Also called: Corrosion Specialist
Fights rust and decay in bridges, pipelines, ships, and power plants.
You inspect a pipeline's protective coatings, design systems that use small electric currents to stop rust, and analyze why a part corroded. Corrosion costs the US hundreds of billions of dollars a year.
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 materials, chemical, or mechanical engineering; AMPP (formerly NACE) certification.
Ways in: 4-year college, Certification. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Materials Science & Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering.
Growing faster than average (about 6% over 10 years). Growth is for materials engineers overall.
Low risk for 10 years. Sensors and drones help inspect, but fixing rust on bridges, pipelines and ships keeps engineers in the field.
Classes: AP Chemistry, Physics, Earth science.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-2131.
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