Welding

Do you like working alone? Are you careful and patient? Do you have an eye for detail? Are you good with your hands? Could you work with precision tools and equipment? Are you well-coordinated? Do you have good eyesight? Then, welder could be the career for you!

What the work is like

Welders join metal parts such as pipes, vessels, and other components used in construction or manufacturing. Welders may also add layers of metal to build up worn parts. They are employed by construction companies, welding contractors and welding shops, or they may be self-employed. Welders work in all four construction sectors: new home building and renovation, heavy industrial, institutional and commercial, and civil engineering.

Your duties

Welders may specialize in certain types of welding such as pipeline construction welding, structural construction welding, or machinery and equipment repair welding. As a welder, your duties may include:

• Operating manual or semi-automatic welding equipment to join metal parts
• Shaping metal parts
• Repairing worn metal products by welding on extra layers
• Reading and interpreting blueprints

Work conditions

The standard work week for welders is 40 hours (8 hours a day, 5 days a week). As with many careers in construction, there are peak periods that will require you to work overtime. The number of additional hours you work each week depends on the construction sector and region you work in, and will vary from one job to the next.

As a welder, you may work outdoors on construction sites or indoors in production and repair shops. You will often work independently, but will interact with other construction professionals. Depending on your line of work, you may have to travel to remote job sites such as oil fields.

The job can be physically demanding—you may have to stand for long periods of time or work in awkward positions.

As with all careers in the construction industry, safety is the top priority. Welders are trained to work safely, and wear special equipment to protect themselves from injury.

Essential skills

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) has identified nine essential skills that are necessary to succeed in the workplace:

• Reading text—extracting information from written material
• Document use—reading and interpreting documents to extract information
• Numeracy—working with numbers to perform calculations
• Writing—writing text in documents and on the computer
• Oral communication—conveying or exchanging information verbally
• Working with others—interacting with co-workers to get the job done
• Continuous learning—continuing to learn on the job
• Thinking skills
  • Problem solving—coming up with solutions to challenges
  • Decision making—making a choice among options
  • Critical thinking—analyzing a situation and making an assessment
  • Job task planning and organizing—working independently to plan and organize daily tasks
  • Significant use of memory—performing tasks that call upon greater memory use than most jobs
  • Finding information—locating information from a variety of sources, including text, people, computerized databases or information systems
• Computer skills—working with computers to operate machinery or to input/extract information

These skills provide the foundation for learning all other skills and are applicable to most construction careers. Best of all, you can learn and improve on these skills in school, on the job, and during your everyday life.

The most important Essential Skills for welders are:

• Numeracy—working with numbers to perform calculations
• Problem solving—coming up with solutions to challenges

Apprenticeship

Apprenticeship is one way of starting out in the construction industry. It involves both classroom studies and on-the-job training under the supervision of a certified welder, called a journeyperson.

As an apprentice, you earn while you learn and are paid by the hour while working on the job site. Wages start at about 60% of a journeyperson’s hourly rate and increase during your apprenticeship, until you reach the full rate. Requirements for welder apprenticeship programs vary across Canada. In most provinces and territories, you must have a Grade 9 education, or equivalent, to enter a welding apprenticeship program. 

Some provinces and territories offer secondary school apprenticeship programs that allow high school students to work towards a career as a welder.

Program length

Apprenticeship training programs for welders vary across Canada, but generally involve three 12-month periods, including at least 4,680 hours of on-the-job training, three 8-week blocks of technical training, and a final certificate examination.

Related work experience or completion of a welder program at a college or technical institute can reduce the time required to complete your apprenticeship.

Certification

Welder certification is required in Alberta, and is available but voluntary in most other provinces and territories. Even where certification is voluntary, it is still recommended. Certification tells employers and other workers that you are a skilled professional. It also helps you get jobs.

To be certified as a welder, you usually need to complete a three-year apprenticeship program. Once you successfully complete the on-the-job training, technical training and examinations required by the program, you are awarded a journeyperson certificate.

If you have over three years of on-the-job experience and some high school, college or industry courses in welding, you may be eligible for welder certification in some provinces and territories.

As a certified welder, you may attempt the Interprovincial Exam to qualify for the Interprovincial Standards’ Red Seal. With a Red Seal, you can work as a welder anywhere in Canada.

To keep your skills current, you have to keep up with new technological developments by reading, and talking with other welders.

Where to study in British Columbia

In addition to the Canadian schools listed below, many employer and labour organizations offer training. 

British Columbia Institute of Technology
Camosun College
College of New Caledonia
College of the Rockies
Kwantlen University College
Malaspina University-College
North Island College
Northern Lights College
Northwest Community College
Okanagan University College
Selkirk College
University College of the Cariboo
Thompson Rivers University
University College of the Fraser Valley

Salary ranges

TYPICAL WORK WEEK/YEAR *

In addition to their hourly rate, many construction workers receive statutory holiday and vacation pay. Depending on the contract, you may also receive benefits such as group insurance for health, dental and vision care, retirement packages, and training benefits up to 30% of your hourly rate. If you are self-employed, it’s up to you to arrange your own benefits.

* Wages vary across Canada, among labour organization locals and among open-shop construction contractors.

** Most construction work involves overtime, so your annual salary will vary depending on the number of hours you work. The salary range listed above represents the annual salary range for full-time journeyperson welders across Canada, based on a 40-hour work week, without taking overtime into account.