Brent Harkness is an associate professor of Welding at SUNY Jamestown Community College, teaching shielded metal arc welding, fabrication, metallurgy, and alternate processes
Harkness has taught at JCC since 2005, starting as an adjunct instructor before being promoted to full time in 2006. He also has more than two decades of welding professional experience.
Harkness has an associate degree in Welding Technology from Alfred State, a Welding Engineering bachelor from Ferris State University, and a master’s degree in Multidisciplinary Students from SUNY Buffalo State.
Harkness earned a SUNY Chancellor’s Excellence Award in Teaching in 2024-25 and was among five keynote speakers during JCC’s 75th anniversary commencement ceremonies in May.
His YouTube channel, TVWeld, has more than 20,000 subscribers and covers a variety of welding topics for people looking to learn more about the industry.
How did you get started in welding?
Harkness: I started welding when I was around 14 years old at my friend's dairy farm. I've welded ever since. I have about 25 years of professional experience with welding jobs.
What experiences do you have in welding?
Harkness: I started when I was in high school, and my first formal welding education was in an ag program in my high school. I then moved into my degree program when I was in college.
I played athletics. I had to pick up a major. I saw welding was on there and I enjoyed it in high school. So I moved into welding.
After I graduated with my associates, I then went into welding engineering at Ferris State University in Michigan and got my bachelor's in Welding Engineering Technology. They were making the program here at JCC and it was kind of designed to go to the Ferris State University that I was at. And they found out there was a kid from Randolph that was actually at the college it was designed to transfer to.
So I was contacted by JCC to see if I wanted to do some adjunct work, along with my field experience when I graduated.
What was your favorite job as a professional welder?
Harkness: In the field, my favorite was I had a summer where I did iron work. I was doing I-beams, high steel, nothing too high, probably a hundred feet. But I was welding I-beams the entire summer.
And it was also my highest paying job. I think I was getting paid like $150 an hour. So maybe that's why it was my favorite job.
Why do you teach at JCC?
Harkness: It's a rewarding experience, first and foremost. I want to help the field of welding by educating young students that are going to go into the field of welding. It's just a very rewarding experience and it's a good job to have.
What’s your favorite class to teach at JCC?
Harkness: I teach introduction to shielded metal arc welding. The reason that I like it is probably because it's my favorite welding process to actually perform. I like to weld using that process. So that's my favorite course.
I also like advanced stick welding as well, which is also the same process. And that's probably the reason I like that one as well.
What would you tell a student thinking about attending JCC?
Harkness: First and foremost, it's quality education, but we're also affordable. You get more bang for your buck coming to JCC.
We have quality instructors, and we make sure that our curriculum is designed to make sure that you're ready for the latest and greatest industry trends that are out there.
What does a student get from JCC’s welding program?
Harkness: JCC's Welding curriculum is designed to go with the flow as far as how you would get certified in industry.
All of our intro courses are plate welding, which is, if you do pipe welding, it supersedes plate welding. In other words, you get certified in pipe, you're automatically certified in plate. We set up the intro courses for plate welding, the advanced courses all go into pipe welding, and then we go into fabrication and more advanced courses into the second year.
It's designed with industry in mind and how they do things in industry and in the field.
We also offer microcredentials. One is a basic welding. The other is in each process.
So you get a microcredential in MIG welding, TIG welding, and stick welding. Most welders, when they go in the field, use one process. If you want to get in here in one semester, get a certification, and then get out in one process, we can do that through our microcredentials.
What’s an interesting certification JCC offers?
Harkness: One of the certifications that we offer through the program is the New York State Department of Transportation Welder, Field Welder Certification. And what that's for is if you want to weld on bridges in New York state, they require you to have that.
It's also required to get a welding license in New York City. If you're in New York City and you want to come out here, get certified, and then go back and get a welder's license to weld in New York City, you can do that.
What does a quality education mean to you?
Harkness: A quality education means to me that you're getting relevant information that you're going to use once you graduate. If you're doing things that you're not going to use, it's kind of a waste of time.
We have good instructors. All of our adjuncts are in the field. They have certain areas that they're experts in. We also have three certified welding inspectors as instructors, which is a very high number for our community college.
----
JCC offers an A.A.S Welding Technology degree program and Welding Technology certificate as part of its Advanced Manufacturing offerings.
Request more information about those and other JCC learning opportunities.