Professional Membership with The Welding Institute

This year’s 75^th anniversary for TWI and The Welding Institute, offers an excellent opportunity to both reflect and look forward to the professional achievements and goals that we want to pursue this year.

This could involve gaining professional registration status with the Engineering Council or simply joining a professional engineering institution such as The Welding Institute to take the next step in your career. Irrespective of your level of experience or qualification, The Welding Institute can offer you career support and guidance through its membership benefits.

What are the benefits of professional membership?

Our long-standing and heritage with The Welding Institute (shown in our 75 anniversary article) highlights the role that The Welding Institute played in TWI Ltd being established. The Welding Institute was established in 1923 to unite acetylene welders with those interested in electric arc welding. The core value of offering a professional engineering membership as an opportunity to connect like-minded professional engineers still shines through within the Institute’s aims today. Aside from its rich history, The Welding Institute also offers a host of membership benefits, including:

Networking opportunities – although an obvious statement, given the explanation of its heritage, The Welding Institute has also continued the legacy of an impressive network of Members, including with TWI Industrial Member Companies.

Career development support – in addition to being licensed by the Engineering Council to assess candidates for professional registration of EngTech, IEng and CEng, The Welding Institute also facilitates support for your career development with CPD opportunities, including volunteer roles, the opportunity to present at and attend Branch and Technical Group events and, additionally, the chance to support and encourage the next generation of engineers through the Younger Members’ Committee.

Why choose professional membership and registration?

Professional membership and registration with The Welding Institute and Engineering Council serves as an opportunity to showcase and demonstrate your competence as an engineer or technician. We have listed the following examples highlighting both TWI Ltd employees and TWI Industrial Company employees who have pursued this opportunity:

One example of a TWI Ltd employee who has undertaken professional membership with The Welding Institute and has also recently taken on the role of chair of the Institute’s Younger Members’ Committee is Corrosion Technician, Catherine Leahy AWeldI, who explained, “The outreach programme with both TWI and The Welding Institute’s Younger Members’ Committee is something that I have been heavily involved with since beginning my role at TWI. During my first few months of volunteering, I mainly took part in events organised by colleagues to introduce myself to the outreach programme – this is where my interest in becoming a STEM ambassador began. Since then, I have worked to officially become a STEM Ambassador and work alongside the chair of YMC to plan and co-ordinate outreach events.”

Additionally, TWI Training and Examinations Ltd’s Senior NDT and BGAS Lecturer, Konstantinos Chronopoulos, is also a Member (MWeldI) and Incorporate Engineer (IEng) with The Welding Institute and explained that the process of registration “is something that any professional engineer should go through, as the process itself is a great learning journey, allowing you to reflect on your professional evolution and leading you to have a balance between the daily tasks of your professional development.” 

Examples of TWI Industrial Members who have also found value in professional membership and registration with The Welding Institute, include Jade White (BEng MWeldI IEng) a Welding Engineer at Sellafield Ltd and Martin Boyd (BEng MWeldI IEng) a Manufacturing Engineer, Welding Specialist at Rolls-Royce Plc.

Jade explained that she already held EngTech status but was encouraged to pursue her IEng registration, saying that, “I believed it was important to be recognised by my peers; mainly for recognition of competence, commitment and evidence of expertise.” She added that, “I believe it demonstrates a professional attitude and can also lead to improved career prospects and employability.”

And finally, Martin also reflected on his professional membership and registration with The Welding Institute, saying, ‘“I put it off for many years as I had a preconception that it would be very difficult. When I finally got round to it, in reality, it was straight-forward.” Becoming an IEng has helped both Martin’s own career and also benefited his employer, as he explained, saying that it helped him to demonstrate his professional competence while also showing external suppliers that he is suitably experienced and qualified. 

Find out more about the leading professional engineering institution responsible for registration of welding and joining personnel worldwide and take your first step to becoming professionally registered by joining The Welding Institute here!