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Welding Trades

Welding trades workers join metal parts by welding, brazing and soldering, and cut and remove defects from metal using a variety of equipment and techniques.

Wages

New workers
AVERAGE
Experienced
£19,303
£30,485
£46,878

New workers start around £19,303. Normal pay is £30,485 per year.
Highly experienced workers can earn up to £46,878.

Available jobs

In the past year there were 41,653 vacancies for this type of job

2.30%

Projected job growth over the next 8 years

Related courses

People work towards these careers by taking these courses at college and uni.

What they do most days?

  • Checks finished workpiece for defects and conformity with specification.

  • Cleans and smooths weld.

  • Guides electrode or torch along line of weld, burns away damaged areas, and melts brazing alloy or solder into joints.

  • Cuts metal pieces using gas torch or electric arc.

  • Connects wires to power supply, or hoses to oxygen, acetylene, argon, carbon dioxide, electric arc, or other source and adjusts controls to regulate gas pressure and rate of flow.

  • Selects appropriate welding equipment such as electric arc, gas torch, etc..

Hard Skills

Hard skills are specific, learnable, measurable, often industry or occupation-specific abilities related to a position.

Skills are ranked based on the number of job adverts that list them as required skills.

  • Metal Inert Gas (MIG) Welding

  • Welding

  • Gas Tungsten Arc Welding

  • Fabrication

  • Engineering Drawings

  • Carbon Steel

  • Technical Drawing

  • Machinery

  • Hand Tools

  • Sheet Metal

Soft Skills

Soft skills can be self-taught and usually do not necessitate a certain completed level of education.

Skills are ranked based on the number of job adverts that list them as required skills.

  • Detail Oriented

  • Communication

  • Problem Solving

  • Operations

  • Teamwork

  • Self-Motivation

  • Quality Control

  • Management

  • Troubleshooting (Problem Solving)

  • English Language

How do I get a job like this?

People in these types of job started their career paths after studying courses like the ones below.