Miller and Hobart are both owned by ITW corp. Hobart is the so-called dept store brand. Miller is more high end. That said, some of the Miller and Hobart equipment is identical internally and some is different. In some cases a lot different. Miller has an excellent web site with tons of educational info. Lincoln also has good info.
http://www.millerwelds.com/education/library.html Never hurts to get a short welding course at your local tech school, but that's my current gig... welding teacher.
As one of my students related: "In life there are two places where penetration is important... welding is one".
