Also called: Joining Engineer
Figures out the best way to permanently join metals for ships, pipelines, rockets and cars, and writes the procedures welders follow.
A new aluminum truck frame keeps cracking near the welds. You cut test pieces, look at them under a microscope, change the filler metal and heat input, and write a new procedure. Then you go out to the floor to watch the welders try it.
Estimate; BLS has no separate welding engineer category.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in welding engineering (Ohio State, LeTourneau and a few others) or materials/mechanical engineering.
Ways in: 4-year college. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Welding Engineering, Materials Science & Engineering, Mechanical Engineering.
Growing faster than average. Few graduates and many retirements mean strong demand.
Low risk for 10 years. AI helps pick parameters and spot defects, but qualifying procedures and signing off safety-critical welds stay human.
Classes: AP Chemistry, AP Physics, AP Calculus, Welding CTE class.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-2141.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.