Metallurgist Overview
Working as a Metallurgist
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a metallurgist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $38.23 an hour? That's $79,520 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 0% and produce 0 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Metallurgist Do
There are certain skills that many metallurgists have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed analytical skills, math skills and writing skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a metallurgist, we found that a lot of resumes listed 8.0% of metallurgists included aerospace, while 7.6% of resumes included process improvement, and 7.2% of resumes included failure analysis. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the metallurgist job title. But what industry to start with? Most metallurgists actually find jobs in the manufacturing and construction industries.
How To Become a Metallurgist
If you're interested in becoming a metallurgist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 47.7% of metallurgists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 31.5% of metallurgists have master's degrees. Even though most metallurgists have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a metallurgist. When we researched the most common majors for a metallurgist, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on metallurgist resumes include doctoral degree degrees or associate degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a metallurgist. In fact, many metallurgist jobs require experience in a role such as research assistant. Meanwhile, many metallurgists also have previous career experience in roles such as internship or metallurgical engineer.
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Metallurgist Jobs
Metallurgist Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a metallurgist can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as metallurgical engineer, progress to a title such as process engineer and then eventually end up with the title process engineering manager.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Metallurgist
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Randstad Metallurgist Metallurgist | Randstad Randstad | 09/28/2020 09/28/2020 | $70,00009/28/2020 $70,000 |
Randstad Process Metallurgist Process Metallurgist | Randstad Randstad | 08/17/2020 08/17/2020 | $75,00008/17/2020 $75,000 |
Randstad Metallurgist Metallurgist | Randstad Randstad | 08/07/2020 08/07/2020 | $75,00008/07/2020 $75,000 |
Randstad Hot Mill Metallurgist Hot Mill Metallurgist | Randstad Randstad | 06/16/2020 06/16/2020 | $100,00006/16/2020 $100,000 |
Randstad Metallurgist Metallurgist | Randstad Randstad | 01/23/2020 01/23/2020 | $70,00001/23/2020 $70,000 |
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Top Colleges for Metallurgists
1. Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA
2. University of Washington
Seattle, WA
3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA
4. Lehigh University
Bethlehem, PA
5. Stanford University
Stanford, CA
6. Colorado School of Mines
Golden, CO
7. Missouri University of Science and Technology
Rolla, MO
8. Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland, OH
9. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
10. Cornell University
Ithaca, NY
Entry Level Jobs For Becoming A Metallurgist
Top Skills For a Metallurgist
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 8.0% of metallurgists listed aerospace on their resume, but soft skills such as analytical skills and math skills are important as well.
- Continuous Improvement, 6.5%
- Failure Analysis, 6.0%
- Heat Treat, 5.9%
- Data Analysis, 5.9%
- Aerospace, 5.7%
- Other Skills, 70.0% See All Metallurgist Skills
Best States For a Metallurgist
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a metallurgist. The best states for people in this position are Alaska, Louisiana, Washington, and California. Metallurgists make the most in Alaska with an average salary of $105,598. Whereas in Louisiana and Washington, they would average $100,349 and $98,439, respectively. While metallurgists would only make an average of $97,036 in California, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Louisiana
$100,349
Avg. Salary
2. Utah
$93,646
Avg. Salary
3. New Mexico
$90,000
Avg. Salary