Skip to main content
Careermash
CAREERMASH (EN)FROM CONSTRUCTION & TRADES →

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 EXPOSURE TODAY4
20-YEAR SCENARIO
NOT A FORECAST49%
THE DOOR · ENTRY DIFFICULTY TODAYB
STARTING PAYnot published
MOAT NOT YET CLASSIFIEDA real score, but the moat is not yet classified. No claim either way.

THE DOOR: ENTRY DIFFICULTY TODAY, graded A (easy) to E (extremely hard). A Careermash rule-of-thumb index built from our AI exposure index and the job's moat class. It is not a forecast and not a count of job openings.

AI EXPOSURE TODAY is a Careermash index from 0 to 100 of how exposed this job's everyday tasks are to AI today. We estimate it by matching published research on how people use AI to this job, usually by keyword or subject area, and we lower it where the work is protected (for example by physical, personal or legal requirements). It is not a direct measurement of how much people in this job use AI.

AI exposure is low for this work today
AI exposure today for this job is low on our index (4), an estimate rather than a measurement. We have not yet classified what, if anything, structurally protects it, so we make no claim either way about a moat. 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.