Skip to main content

Welder

A welder joins metal parts together using heat, building and repairing everything from gates and vehicles to ships and structures. It is a skilled, hands-on trade that suits precise, patient people who like working with their hands and seeing solid, lasting results.

Welder

4

Construction & Trades

AI IMPACT
AI USED FOR4%moving to49%
THE DOOR, NOWB
THE DOOR, 20 YRSD
STARTING PAYnot published
MOAT NOT YET CLASSIFIEDA real score, but the moat is not yet classified. No claim either way.

THE DOOR: A easy to E extremely hard, now and in 20 years

AI is used for very little of this work today
AI is used for very little of the day-to-day tasks in this job today. We have not yet classified what, if anything, structurally protects it, so we make no claim either way about a moat: the exposure score is the measured part. Learn the tools, and build the judgement that stays human.

Career progression path

Salary progression for this career has not been published yet.

Apprenticeship listings for this career → (June 2026 snapshot; check closing dates on the official service)

Real apprenticeship standards

Live UK apprenticeship standards that lead into this career, from the Institute for Apprenticeships register.

L2Welder18 months typicalnot published
L2Welding (mechanised) – Apprenticeship unitnot published
L3Plate welder36 months typicalnot published
There is more than one way in

You do not have to go the university route to get here. There is also a vocational route that skips a degree entirely.