Skilled Trades
Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers
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.
Median salary
$51,000
Typical range
$38k – $76k
Job outlook
+2% (about average)
AI exposure
Plan a path to Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers
Education
Typical entry: No degree required
Plan my path to this →Typical progression
Junior Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers
Entry / Junior
$38,130
~2 yrs to advance
Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers
Established
$51,000
~3 yrs to advance
Senior Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers
Senior
$63,425
Key skills
A typical day
- •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.
Fields of study
Any field
Top colleges for Skilled Trades
Explore all- Purdue University50% admit · $78,000 grad pay
- Ohio State University53% admit · $68,000 grad pay
- Pennsylvania State University55% admit · $70,000 grad pay
Reputation-based selection; stats shown are outcome data per school.