RCS Training Orientation
A short test drive of the system. See how it feels to walk through one, what's in the catalog, and how to pick where to start. Then decide if it's worth your time.
A short tour. What you’re actually looking at.
The orientation you’re in right now is one module. Four steps — Read, Listen, Apply, Quiz. The full catalog has more than 400 of them, organized into three tracks.
Three tracks
Each track is a different corrosion world.
- External Corrosion (EC) — pipelines in the ground, cathodic protection systems, coatings on steel, AC interference, close-interval surveys.
- Internal Corrosion (IC) — what’s running through the pipe. Crude, gas, mixed phases. Monitoring probes, coupon analysis, chemical inhibitor programs.
- Coatings & Inspection (CT) — what protects the steel before corrosion can start. Surface prep, application, holiday testing, post-application QC.
Most people start in one track and stay there. Some end up working all three over a career. The system lets you do either.
Modules, rungs, tiers, medals
Here’s how the catalog is shaped, smallest piece to biggest:
- Module. What you’re in right now — Read, Listen, Apply, Quiz. About 30 minutes of work.
- Rung. A small group of related modules. Finish every module in a rung and you’ve earned a downloadable cert PDF for that rung.
- Tier. A group of rungs that fit together as a level — Bronze, Silver, Gold as you climb. Finish every rung in a tier and you’ve earned that tier’s medal, and the next tier in that track unlocks.
- Track. The full ladder of tiers in one corrosion world.
EC has 22 rungs across its tiers. IC has 12. CT has 19. Total: 53 rungs across the catalog.
You can jump between tracks at the same tier level — we don’t gate cross-track exploration. You can’t skip a tier inside any single track, though, without earning the previous one’s medal.
About 420 modules
That’s roughly the total. Each one is shaped like the orientation you’re in: ~30 minutes, Read + Listen + Apply + Quiz. Built to be PDH/CEC eligible if you’re tracking those hours for industry credentials.
Leaderboard + cert PDFs
Two things that make the work stick.
Leaderboard. Opt-in, multi-axis. Rungs earned, medals collected, modules completed. Some people love it, some people hate it. We default it OFF — you turn it on if you want to see your name there.
Cert PDFs. Every rung you finish generates a downloadable cert with what you covered, when, and how long it took. Issued by Roberts Corrosion Services. Show your boss, save in your file if you’re counting PDHs or CECs, send it to whichever industry credential body matters in your role.
Mobile and podcast modes
The system reads fine on a phone today. A proper mobile mode and a podcast-style audio mode are both being built — when they ship, every existing module gets the audio version automatically.
That’s the tour. Next up is a quick look at who does this work — useful if you’re new to the field. After that, you’ll pick which track to start with, and the catalog opens.
Brief identity check. Then we move on.
The work in this catalog is done by people whose week typically involves at least one of these:
- Driving to a site to inspect CP readings, run a survey, or check a piece of CP equipment in the field.
- Pulling samples — fluid, gas, solid — running field tests, and getting what’s left to a lab.
- Installing or mitigating CP systems. Excavating to examine pipe, anodes, or coating condition firsthand.
- Inspecting coating application, atmospheric corrosion on above-ground assets, and new or replacement coating jobs.
Some people are mostly in trucks. Some are mostly in the lab. Some are mostly at desks. Most do some of all three over the course of a week, depending on what the schedule looks like.
The work fits people who like concrete answers — corrosion either is or isn’t happening, the protection either is or isn’t holding — and who are patient with the answers that come back from the lab on their own timeline.
Where the work happens
The truck carries the field gear: data logger, multimeter, soil res meter, GPS, reference electrode, coffee. That’s where the readings get taken and the samples get pulled.
The lab handles the chemistry, the SEM work, the coupon analysis. That’s where samples turn into numbers you can act on.
The desk is where it all comes together — survey data, lab reports, asset history — and where you decide what action the readings call for.
Why this matters for orientation
The “day in the life” piece used to be the whole point of this section. We pulled it back. It’s useful context, not the main event. The main event is what comes next: picking where to start.
One last bit — picking your starting track.
Three tracks. You’ll pick one to start. Here’s how to think about it.
Quick decision frame
- Touches buried pipelines or CP → EC.
- Touches what’s inside the pipe → IC.
- Touches what’s painted on or sprayed on → CT.
- No job in this yet and picking a path → EC has the most field work, IC has the strongest lab-data career arc, CT is the most economy-proof.
And once you’re in
All three tracks are unlocked the moment you become a paid member. You start with one because it makes the path clear — but the catalog isn’t gated by track. Pick where you want to begin, and the rest is there whenever you want to wander.
Pick your starting track
Tap the one you want to start with. You can change your mind later — this just routes you to the right first module after you sign up.
When you’re ready, hit Mark Complete and the catalog opens.