Williams, Kevin  

Williams is a bona fide badass. He's sort of like that one shop teacher in high school that tells you funny stories, is great at what they teach, and actually is very complacent with their profession. He knows his welding quite well, and will help you out with your technique if you so desire. The homework is quite simple (you can find most of the answers in the lab manual), and only 10 of 12 are required for an A. Add that onto an optional lab clean up for extra credit, it is incredibly difficult to not pass. For the most part, office hours are totally unnecessary, and are most likely in place if you want to actually hang out with the professor rather than discuss welding. Also, be sure to attend the review night before the final. He covers literally everything in half an hour.

Kevin is a very helpful teacher who'se always willing to help you out if you don't know what's going on. He'll kinda throw you into welding without teaching much ("ok well if you don't know how to do it watch me. If you have an idea of how to then try it out"). But if you need help he'll work with you until you understand what to do. He covers the material well and get's along great with the students. Definatly take him for the lab.

Kevin was an awesome professor. He was very down to earth and insisted we called him by his first name. I had him for both lecture and lab. He was great, very animated and knew his stuff for the most part. The lab is very much the Cal Poly "learn by doing." Kevin pretty much world show you something once or twice and then send you off to go try it. Not to worry though, if you had a hard time he would work with you, until you did, sometimes coming into the welding booth with you and help to guide the gun, while shouting instructions over the noise. As for grading there are two tests, a midterm and a final, each worth 50 points. The final is during dead week, so that is one less final you actually have to take during finals week. There are two homework assignments that are each worth 50 point, but they are fairly simple multiple choice and true-false. You just have look for the answers in the book. The labs and lab work is worth 200 points, but as long as you show up to class and turn in something you should get all your lab points. He also gives you the last week of lab to do an extra credit assignment if you want to boost your grade. He makes it very easy to do well in his class. If I could I would definately take him for another class!

Kevin is a great teacher, especially for lab, but he's also great in lecture. You kinda have to try to not get an A in this class. As long as you go to the labs, do the fairly easy homework, and don't be an idiot in class, you can get hurt if you don't pay attention, this class is an easy GPA booster.

Great teacher. Down to earth guy. Had him for 142 and 130. Very approachable. Made boring classes fun.

Kevin Williams knows his stuff. It is clear that he has a lot of welding background and is darn good at welding. The learn by doing labs are a lot of fun and easy enough to follow. His lectures however are off the rocker. He teaches by asking the large class a question about a new topic. One person (with prior welding experience) will answer, so he moves on, assuming the whole class understands the topic. This is a slight exaggeration, i'll admit, but it is not far from the truth. (Favors girls as well, of course) Advice? Read before going into lectures and don't stress too much. I didn't understand half of what he said but still managed an A.

Kevin was very understanding for first timer welders. Being one of the few females in the class, I was intimidated at first, however he was very thorough in his explanations and demonstrations, I felt as though in the end I was a more competent welder then many of the other students. Excellent for first time welders and the more experienced. Take if you can, even if not a required course!

Williams is a great guy. Pretty funny and VERY good at his stuff. This lab was my favorite part of the week. The best part is that as long as you do your pre-labs and post-labs, you\'ll get full points- it doesn\'t matter how much you suck at welding!

Kevin was awesome, I looked forward to going to his lab every week. He is so laid back and approachable, and makes the class even more fun than it already is. I would really recommend trying to take him for lab, you will not regret it one bit.

I LOVE KEVIN! Being one of two girls in welding lab was really scary, although i was super stoked to weld. But Kevin was always super helpful. He\'s not going to baby you. He believes in learn my doing and learning from your mistakes. You can\'t possibly not get 200/200 points for this lab and now I\'m a pretty confident welder! He understands that you arent gonna study for the lecture portion so he makes sure to remind you about HW and he has a study session for the final too which is really helpful. He knows his students and hes helpful and i really enjoyed his class

Kevin is a great welding teacher and a nice guy. He keeps you on your toes and always has an interesting anecdote about people being burned or dying or gruesome things like that. He explained the material well and I learned more in his lab than in the lecture. I definitely recommend Kevo.

Kevin is a phenomenal professor, and a really cool guy. I had the Friday 8am lab, besides the fact that welding is totally t!ts, Kevin made the class totally awesome. He explains everything really well and has a ton of neat stories. TAKE KEVINS CLASS!!

Kevin is a funny man. Very smart and experienced in his field and will seriously crack you up with his wit and humor. This class will not make you a welder though. Unfortunately, Cal Poly has reduced their welding program down to one welding class and you won't have much skill at the end of one quarter. But you will get to try quite a few different processes to get a general knowledge base. Kevin recognizes it is just an introductory welding class and doesn't require unrealistic results. But he will work with you to help you improve your welding and is very helpful with any senior project ideas. Overall, great instructor and a fun class.

Kevin rules. He's totally laid back and makes the lab really fun. He's a funny guy and always have fun stories that he tells the class before the lab begins. Welding is pretty easy and is fun, but Kevin really makes the class all that much better. He gives a review session before the lecture final during dead week which is really helpful for the final. All in all, this class is really easy and Kevin makes it really fun.

Easily one of the most enjoyable and knowledgeable instructors I've ever had, Kevin is very relaxed yet is ever mindful of student safety. His vast experience in welding has made him a walking encyclopedia fielding any question that came his way with ease and humor. I only wish I could have him for more classes. TAKE HIM!

This guy is great!!! He knows his stuff and is super cool. Just remember to not kill yourself, k bye.

Maybe the most enjoyable class I have ever taken, and it's mostly due to this instructor. He is laid back, knows his stuff, and wants everyone to have fun. Every lab he was able to handle the three different rotating groups very well, running from one to another. All the homework is credit/no credit, the lecture has online homework of which answers are online, and the final is no stress as long you go to his study session the night before the test. Also, lectures are optional to attend (with good ole' Gibbs! Gotta love the guy) and take note that at least two of the lab home works assignments are dropped, so if you forget a few don't worry about it.

Kevin William is the BOSS! TAKE HIM NO MATTER WHAT! YOU actually learn about welding because you actually get to wear all the uniform and actually WELD! even if you make mistakes its all about practices and it does not effect your grade at all! Just make sure to do hw which is usually about 14 hw total whole quarter but you can miss up to 2 and still get full credit. Lastly he have review session for the FINAL and this helps alot. ALSO you can help out with cleaning his lab for 25minutes to get extra 25 points! TAKE KEVIN WILLIAM! CHILLAX, BOSS, BEST OF THE BEST!

Great professor. Fully acknowledged that we were there to learn the basics, not become welding masters.

As if you need more people telling you to take Kevin's class, but here I am doing it anyway. I am a psychology major. I went in to this knowing nothing at all about welding. Got an A and had a lot of fun trying something new. He makes it impossible not to get an A. Go to lab. Do the write ups (he'll give you credit, I doubt he even reads them). Do the online quizzes (answers all online if you need help). Go to Kevin's review session and listen to all the answers for the final. Don't bother going to lecture, no point. Sit back, don't worry about your grade, have fun welding and listening to Kevin's horror stories of every kid who has hurt themselves in his lab (you'll be fine) and laugh when he is always wearing two sets of goggles on his head. (My friends saw him a Chipotle once, still wearing safety goggles on his head lol)

He's good at helping you learn how to weld. Plus he's a great story-teller, so that's always fun. His laid back attitude is helpful in learning some dangerous skills. He's also got the coolest hair, although I'm convinced it's not real.

Kevin is a cool dude. and this is an easy A class. kinda throws you in the lab and tells you to weld without much supervision or direction. really fun, but wish he cared about our performance more.

Williams is a great guy. He's crazy but that's party of what makes him awesome. He's seen so much sketchy stuff go down in the welding lab he's not scared of anything. If someone gets a little burned on their finger, for him it's just another typical day in the lab. (Now, if you do get hurt, he will help you, he won't just ignore you. He just won't freak out or anything.) I really enjoyed taking his welding lab. After you get used to the hot metal and sparks (and trust me, it doesn't take very long to get used to it), it's a blast! You get to practice with all sorts of different welding techniques, and at the end, you get to weld together a project that you design. For the project, a friend and I welded together the frame for a little fountain and we're going to install a pump inside of it. It's so much fun. I highly recommend his class. Just be aware that he goes through his demonstrations pretty quickly, so make sure you pay attention when he's talking. Other than that, it's a totally awesome lab!

Kevin was a pretty good teacher, though he sometimes went too fast through material. However, the goal was just to expose you to welding and teach some key things about it. He is funny and likes to make fun of everyone's stupidity. If you don't get an A in his class, you are doing something wrong. In all, it was an enjoyable class.

Kevin is the freakin man. Everyone says it but you won't understand until you take the class. The ultimate guide to making this class easy is to not care about learning a single actual technical thing about welding. Honestly, you wil mostly understand nothing on your homework (okay, maybe half) because Kevin's lectures are so laid back. Pretty much everyone skips lecture and he gives a run down of announcements at lab. He offers so many points that most people don't have to take the final or only need to score like a 30% on it. Overall Kevin is just dope and a fun dude to do dangerous crap with.

Kevin is a homie

I'm so glad I got to take Kevin's welding lab my first quarter here. He takes "learn by doing" pretty seriously, and I really appreciated that. He always gave us a short description of what we were going to do in the lab that day, gave a short demo, and then cut us all loose to do it ourselves. I had never welded before, so I definitely got a lot better with all of the different techniques we practiced. Oh yeah, the lectures are super chill and he doesn't give out much homework. Kevin's the man.

He's what you wish all your professors could be

LOL. Kevo is such a big meme by the time you're done with this class that you will remember fondly of it, but it can be scary at first. He doesn't really know how to effectively teach the material, but he'll probably end up just giving you the answers to all the tests. However, doing homework for this class was annoying because you will basically have to look all the answers up online. He can be helpful in the lab but he also doesn't have time for everyone. Overall, try not to kill yourself in this class (because you can) and don't worry about your grade, you'll get an A.

As long as you don't completely slack off or ignore the class, you'll most likely get an A. I'd say there's no reason you shouldn't be able to get an A. Kevo is an absolute legend. He is extremely fair and wants his students to succeed. Will you be an amazing welder by the end of the quarter? Probably not. But Kevo teaches you the basics of nearly all of the most common welding processes so that you, as an engineer, have the understanding of what it takes and what its limitations are. He does review sessions before the midterm and final. Go to them. Seriously, it's worth it, just go. His homework generally doesn't have a whole ton to do with the lecture but it's easy to figure it out, even if you just have to look some stuff up. Overall, Kevo is the man. I have many stories from the 10 weeks I had him, most of which I probably shouldn't share on this site.

Kevin is pretty horrible at explaining stuff in lecture. His thought process is a complete mess. (In lecture he would use "SMAW" and "Stick Welding" interchangeably, but later when I asked him about it, he said that they were not the same) But...even though I was super lost around the time that I got to the final, I went to office hours and got him to explain the relationship between the types of welding and the modes of transfer, and everything suddenly made a lot more sense. Regardless of your understanding at the end of the class, you are almost guaranteed to pass. Both of our midterms were take-home and you could get 50% on the final by doing a half hour lab cleanup. All in all, I did actually learn some stuff.

Pretty chill professor. You are not going to be a great welder by the end of the quarter, but that's expected; he said his class will only cover the basics. His class is unstructured, but it makes for a pretty laid-back environment. His lecture notes is all over the place, so you should do a good job paying attention. Pay attention in class and get a study group, then you should be fine. His lab is very fun and you'll get to make cool stuff as your two projects.

Took this as an approved major support course and I would recommend it to anyone else. Kevo is incredible, you'll learn a lot, and the lab is fun.

You will get an A. Kevin is a great guy and welding is super fun! His lectures are super hard to understand but as long as you go to the review session he hosts before the midterm, you'll do just fine. Just have fun.