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

What is a steel welder and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a steel welder. For example, did you know that they make an average of $17.37 an hour? That's $36,139 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 2% and produce 6,900 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreSteel WelderUS Average

Salary

2.8

Avg. Salary $36,139

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.8

Growth rate 2%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

9.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.71%

Asian 2.92%

Black or African American 9.26%

Hispanic or Latino 17.87%

Unknown 4.07%

White 64.16%

Gender

female 4.05%

male 95.95%

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 welder

Explore steel welder education requirements

Most common steel welder degrees

High School Diploma

44.7 %

Associate

23.7 %

Diploma

13.8 %

Start to develop specific steel welder skills

Skills	Percentages
MIG	14.52%
Arc Welding	9.80%
Aluminum	8.66%
GMAW	6.22%
FCAW	5.72%

Complete relevant steel welder training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New steel welders 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 welder based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real steel welder resumes.

Research steel welder duties and responsibilities

Manage and run production parts through the brake.
Gas cutting, brazing, layout work, blueprint reading.
Operate brake press, drill press, and punch press in order to efficiently bend steel & aluminum.
Perform MIG and stick welds and erecting structural steel utilize for building skeletons including specific/ detail measurements for accuracy.

Prepare your steel welder resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your steel welder 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 welder 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 welder resume templates

Build a professional steel welder 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 welder resume.