If you're looking for a viable long-term career, welding is a promising career field. Once you're fully trained as a welder, the welding jobs that will be open to you offer several advantages over other forms of occupation.

Decent Wages

First, most welding jobs offer a decent wage or salary. The median welder pay was $19.89 per hour or $41,380 per year in 2018, which is more than enough to have a decent living. While you won't be earning a doctor's pay, this will allow you to provide for a family. It's an especially decent wage considering you don't need a four-year degree to be a welder.

If you want to earn more than the median annual wage for a welder, there are often many opportunities to make more. A good number of welders earn a higher wage than the median, and you can likely expect to increase your income as you gain experience. Many jobs also come with opportunities for overtime work, which can significantly boost your income.

Moreover, these ages are stable both throughout the year and for the foreseeable future. Welding isn't seasonal like landscaping or retail, and it's been in demand for decades. For as long as companies are manufacturing metal components, there will be a need for welders to build, install, maintain and repair the parts.

Nationwide Job Opportunities

Second, there are welding job openings in most areas. While some cities with well-developed manufacturing industries have more jobs than other municipalities that don't have the same level of manufacturing, there are welding jobs in manufacturing jobs and other fields almost everywhere. 

Oil and gas is another field that has a high demand for welders, and this industry often operates in remote regions if you prefer a less populated area.

As a welder, you can work in a city, suburban or rural setting. You'll also find welding jobs in the Northern, Southern, Eastern, Central or Western United States.

With job openings all over, you can likely find a welding job anywhere you currently live and anywhere you would like to live. You could even choose to relocate every few years and take jobs in different areas if you like.

Opportunity to Advance

Importantly, welding jobs aren't dead-end jobs. While you can remain a welder for your entire career if you want to, there are also opportunities to advance in the field. You can specialize in a specific type of welding, or you can become a supervisor.

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