Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers

Overview

Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers has a national median salary of $53,750 per year, with +2.4% projected job growth from 2025–2035. The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical education needed to enter this occupation.

Description

Use hand-welding, flame-cutting, hand-soldering, or brazing equipment to weld or join metal components or to fill holes, indentations, or seams of fabricated metal products.

Work Values

• Support
• Relationships
• Working Conditions

Work Styles

Responsibilities

Tasks

• 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.
• Check grooves, angles, or gap allowances, using micrometers, calipers, and precision measuring instruments.
• Detect faulty operation of equipment or defective materials and notify supervisors.

Work Activities

• Getting Information
• Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials
• Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events
• Handling and Moving Objects
• Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings
• Performing General Physical Activities
• Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates
• Making Decisions and Solving Problems
• Controlling Machines and Processes
• Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards

Detailed Work Activities

• Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
• Inspecting equipment, structures, or materials to identify the cause of errors or other problems or defects.
• Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.
• Using hands and arms in handling, installing, positioning, and moving materials, and manipulating things.
• Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems.
• Performing general physical activities includes doing activities that require considerable use of your arms and legs and moving your whole body, such as climbing, lifting, balancing, walking, stooping, and handling materials.
• Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.
• Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
• Using either control mechanisms or direct physical activity to operate machines or processes (not including computers or vehicles).
• Using relevant information and individual judgment to determine whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards.

T-A-S-K

Technology, Abilities, Skills & Knowledge

Education

Education Levels of Current Workers

The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical education needed to enter this occupation. The chart below shows the highest level of education held by people already working in this field, ages 25 and older. It includes workers who earned more education than the job requires and workers who entered the field under earlier requirements, so the largest bar is not the entry requirement. For example, if someone finished an associate's degree and then started working in this field, they are counted under “Associate's degree” here, but the job itself typically asks for a high school diploma or equivalent.

Certificates

Certifications applicable to Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers:

Video Resources