Career
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers
Join and cut metal.
$53,750
Median pay
+2.4%
Job growth, 2025–35
40,300
Openings a year
High school diploma or equivalent
Typical education
None required
Typical time after high school
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- Operate safety equipment and use safe work habits.
- Examine workpieces for defects and measure workpieces with straightedges or templates to ensure conformance with specifications.
- Weld components in flat, vertical, or overhead positions.
- Detect faulty operation of equipment or defective materials and notify supervisors.
- Recognize, set up, and operate hand and power tools common to the welding trade, such as shielded metal arc and gas metal arc welding equipment.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
The deeper question
What kind of person does this path ask you to become?
What this work centers on
O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.
The work
Do you want most of your days spent on objects & tools, then information & systems?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Operate safety equipment and use safe work habits.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Quality Control Analysis, Monitoring, Judgment and Decision Making, Critical Thinking.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
No degree beyond high school, though moderate-term on-the-job training is typical, for a median of $53,750 a year and 40,300 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- Welding Engineering Technology/TechnicianCIP 15.0614
- Welding Technology/WelderCIP 48.0508
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders$47,920 · -8.9%
- Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters$51,330 · -6.2%
- Aircraft Structure, Surfaces, Rigging, and Systems Assemblers$65,380 · -5.6%
- Engine and Other Machine Assemblers$53,710 · -17.0%
- Boilermakers$76,410 · -1.8%
Ask anything about this career.
“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.
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Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.