Welder Performance Qualifier (WPQ) endorsement: is it worth it?

The Welder Performance Qualifier, listed by AWS as WPQ1, is one of the qualifier endorsements that hang off a Certified Welding Inspector certification. Unlike the code endorsements such as D1.1 or API 1104, it is not tied to navigating a single welding code. It documents a narrower, more practical competency: that you can conduct and evaluate welder performance qualification tests. If part of your job is watching a welder run a test coupon and then deciding whether that welder is qualified, this is the endorsement written for exactly that task.

What the WPQ endorsement actually covers

The endorsement demonstrates that you can conduct welder qualification tests and judge whether a welder is producing welds that meet the applicable standard. In practice that means running the test in line with best practices for welder performance qualification, observing the work, handling the test coupons and their examination, and reaching a defensible qualified or not qualified decision. It is about the people side of quality control: qualifying the welder, not qualifying the procedure. That distinction is the whole reason AWS splits it from the Welding Procedure Qualifier (WPQ2), which covers the procedure side.

Who needs it

The audience is quality-control and quality-assurance staff who own welder qualification records in a fabrication shop: QC inspectors, welding QC leads, and anyone who signs the welder performance qualification test records that a contract or code requires. If your shop qualifies its own welders in house rather than accepting outside qualifications, having a CWI on staff who holds this endorsement is a clean way to show a customer or auditor that the person conducting those tests is credentialed to do so.

Exam format, fee, and the prerequisite

The endorsement is a separate multiple-choice written exam built around best practices for welder qualification tests, with a set time to complete it. It is open book in the sense that you may rely on your memory and experience, use the electronic reference copy provided on the testing computer, or bring your own bound printed copy of the referenced documents. AWS does not publish a fixed scorable-question count for this endorsement, so we do not state one.

The fee is $540 for AWS members and $630 for non-members, the qualifier and coordination endorsement tier on the AWS 2026 price list. You must already hold a current CWI or SCWI certification to sit it: the endorsement extends your inspector credential rather than standing alone. Always confirm the live fee on the endorsement matrix and price the whole path with the cost calculator before you register.

Using it as your recertification

A CWI certification is valid for nine years, and passing any endorsement exam within the eleven months before your certification expires satisfies that recertification. The Welder Performance Qualifier counts. If you were going to add it anyway and your recert deadline is close, timing the exam inside that window folds two expenses into one. Run your own dates through the recertification calculator to see whether the timing lines up, and note that the endorsement itself stays valid as long as you keep renewing your CWI on schedule.

Who should add it, and who should skip it

Add the Welder Performance Qualifier if you conduct or sign off welder qualification tests, if a customer or auditor wants documented proof that the person running those tests is credentialed, or if you want a new endorsement to double as your recert. Reach for a different endorsement first if your work is really about accepting welding procedures and reviewing WPS and PQR records, which is the Welding Procedure Qualifier (WPQ2), or if your day-to-day is inspecting finished welds to a specific code, where a code endorsement such as D1.1 or the ASME piping endorsement fits better. Match the endorsement to the task your work is actually judged on, use the endorsement recommender if you sit across more than one, and compare every option on the endorsement matrix before you register.