No you didn't. Buy a good unit. Bring it home. Set it up and play with it and all this jargon will start to make sense. MIG is pretty easy for most folks right out of the box. Don't let all the welding advice scare you. Go back and read all this after you get a welder and try it awhile. If you don't want to take a course, you don't have to. The help is right here. The course will go over all kinds of welding. Lecture on Arc, mig, Oxy Acetylene, theory, safety, and after weeks, finally some welding and then sweep the class room before you leave. It's not mandatory for you to take a class. If you get really interested in the whole thing you may decide.
We were just enjoying helping and spewing our experience.
Just burn some metal and have fun. Don't get nervous about it.
