How to Reach a 6-Figure Salary in a Welding Career by the Time You Are 30

When someone thinks about a welding career, they don’t always associate it with making a six-figure salary. They typically think of a lower-paying job. But did you know, if you work hard in your welding abilities, take on leadership roles, and are willing to travel, you can earn six figures in a welding career just 12 years after graduating high school? By then you will be around 30 years old.

Here are the steps you take post graduating high school in order to reach that six-figure salary in a welding career by the time you are 30.

Steps to a Lucrative Welding Career

1. Become a Junior Welder

If you check out our blog post “4 Steps to Becoming a Welder,” it will give you a quick rundown of the specific steps you need to take to become a welder. But to give you a brief synopsis, you need to either attend a welding college post graduating high school or find a company that will teach you how to weld while you work as a laborer. Then, get a job as a welding apprentice for one to two years until you are officially a junior welder.

2. Become a Junior Foreman

Once you become a junior welder, you will start earning opportunities to lead a small group of other welders as a junior foreman. When you become a junior foreman, you are given specific tasks from the senior foreman that you and a group of two to five men/women need to complete. Even though you are managing your group of two to five men/women, you are also expected to weld alongside your co-welders. As the junior foreman, you ensure correct steps are taken in the correct order and quality welds are done. You are also in charge of holding morning safety meetings and following through with all safety protocols. Now that you are willing to spearhead a leadership role, you are on track to earning that six-digit income in a welding career.

3. Become a Journeyman Welder/Senior Foreman

If you are on an accelerated track, you can become a journeyman welder/senior foreman within two years of becoming a junior welder/junior foreman. In order to do this, you must be a dedicated worker, an exceptional welder, and an admirable leader. As a senior foreman, you will continue to work alongside your welders. At the same time, you will manage a group of tasks given to you by a field superintendent. It is your responsibility to divide those tasks among your junior foreman. Then, throughout the day, you check on your crew, as well as the crews of your junior foreman. You manage the required safety meetings and handouts that will be fulfilled by each junior foreman.

4. Become a Junior Field Superintendent

A journeyman welder is the highest welding position you can reach. The income in Utah ranges from $60,000-$80,000 a year. However, if you want the opportunity to make even more and breach over into that six-figure income in a welding career, then you need to continue on as a field superintendent. As a junior field superintendent, you can either work on the same job with your senior field superintendent or manage an entire job on your own. If you are working a job completely on your own, you are the “boots on the ground” contact with the client, and manage the senior foreman. You are completely responsible for the adherence to all safety protocols. As well as the quality and timeliness of the project. Luckily, you aren’t completely alone in figuring out how to accomplish this. You have your senior field superintendent who has been in contact with the client and is stopping by the job site a few times a week to check on the advancements of the project. If you have any questions or concerns the senior field superintendent is there to assist. On extremely large projects, you and the senior superintendent will work together on the project. Dividing and conquering the leadership tasks. As a junior field superintendent in Utah, you will make between $70,000 – $85,000 a year.

5. Becoming a Senior Field Superintendent

Unless you are the CEO, the senior field superintendent is the highest position you can receive in a welding career. In this position, you are taking on the weight of every project you manage. You have all the answers for clients, a team of leaders, and welders. You will be in charge of all paperwork, manage your junior field superintendents, ensure clients’ satisfaction, and even weld whenever there is a need for your project. As the senior field superintendent, you should be prepared to travel to job sites and stay in that location for as long as three months. If the project is in a different state than your home, you will be able to go home and see your family for a three-day period every two weeks until the project is complete. The company will also fly your family out to see you (expenses paid) for one week during your three-month role. 

This position might sound like a lot of work, and you are right, it is. That is why it pays so well. The pay starts at $80,000 to $120,000 or more. And that doesn’t include the many perks and benefits. Including, company equity, personal company truck, project bonuses, etc. (many of those benefits are also found at the junior field superintendent level).

Earning a six-figure salary in a welding career is definitely assiduous work, but extremely rewarding. If you are a fast learner, hard worker, and quality leader, then this is the career for you. If you are a welder interested in getting on the Barclay Mechanical leadership track, email us your resume with a cover letter to careers@barclaymechanical.com. In your cover letter, state your career ambitions of becoming a field superintendent.

To learn more about Barclay Mechanical specifically, check out our home page at www.barclaymechanical.com or check us out on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or Youtube. #BarclayMechanicalCanDo.