Prepare for in-demand career as a pipefitter with new TCC certificate

Building the maritime workforce is vital in Hampton Roads, home to the world’s largest Navy base and considered one of the busiest port regions in the nation. Tidewater Community College’s new Career Studies Certificate in Pipefitting will prepare you for employment in this burgeoning field.

Pipefitters install and repair piping systems that carry liquids or gases to, from and within businesses, military installations, ships and factories. TCC’s certificate is designed to prepare you quickly for a career in a field that the U.S. Department of Labor projects will grow 12 percent faster than average. Graduates can expect to earn more than $50,000 annually.

You can complete the 19-credit certificate by taking day or evening classes held on TCC’s Portsmouth and Chesapeake campuses.

As part of the program, you will learn the fundamentals of machine blueprint reading, industrial pipe fitting, pipe welding, piping and auxiliary systems, and pipe fitting and fabrication. Students are encouraged to expand their expertise with approved electives in maritime technologies, marine mechanical and marine welding.

All of the credits earned in this program apply to TCC’s Associate of Applied Science in Maritime Technologies. This certificate is ideal for veterans and active-duty military transitioning into the civilian workforce.

Fall classes begin Aug. 21.

Anyone interested in TCC’s Career Studies Certificate in Pipefitting or Associate of Applied Science in Maritime Technologies can contact Dean Thomas Stout at tstout@tcc.edu or 757-822-5230.