Career Explorer Production
Human edge, steady
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.
More resilient than most: more resilient than 67% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is very low (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it low), and US jobs are projected to change by +2.4% by 2035, slower than average. The work leans on physical dexterity.
AI struggles with much of this work. Hiring is expected to grow slower than average, or to shrink.
- Median pay (2025)
- $53,750
- Job growth to 2035
- +2.4%
- Openings a year
- 40,300
- People doing it (2025)
- 438,000
- Usual route in
- High school diploma, then moderate on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Select materials or equipment for operations or projects
- Maintain safety or security
- Measure physical characteristics of materials, products, or equipment
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Join parts using soldering, welding, or brazing techniques
- Prepare industrial materials for processing or use
- Operate cutting or grinding equipment
What the work looks like
- Operate safety equipment and use safe work habits.
- Examine workpieces for defects and measure workpieces with straightedges or templates to ensure conformance with specifications.
- Weld components in flat, vertical, or overhead positions.
- Check grooves, angles, or gap allowances, using micrometers, calipers, and precision measuring instruments.
- Detect faulty operation of equipment or defective materials and notify supervisors.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- Fewer of these jobs, as welding robotics and other automated welding methods improve productivity, thus decreasing labor requirements.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Fiberglass laminators and fabricatorsHuman edge, growing, Index 86, +4.6%
- Food processing workers, all otherHuman edge, growing, Index 86, +5.5%
- Production workers, all otherHuman edge, steady, Index 79, +0.8%
- Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishersHuman edge, growing, Index 73, +5.0%
Also known as: Brazer, Solderer, Welder, Wirer, Assembly Line Brazer, Fabrication Welder, Maintenance Welder, MIG Welder (Metal Inert Gas Welder).
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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.