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

What is a structural steel fitter 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 structural steel fitter. For example, did you know that they make an average of $20.75 an hour? That's $43,165 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -6% and produce -114,900 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreStructural Steel FitterUS Average

Salary

3.4

Avg. Salary $43,165

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.0

Growth rate -6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.11%

Asian 1.30%

Black or African American 12.29%

Hispanic or Latino 11.75%

Unknown 2.74%

White 70.82%

Gender

female 2.39%

male 97.61%

Age - 45

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 - 45

Stress level

7.0

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.8

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.6

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a structural steel fitter

Explore structural steel fitter education requirements

Most common structural steel fitter degrees

High School Diploma

55.2 %

Associate

18.2 %

Bachelor's

10.9 %

Start to develop specific structural steel fitter skills

Skills	Percentages
Blueprint Specifications	10.33%
Grinders	6.34%
Cranes	6.02%
Torches	5.54%
Stairs	5.53%

Complete relevant structural steel fitter training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New structural steel fitters 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 structural steel fitter based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real structural steel fitter resumes.

Research structural steel fitter duties and responsibilities

Align aircraft components precisely using layout, jigs, templates and fixtures.
Operate forklifts and overhead hoists to gather materials and remove complete pieces.
Help maintenance fix some overhead crane problems .Skills UsedExperience at reading prints, fitting and mig fluxcore welding.
Cut materials according to specifications with acetylene and oxygen torches.

Prepare your structural steel fitter resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your structural steel fitter 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 structural steel fitter resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable structural steel fitter resume templates

Build a professional structural steel fitter 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 structural steel fitter resume.