Welding Isn’t Going Anywhere, Automation or Not

Key Takeaways

• The welding industry will need an estimated 320,500 new welding professionals by 2029, about 80,000 jobs to fill each year, as more than 157,000 current welding professionals approach retirement.
• Robotic welding is spreading through manufacturing, and it’s creating roles like robotic welding technicians that usually start with a welding background.
• Welding out of position, inspecting joints, fitting up parts, and choosing a process for the metal depend on a person on site.
• A welding career can grow into inspection, supervision, engineering, pipeline work, or robotics.

“Will robots replace welders?” is a question more students and career changers are asking as AI tools and automation spread into more workplaces. It’s a fair question before committing time and money to training. Hiring projections and the way manufacturers are using robots both point to a trade with a long future, and the work is changing in ways that create new roles for people who know how to weld.

Is Welding a Good Career?

Is welding a good career when automation keeps making headlines? Pay is only part of the answer, since stability and room to grow matter as much, and welding holds up well on both:

• Long-term demand: The industry will need an estimated 320,500 new welding professionals by 2029, about 80,000 jobs to fill each year. More than 157,000 of the roughly 771,000 welding professionals working today are approaching retirement.
• Room to advance: Welding experience leads into careers as a welding inspector, supervisor, engineer, pipeliner, ironworker, or robotic welding technician, so an entry-level welding job doesn’t have to be the last stop. Each of those paths builds on hands-on welding skills.
• A short path in: A welding certificate from a technical school typically takes 6 to 18 months, compared with four years for a bachelor’s degree, so new welders start earning sooner.
• Portable credentials: The American Welding Society (AWS) Certified Welder program tests welders on procedures used in structural steel, petroleum pipeline, sheet metal, and chemical refinery work. A welder who qualifies in one area can follow demand from one industry to the next.

What the Welding Job Outlook Shows Through 2035

The welding job outlook depends on which workers are counted, since federal projections cover a narrower group than the industry estimate. Employment for welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers is projected to grow by about 2% from 2025 to 2035, slower than average but still growth, with about 40,300 openings each year across a workforce of roughly 437,700 jobs. Aging bridges, highways, and buildings will also need welders to repair and rebuild them, and that work happens outdoors and on site, far from any robotic cell.

Most of those openings replace welders who retire or advance into related roles like inspection and supervision. The larger industry estimate also counts boilermakers, ironworkers, sheet metal workers, fabricators, and welding machine operators, which is why it runs higher than the federal figure for welders alone.

Welding also holds up better than the production jobs around it. Production occupations as a group are projected to decline by less than 1% over the same decade, while office and administrative support jobs are expected to shrink 4% as AI-powered tools spread through daily workflows. The jobs most exposed to AI center on screens and paperwork, while welding depends on physical skill on the shop floor and the job site.

Demand also reaches well beyond a few industrial hubs. The region that includes Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, and New Mexico alone employs about 140,000 welding professionals.

Will Robots Replace Welders?

Robots are taking on more welding work, mainly in factory production. Industrial robots and collaborative robots (cobots) are becoming more affordable and easier to use, and robotic arc welding is becoming an everyday tool in American manufacturing. Manufacturers of all sizes are adopting it to raise productivity and cope with labor shortages.

That shift has created its own staffing problem. As manual welding positions get harder to fill, manufacturers turning to robots now need a workforce capable of programming and operating the equipment.

Those jobs often go to welders. Robotic welding technicians program robotic welders, calibrate and maintain the systems, troubleshoot malfunctions, and monitor weld quality, and many begin their careers as welders before moving into robotics. Industries like automotive manufacturing, heavy equipment, and aerospace keep adding robotic welding systems, which keeps demand for those technicians steady.

The role also pays well as experience builds. Experienced technicians with robotics certifications earn $65,000 to $80,000 a year, and senior technicians in high-demand industries can earn $85,000 or more. Specialized certifications in robotic arc welding can make a technician more competitive for those jobs.

For someone entering the trade, robotics experience adds to a welder’s value. A welder who also understands automated systems can work in the booth, beside the robot, or in the field.

What Robots Can’t Replace on the Job

Robotic welding systems typically run in clean, controlled settings like assembly lines. Plenty of welding happens on job sites, in repair shops, and on structures too big to move, and the core tasks for welders include work that depends on a person on site:

• Welding out of position: Welders join components in flat, vertical, and overhead positions, often on structures that can’t be moved into a fixture.
• Inspecting the work: Welders examine workpieces for defects and measure them against specifications before and after welding.
• Fitting up joints: Welders align and clamp workpieces by hand, and small gaps or misalignment change how a joint needs to be welded.
• Choosing the process: Welders select equipment and methods based on metallurgy, geometry, and the thickness of the metal. A process that works on thin sheet metal can fail on a thick structural beam or a pressure pipe.

People stay involved on automated lines as well. Robotic welding technicians monitor weld quality, adjust settings, and work alongside engineers and manual welders to keep production moving.

What to Look for in Welding Training

Training that builds judgment prepares a new welder for manual work, robotic work, and the move between them. A welding program that sets students up for both should include:

• Destructive weld testing: Breaking and bending test welds teaches what a sound weld looks like inside, beyond the surface.
• Metallurgy basics: Understanding how heat changes metal helps a welder choose the right process and settings.
• Structural and pipe welding: These processes lead to field, construction, and infrastructure work that robots rarely reach.
• Multiple welding processes: Shielded metal arc welding (SMAW), metal inert gas (MIG), tungsten inert gas (TIG), and flux-core welding each suit different jobs, and robotic welding technicians need a working knowledge of MIG and TIG processes.
• Certification test prep: Practicing for qualification weld tests helps a new welder prove skills to employers right away.

The Professional Welding Training program at Tulsa Welding School (TWS), for example, covers each of these areas in about seven months.

Robotic welding is growing in factory production, and it’s opening new roles for welders who know how to run it. Welders who can read a weld, fit a joint, and pass a qualification test remain in demand on job sites, in repair shops, and beside robotic welding cells.

For more information on the Professional Welding Training program, class schedules, start dates, and financial aid, reach out to TWS and connect with an admissions representative.