Training

Question:

How do I go about learning about the “art and science” of electroplating? I want to learn how to do it right and make a career in the field. N. S.

Answer:

I get this question all the time and before I go any further I must inform you (full disclosure) that my company, Kushner Electroplating School, www.platingschool.com, is one source of such training. That being said who else offers training? The sources are rather sparse. The American Electroplaters & Surface Finishers Society, AESF, offers some training programs, www.aesf.org. The programs offered by my school and the AESF are typically either seminar or correspondence type programs and not “hands on” type programs.

A few chemical vendors offer training but again it quite often only deals with that chemical vendor’s products.

In order to really be a good electroplater, you must have both “hands-on” and “classroom” experience.

Classically the hands-on experience is obtained by working in a plating shop. This apprentice type approach is okay but you may learn good as well as bad habits in the process. A big problem with this approach is that the industry is shrinking in size and there are fewer plating shops, which means fewer positions for newcomers to the field.

Obtaining the hands-on experience will be difficult but not impossible. Shops do hire new employees and usually start them out on simple tasks moving them to more complex tasks as they gain experience.