BuildMobile offers free ten-week training classes in marine welding (aluminum and flux cored), shipfitting, and pipefitting. Students are in class five days a week, eight hours a day. The equipment and techniques are the same as those used by local employers. Most students obtain employment with Mobile area ship building and repair companies, although many go to work in fabrication shops and with construction companies. The majority of students are employed even before they finish their ten-week class.

Depending on the training class selected, students learn oxyfuel cutting, flux cored welding, aluminum welding, metal layout, use of an oxyfuel track cutter, blueprint reading, pipefitting, and rigging. All students learn safety practices, basic academic skills, and employability skills/work ethic.

Since August of 2004, more than 250 individuals have received jobs because of training received through the free BuildMobile program. Average starting pay is more than $13 per hour.

For more information or to apply for admission, contact Cliff Day or Marla Justiss at (251) 438-2816 extension 5117 or visit the campus at 1975 Avenue C at Brookley Field in Mobile.