How To Become A Steel Cutter: What It Is and Career Path

What is a steel cutter and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a steel cutter. For example, did you know that they make an average of $17.12 an hour? That's $35,607 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 2% and produce 6,900 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreSteel CutterUS Average

Salary

2.8

Avg. Salary $35,607

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.8

Growth rate 2%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

9.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.70%

Asian 2.88%

Black or African American 10.28%

Hispanic or Latino 17.63%

Unknown 4.06%

White 63.46%

Gender

female 7.20%

male 92.80%

Age - 40

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 40

Stress level

5.8

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.7

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.9

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a steel cutter

Explore steel cutter education requirements

Most common steel cutter degrees

High School Diploma

48.8 %

Diploma

23.3 %

Bachelor's

16.3 %

Start to develop specific steel cutter skills

Skills	Percentages
Safety Equipment	50.76%
Torches	25.17%
RAN	24.07%

Complete relevant steel cutter training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New steel cutters learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a steel cutter based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real steel cutter resumes.

Research steel cutter duties and responsibilities

Operate demolition torches, acetylene torches, propane torches, and plasma cutters.
Set up, operate cutting torch on rails, or hand hold torches cut all steel for upcoming pipe fabrication jobs
Use crane operator forklift driver unload trucks operate CNC cutting table enter data computer so it can be work on each day
Act as a safety committee member implementing rules/regulations, QC and training.

Prepare your steel cutter resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your steel cutter resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a steel cutter resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable steel cutter resume templates

Build a professional steel cutter resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your steel cutter resume.