Career Explorer Production
Human edge, steady
Patternmakers, wood
Plan, lay out, and construct wooden unit or sectional patterns used in forming sand molds for castings.
In the middle of the pack: more resilient than 59% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is moderate (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it moderate), and US jobs are projected to change by -2.0% by 2035, expected to shrink. The work leans on physical dexterity and creative vision.
AI struggles with much of this work. Hiring is expected to grow slower than average, or to shrink.
- Median pay (2025)
- $49,630
- Job growth to 2035
- -2.0%
- Openings a year
- 100
- People doing it (2025)
- 600
- Usual route in
- High school diploma, then moderate on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Read documents or materials to inform work processes
- Measure physical characteristics of materials, products, or equipment
- Adjust equipment to ensure adequate performance
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Assemble products or work aids
- Position materials or components for assembly
- Shape materials to create products
What the work looks like
- Read blueprints, drawings, or written specifications to determine sizes and shapes of patterns and required machine setups.
- Fit, fasten, and assemble wood parts together to form patterns, models, or sections, using glue, nails, dowels, bolts, and screws.
- Lay out patterns on wood stock and draw outlines of units, sectional patterns, or full-scale mock-ups of products, based on blueprint specifications and sketches, and using marking and measuring devices.
- Trim, smooth, and shape surfaces, and plane, shave, file, scrape, and sand models to attain specified shapes, using hand tools.
- Divide patterns into sections according to shapes of castings to facilitate removal of patterns from molds.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plasticHuman edge, growing, Index 96, +5.8%
- Model makers, woodHuman edge, steady, Index 62, -3.3%
- Fishing and hunting workersHuman edge, steady, Index 73, -4.2%
- Etchers and engraversHuman edge, steady, Index 60, -0.7%
Also known as: Mold Maker, Pattern Maker, Patternmaker, Wood Pattern Maker, Pattern Engineer, Wood Patternmaker, Wood Shop Moldmaker, Woodshop Worker.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.