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.
Most important skills
- Quality Control Analysis
- Monitoring
- Critical Thinking
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Operations Monitoring
- Time Management
- Active Listening
- Speaking
Key knowledge
- Production and Processing
- Mechanical
- Mathematics
- English Language
- Design
- Engineering and Technology
- Education and Training
- Public Safety and Security
What the work involves
- Analyze engineering drawings, blueprints, specifications, sketches, work orders, and material safety data sheets to plan layout, assembly, and operations.
- Weld components in flat, vertical, or overhead positions.
- Operate safety equipment and use safe work habits.
- Examine workpieces for defects and measure workpieces with straightedges or templates to ensure conformance with specifications.
- 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.
- Weld separately or in combination, using aluminum, stainless steel, cast iron, and other alloys.
- Select and install torches, torch tips, filler rods, and flux, according to welding chart specifications or types and thicknesses of metals.
- Connect and turn regulator valves to activate and adjust gas flow and pressure so that desired flames are obtained.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (53.6% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (33.9%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (26.8%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very low | Lower on contact with others than 85% of occupations compared | 44% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very low | Lower on dealing with the public than 93% of occupations compared | 61% of surveyed respondents chose “Not important at all” |
| Teamwork | Low | Lower on teamwork than 79% of occupations compared | 38% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 93% of occupations compared | 27% of surveyed respondents chose “Limited freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very high | Higher on time pressure than 91% of occupations compared | 72% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Low | Lower on conflict situations than 79% of occupations compared | 47% of surveyed respondents chose “Never” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very low | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 83% of occupations compared | 40% of surveyed respondents chose “Never” |
| Consequence of error | High | Higher on consequence of error than 62% of occupations compared | 33% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very high
- Conflict situations: low
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very low
- Consequence of error: high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 5.26%
- Occasional contact with others: 19.5%
- Contact with others about half the time: 10.69%
- Contact with others most of the time: 20.49%
- Constant contact with others: 44.06%
n = 43, Incumbent 08/2022
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 61.31%
- Fairly important: 3.91%
- Important: 17.04%
- Very important: 10.02%
- Extremely important: 7.72%
n = 43, Incumbent 08/2022
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0.81%
- Fairly important: 19.06%
- Important: 12.38%
- Very important: 29.75%
- Extremely important: 38.01%
n = 43, Incumbent 08/2022
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 13.72%
- Very little freedom: 12.53%
- Limited freedom: 27.08%
- Some freedom: 22.85%
- A lot of freedom: 23.82%
n = 42, Incumbent 08/2022
Time pressure
- Never: 1.12%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 7.53%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 2.81%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 16.15%
- Every day: 72.39%
n = 43, Incumbent 08/2022
Conflict situations
- Never: 47.27%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 6.42%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 18.72%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 14.24%
- Every day: 13.36%
n = 41, Incumbent 08/2022
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 40.28%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 16.97%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 28.19%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 8.27%
- Every day: 6.29%
n = 42, Incumbent 08/2022
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 16.29%
- Fairly serious: 25.66%
- Serious: 7.43%
- Very serious: 17.82%
- Extremely serious: 32.8%
n = 41, Incumbent 08/2022
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O*NET-SOC 51-4121.00 · SOC 51-4121 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8