Welder Job Description

The Welder uses hand-welding or flame-cutting equipment to weld or join metal components or to fill holes, indentations, or seams of fabricated metal products.

Tasks for Welders

• The Welder operates safety equipment and uses safe work habits while performing his job function.
• The Welder welds components in flat, vertical, or overhead positions.
• The Welder ignites torches or starts power supplies and strikes arcs by touching electrodes to metals being welded, completing electrical circuits.
• The Welder detects faulty operation of equipment or defective materials and notifies supervisors.
• The Welder clamps, holds, tack-weld, heat-bend, grind or bolts component parts to obtain required configurations and positions for welding.
• The Welder operates manual or semi-automatic welding equipment to fuse metal segments, using processes such as gas tungsten arc, gas metal arc, and flux-cored arc, plasma arc, and shielded metal arc, resistance welding, and submerged arc welding.
• The Welder monitors the fitting, burning, and welding processes to avoid overheating of parts of warping, shrinking, distortion, or expansion of materials.
• The Welder examines work pieces for defects and measures work pieces with straightedges or templates to ensure conformance with specifications.
• The Welder recognizes, set up, and operates hand and power tools common to the welding trade, such as shielded metal arc and gas metal arc welding equipment.
• The Welder will lay out, position, align, and secure parts and assemblies prior to assembly, using straightedges, combination squares, calipers, and rulers.

The Welder needs knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance. The Welder needs knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models. The Welder must give full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times. The Welder knows that he must be able to use mathematics to solve problems pertaining to welding functions. The Welder must determine the kind of tools and equipment needed to do a job. The Welder is responsible to manage how much time he uses on a project and the time of others that might be in his crew. The Welder needs to use logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems. The Welder needs to be able to understand written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

The Welder is responsible to perform routine maintenance on equipment and determine when and what kind of maintenance is needed. He must also be able to speak to others to convey information effectively so that the job can be completed in the manner it should be. The Welder needs the ability to keep hand and arm steady while moving the arm or while holding the hand in one position. The Welder needs the ability to see details at close range while he is doing his job function. The Welder needs the ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions. They also need the ability to quickly move the hand, the hand together with the arm, or two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects. The Welder also needs the ability to make precise coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.

The Welder needs to be able to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand. The Welder needs to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. This does not mean that they need to be involved in solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem. The Welder must be able to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted. The Welder must use controlled mechanisms or direct physical activity to operate machines or processes not including computers or vehicles. The Welder must observe, receive, and otherwise obtain information from all relevant sources before starting a project. The Welder performs physical activities that require considerable use of your arms and legs and moving the whole body, such as climbing, lifting, balancing, walking, stooping, and handling of materials.