Many people, when looking to enter the industry naturally want to know what a welder salary is. And that is perfectly understandable, especially when you consider that becoming a welder is going to take some training and certification. Welding is not a field in which you can just enter. But once you are certified then you are good to go as far as embarking on a career as a welder goes.
Now, before we get into a welder salary, you do need to know that as a rule, there is no particular set welder salary as there are many factors that will come into play when determining your wages. Your geographical location will always be one of the top things to consider as some parts of the country are naturally more expensive to live in than others and your welder salary will be in direct relation to that. Other factors in determining welder salary are whether your job will be for a private company, a unionized one or perhaps even a government position. Because they are usually provided with annual and cost-of-living pay hikes the government or unions job will more than likely – but not always – pay more. And do bear in mind that some welding certifications are deemed to be more advanced than others.
For example, if you are trained to use the higher end methods of welding such as computer-assisted or robotic types of welding you obviously will have a higher welder salary than someone whose welding skills are not up to par and work mainly on jobs not requiring advanced certification and skills.
In order to ensure that you are ready to qualify for a career as a welder it is important that you be proficient in the following: Math, Mechanical Drawing, Physics and at least some basic principles governing electricity. If you plan to go for the more advanced processes that will boost your welder salary then you may also want to look into learning computers and robotics.
All that having been said, you can look at the following as a rough estimate of what your welder salary will look like: Hourly wage should be somewhere from the $14 or so range all the way up to close to $20. Again, many factors will come into play that will affect what your actual welder salary will be. But the above-mentioned, while not being absolute is more or less what you can expect, at least when beginning.