1:00pm - 1:30pm each day.

37 hours 30 minutes a week

Start date

Monday 1 September 2025

Duration

1 year 6 months

Positions available

1

Work

Most of your apprenticeship is spent working. You’ll learn on the job by getting hands-on experience.

What you'll do at work

Day to day role responsibilities will include:

Shadowing welders to understand the welding process
Being given set welding task to develop skills
Using allocated time to work through college assignments
Working with goods in to manoeuvre raw materials around workshop
Learn the cutting methods we use
Helping with painting finished products
Shadowing pipe fabricators to understand our procedures
Helping with goods out to load deliveries

Where you'll work

Bouchiers Grange Courtyard
Marks Hall Road, Coggeshall
Colchester
CO6 1TE

Training

Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.

College or training organisation

COLCHESTER INSTITUTE

Your training course

Welder (level 2)

Understanding apprenticeship levels (opens in new tab)

What you'll learn

Course contents

Apply health and safety procedures including the use of personal protective equipment (PPE).
Collect and use information - text and data. For example, manufacturer's instructions, manuals, job instructions, drawings and quality control documentation.
Prepare welding materials and work area: sourcing, checking and protecting.
Prepare welding machines or equipment and safety protection measures, for example, check calibration and maintenance dates, inspection for cable damage.
Check and use or operate tools and equipment.
Set, modify and monitor welding controls, for example, current, arc voltage, wire feed speed, gas flow rates, polarity, mechanised tractor units.
Identify issues and actions required. Escalate issues or concerns.
Use manual processes and equipment to remove material before and after welding.
Weld using processes, for example, tungsten inert gas (TIG), plasma arc welding (PAW), manual metal arc (MMA), metal inert or metal active gas (MIG or MAG), flux cored arc welding (FCAW), submerged arc welding (SAW), tractor-mounted metal inert or metal active gas (MIG or MAG), tractor-mounted flux cored arc welding (FCAW), tractor-mounted or orbital tungsten inert gas (TIG), tractor-mounted or orbital plasma arc welding (PAW).
Adapt welding technique to weld different material groups, for example, carbon steel, low alloy steel (3-7% alloy content), high alloy ferritic or martensitic steel (>7% alloy content), austenitic stainless steel, duplex stainless steels, nickel and nickel alloys, aluminium and aluminium alloys, titanium and titanium alloys, copper and copper alloys.
Weld materials in different joint configurations, for example, butt, T-butt, fillet, cladding or buttering.
Adapt welding techniques to weld materials in different positions, for example, down-hand, horizontal-vertical, horizontal, vertical-up, vertical-down, overhead, inclined.
Identify surface defects.
Apply visual inspection, dimensional and alignment checks.
Restore the work area on completion of the welding activity, for example, clean equipment and machinery, tidy the work area, return excess resources and consumables.
Communicate verbally with others, for example, internal and external customers, colleagues, supervisors and managers.
Follow procedures in line with environmental and sustainability regulations, standards and guidance. Segregate resources for re-use, recycling and disposal.
Follow equity, diversity and inclusion procedures.
Follow work instructions - verbal or written.
Apply team working principles.
Apply health and safety procedures including the use of personal protective equipment (PPE).
Collect and use information - text and data. For example, manufacturer's instructions, manuals, job instructions, drawings and quality control documentation.
Prepare welding materials and work area: sourcing, checking and protecting.
Prepare welding machines or equipment and safety protection measures, for example, check calibration and maintenance dates, inspection for cable damage.
Check and use or operate tools and equipment.
Set, modify and monitor welding controls, for example, current, arc voltage, wire feed speed, gas flow rates, polarity, mechanised tractor units.
Identify issues and actions required. Escalate issues or concerns.
Use manual processes and equipment to remove material before and after welding.
Weld using processes, for example, tungsten inert gas (TIG), plasma arc welding (PAW), manual metal arc (MMA), metal inert or metal active gas (MIG or MAG), flux cored arc welding (FCAW), submerged arc welding (SAW), tractor-mounted metal inert or metal active gas (MIG or MAG), tractor-mounted flux cored arc welding (FCAW), tractor-mounted or orbital tungsten inert gas (TIG), tractor-mounted or orbital plasma arc welding (PAW).
Adapt welding technique to weld different material groups, for example, carbon steel, low alloy steel (3-7% alloy content), high alloy ferritic or martensitic steel (>7% alloy content), austenitic stainless steel, duplex stainless steels, nickel and nickel alloys, aluminium and aluminium alloys, titanium and titanium alloys, copper and copper alloys.
Weld materials in different joint configurations, for example, butt, T-butt, fillet, cladding or buttering.
Adapt welding techniques to weld materials in different positions, for example, down-hand, horizontal-vertical, horizontal, vertical-up, vertical-down, overhead, inclined.
Identify surface defects.
Apply visual inspection, dimensional and alignment checks.
Restore the work area on completion of the welding activity, for example, clean equipment and machinery, tidy the work area, return excess resources and consumables.
Communicate verbally with others, for example, internal and external customers, colleagues, supervisors and managers.
Follow procedures in line with environmental and sustainability regulations, standards and guidance. Segregate resources for re-use, recycling and disposal.
Follow equity, diversity and inclusion procedures.
Follow work instructions - verbal or written.
Apply team working principles.

Your training plan

The apprentice will be working towards the Level 2 General Welder Apprenticeship Standard
This is an 18-month duration apprenticeship with college attendance required once per week at Colchester Institute's Braintree Campus, transport from Colchester campus provided

Requirements

Essential qualifications

GCSE in:

maths and English (grade A*-E/9-2)

Let the company know about other relevant qualifications and industry experience you have. They can adjust the apprenticeship to reflect what you already know.

Skills

Attention to detail
Number skills
Team working
Physical fitness
Keen to engage
Keen to learn

Other requirements

There may be some rare occasions that our other sites need some support and you will be asked to go.

About this company

YSM Pipework Solutions Ltd has an impressive resume, having successfully completed numerous prestigious and complex construction projects across the UK. Our expertise extends from handling small, hand-drawn spools to large-scale multi-million-pound projects designed using CAD. Our skilled and fully trained workforce ensures top-quality work is delivered promptly, earning us a trusted reputation within the industry. We are a pipework fabrications and installation company. We operate from Essex and have sites in Essex, Suffolk, and London.

http://www.ysmpipework.co.uk (opens in new tab)

Company benefits

- Pension scheme - Employee training scheme

After this apprenticeship

Once apprenticeship is finished, we will provide extra support to obtain full welding coding. The company runs a welder’s test every year.

Ask a question

The contact for this apprenticeship is:

COLCHESTER INSTITUTE

Colchester Institute - Apprenticeships Team

ci.apprenticeships@colchester.ac.uk

01206712043

The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC1000329684.

Apply now

Closes on Friday 15 August 2025

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After signing in, you’ll apply for this apprenticeship on the company's website.

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