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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.
Also Known As:
Assembly Line Brazer
Brazer
Fabrication Welder
MIG Welder (Metal Inert Gas Welder)
Maintenance Welder
Solderer
TIG Welder (Tungsten Inert Gas Welder)
Welder
Welder Fitter
Wirer
Wages
Annual wages for Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers in United States
Job Outlook
Below Average
New job opportunities are less likely in the future
United States
2033 Projected Employment
463,800
2% Change From 2023
Explore Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers video
Tasks you might complete in a day.
- Preheat workpieces prior to welding or bending, using torches or heating furnaces.
- Grind, cut, buff, or bend edges of workpieces to be joined to ensure snug fit, using power grinders and hand tools.
- Repair products by dismantling, straightening, reshaping, and reassembling parts, using cutting torches, straightening presses, and hand tools.
- Use fire suppression methods in industrial emergencies.
- Melt and apply solder to fill holes, indentations, or seams of fabricated metal products, using soldering equipment.
- Ignite torches or start power supplies and strike arcs by touching electrodes to metals being welded, completing electrical circuits.
- Ignite torches or start power supplies and strike arcs by touching electrodes to metals being welded, completing electrical circuits.
- Grind, cut, buff, or bend edges of workpieces to be joined to ensure snug fit, using power grinders and hand tools.
- Select and install torches, torch tips, filler rods, and flux, according to welding chart specifications or types and thicknesses of metals.
- Check grooves, angles, or gap allowances, using micrometers, calipers, and precision measuring instruments.
- Connect and turn regulator valves to activate and adjust gas flow and pressure so that desired flames are obtained.
- Align and clamp workpieces together, using rules, squares, or hand tools, or position items in fixtures, jigs, or vises.
- Examine workpieces for defects and measure workpieces with straightedges or templates to ensure conformance with specifications.
- Develop templates and models for welding projects, using mathematical calculations based on blueprint information.
- Prepare all material surfaces to be welded, ensuring that there is no loose or thick scale, slag, rust, moisture, grease, or other foreign matter.
- Operate metal shaping, straightening, and bending machines, such as brakes and shears.
- Grind, cut, buff, or bend edges of workpieces to be joined to ensure snug fit, using power grinders and hand tools.
- Monitor the fitting, burning, and welding processes to avoid overheating of parts or warping, shrinking, distortion, or expansion of material.
- 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.
- Operate safety equipment and use safe work habits.
- Determine required equipment and welding methods, applying knowledge of metallurgy, geometry, and welding techniques.
- Determine required equipment and welding methods, applying knowledge of metallurgy, geometry, and welding techniques.
- Detect faulty operation of equipment or defective materials and notify supervisors.
- Chip or grind off excess weld, slag, or spatter, using hand scrapers or power chippers, portable grinders, or arc-cutting equipment.
- Select and install torches, torch tips, filler rods, and flux, according to welding chart specifications or types and thicknesses of metals.
- Repair products by dismantling, straightening, reshaping, and reassembling parts, using cutting torches, straightening presses, and hand tools.
- Weld components in flat, vertical, or overhead positions.
- Melt and apply solder along adjoining edges of workpieces to solder joints, using soldering irons, gas torches, or electric-ultrasonic equipment.
- Guide and direct flames or electrodes on or across workpieces to straighten, bend, melt, or build up metal.
- Weld separately or in combination, using aluminum, stainless steel, cast iron, and other alloys.
- Melt and apply solder along adjoining edges of workpieces to solder joints, using soldering irons, gas torches, or electric-ultrasonic equipment.
- Detect faulty operation of equipment or defective materials and notify supervisors.
- Mark or tag material with proper job number, piece marks, and other identifying marks as required.
- Clean or degrease parts, using wire brushes, portable grinders, or chemical baths.
- Chip or grind off excess weld, slag, or spatter, using hand scrapers or power chippers, portable grinders, or arc-cutting equipment.
- Position and secure workpieces, using hoists, cranes, wire, and banding machines or hand tools.
- Repair products by dismantling, straightening, reshaping, and reassembling parts, using cutting torches, straightening presses, and hand tools.
- Set up and use ladders and scaffolding as necessary to complete work.
- Clean or degrease parts, using wire brushes, portable grinders, or chemical baths.
- Hammer out bulges or bends in metal workpieces.
- Melt and apply solder to fill holes, indentations, or seams of fabricated metal products, using soldering equipment.
Subject areas you may need to master.
- Fine Arts - Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
- Chemistry - Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
- Mechanical - Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
- Philosophy and Theology - Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
- Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
- Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
- Biology - Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
- Foreign Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
- Production and Processing - Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
- Engineering and Technology - Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
- Building and Construction - Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
- Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
- Transportation - Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
- Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
- Geography - Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
- Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
- Therapy and Counseling - Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
- Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
- Design - Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
- Administrative - Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
- History and Archeology - Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
- Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
- Sociology and Anthropology - Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
- Telecommunications - Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
- Medicine and Dentistry - Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
- Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
- English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
- Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
- Physics - Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
- Food Production - Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
- Economics and Accounting - Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
- Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
- Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Strengths you may need in this role.
- Mathematics - Using math to solve problems.
- Equipment Maintenance - Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
- Instructing - Teaching people how to do something.
- Systems Evaluation - Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
- Programming - Writing computer programs.
- Judgment and Decision Making - Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
- Equipment Selection - Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
- Systems Analysis - Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
- Social Perceptiveness - Understanding people's reactions.
- Repairing - Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
- Management of Material Resources - Managing equipment and materials.
- Management of Personnel Resources - Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
- Operation and Control - Using equipment or systems.
- Service Orientation - Looking for ways to help people.
- Reading Comprehension - Reading work-related information.
- Monitoring - Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
- Operations Monitoring - Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
- Coordination - Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
- Active Learning - Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
- Time Management - Managing your time and the time of other people.
- Management of Financial Resources - Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
- Science - Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
- Persuasion - Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
- Critical Thinking - Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
- Writing - Writing things for co-workers or customers.
- Active Listening - Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
- Negotiation - Bringing people together to solve differences.
- Quality Control Analysis - Testing how well a product or service works.
- Complex Problem Solving - Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
- Technology Design - Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
- Installation - Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
- Troubleshooting - Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
- Operations Analysis - Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
- Speaking - Talking to others.
- Learning Strategies - Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
- Hearing Sensitivity - Telling the difference between sounds.
- Far Vision - Seeing details that are far away.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness - Keeping your arm or hand steady.
- Speed of Closure - Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
- Speech Clarity - Speaking clearly.
- Selective Attention - Paying attention to something without being distracted.
- Peripheral Vision - Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
- Written Expression - Communicating by writing.
- Stamina - Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
- Explosive Strength - Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
- Near Vision - Seeing details up close.
- Speech Recognition - Recognizing spoken words.
- Perceptual Speed - Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
- Multilimb Coordination - Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
- Response Orientation - Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
- Rate Control - Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
- Reaction Time - Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
- Wrist-Finger Speed - Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Night Vision - Seeing at night or under low light.
- Oral Comprehension - Listening and understanding what people say.
- Visual Color Discrimination - Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
- Manual Dexterity - Holding or moving items with your hands.
- Auditory Attention - Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
- Speed of Limb Movement - Quickly moving your arms and legs.
- Deductive Reasoning - Using rules to solve problems.
- Trunk Strength - Using your lower back and stomach.
- Problem Sensitivity - Noticing when problems happen.
- Glare Sensitivity - Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
- Finger Dexterity - Putting together small parts with your fingers.
- Fluency of Ideas - Coming up with lots of ideas.
- Extent Flexibility - Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Mathematical Reasoning - Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
- Dynamic Flexibility - Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Sound Localization - Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
- Flexibility of Closure - Seeing hidden patterns.
- Spatial Orientation - Knowing where things are around you.
- Visualization - Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
- Number Facility - Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
- Gross Body Equilibrium - Keeping your balance or staying upright.
- Dynamic Strength - Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
- Oral Expression - Communicating by speaking.
- Information Ordering - Ordering or arranging things.
- Depth Perception - Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
- Originality - Creating new and original ideas.
- Memorization - Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
- Written Comprehension - Reading and understanding what is written.
- Static Strength - Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
- Category Flexibility - Grouping things in different ways.
- Gross Body Coordination - Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
- Control Precision - Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
- Time Sharing - Doing two or more things at the same time.
- Inductive Reasoning - Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
Average Education Attained
Highest level of education earned by people in this career.
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Content sourced from United States Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration ("DOLETA") and the Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development ("DEED")