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Dear Bongumusa

Thank you for your question regarding boilermaking courses.

The course you will need to study if you want to become a boilermaker is a National Certificate (Vocational) Engineering and Related Design (3 years) from a Further Education and Training (FET) College, with Engineering Fabrication as one of your subjects. Once you have completed the course you may want to consider registration as an artisan. To do this you will need to complete a Trade Test after completing a numbers of hours engineering fabrication work experience with an engineering company, or industrial organization. Contact the MERSETA (http://www.merseta.org.za/) for further information on how to apply for the trade test once you have completed your NCV.

If you have completed a National Senior Certificate with mathematics and physical science, you could also contact the FET College of your choice to see if they offer any National Certificate courses (N4-N6) in engineering fabrication (welding, boilermaking, sheetmetal). If they do, and you decide to register, you will probably be required to complete an assessment to see if you can gain direct access to the N4-N6 program, or if you need to complete a foundation course first, before moving into the N4-N6 program.

Make use of the Department of Education website to identify a FET College near you: (http://www.education.gov.za/dynamic/dynamic.aspx?pageid=325&bid=7&branch=Further%20Education%20and%20Training). The Further Education and Training Directorate page will be displayed; near the bottom of the page select “Public FET Colleges, then select “contact list of FET Public Colleges.

Best wishes for your future career in engineering.

The Career Planet Team