Priobe,
I am in the same boat. For now, I simply purchased a Lincoln Electric Welder for now to experiment with for now. I also checked out various schools and the like, but nobody had any night courses so effectively I am teaching myself. I you are lucky to have some night training (assuming you work during the day), I would say enlist as soon as possible.
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/...3+90401+503465
Also, no doubt there are a lot of smart people here that should respond, however go to this site to learn more about welding. There are a lot of experts there.
www.garagejournal.com
Kramer