72106 Welders and related machine operators

What this occupation covers

Welders operate welding equipment to weld ferrous and non-ferrous metals. This unit group also includes machine operators who operate previously set up production welding, brazing and soldering equipment. They are employed by companies that manufacture structural steel and platework, boilers, heavy machinery, aircraft and ships and other metal products, and by welding contractors and welding shops, or they may be self-employed. Apprentices are also included in this unit group.

Official main duties

The NOC profile lists 12 main duties for this code.

• Read and interpret blueprints or welding process specifications
• Operate manual or semi-automatic welding equipment to fuse metal segments using processes such as gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW), gas metal arc welding (GMAW), flux-cored arc welding (FCAW), plasma arc welding (PAW), shielded metal arc welding (SMAW), oxy-acetylene welding (OAW), resistance welding and submerged arc welding (SAW)
• Operate manual or semi-automatic flame-cutting equipment
• Operate brazing and soldering equipment
• Operate metal shaping machines such as brakes, shears and other metal straightening and bending machines
• Repair worn parts of metal products by welding on extra layers.
• Welders may specialize in certain types of welding such as custom fabrication, ship building and repair, aerospace precision welding, pressure vessel welding, pipeline construction welding, structural construction welding, or machinery and equipment repair welding.
• Operate previously set up welding machines such as spot, butt and seam resistance or gas and arc welding machines to fabricate or repair metal parts
• Operate previously set up brazing or soldering machines to bond metal parts or to fill holes, indentations and seams of metal articles with solder
• Start up, shut down, adjust and monitor robotic welding production line
• Assist with the maintenance and repair of welding, brazing and soldering equipment
• May adjust welding heads and tooling according to work specifications.

Do not copy these lines into your reference letter. The letter has to describe what you actually did, in your employer’s words. DUTYPROOF flags wording lifted from the NOC as something to review, and an officer reading a letter that mirrors the NOC reads it the same way.

What DUTYPROOF screens for

This is DUTYPROOF’s screening threshold, not IRCC’s decision. For this NOC, screening requires at least 2 of its 12 official duties to be evidenced in your own words, plus the required letter elements. IRCC asks that you performed the actions in the occupation’s lead statement and a substantial number of its main duties — so treat the duty coverage as the number that matters, not the badge.

Codes this one is confused with

The NOC profile names these itself. Choosing the wrong code of a look-alike pair is the most common way genuine work experience fails to establish eligibility.

• 94201 Electronics assemblers, fabricators, inspectors and testers
• 22230 Non-destructive testers and inspectors
• 72010 Contractors and supervisors, machining, metal forming, shaping and erecting trades and related occupations
• 22101 Geological and mineral technologists and technicians

Excluded from this code

• Wave soldering machine operator (See 94201 Electronics assemblers, fabricators, inspectors and testers)
• Weld tester (See 22230 Non-destructive testers and inspectors)
• Welder supervisor (See 72010 Contractors and supervisors, machining, metal forming, shaping and erecting trades and related occupations)
• Welding technologist (See 22101 Geological and mineral technologists and technicians)

Job titles filed under this code

A title on this list does not by itself put your experience in this code — the duties in your letter decide that.

acetylene welder · aircraft welder · apprentice welder · arc welder · arc welder - pipeline · assembler tack welder · auto body solderer · automated welding machine operator - flash butt process · automatic welding machine operator · aviation welding technician · battery lead burner · battery lead-burner operator · blowtorch operator · blowtorch welder · boiler welder · brazer · brazer and hammerer · brazing machine operator · brazing machine setter · cable welder · combination welder · dielectric welder · downhand welder - pipeline · drilling platform welder

Employment requirements

• Welders
• Completion of secondary school is usually required.
• Completion of a three-year apprenticeship program or A combination of over three years of work experience in the trade and some college or industry courses in welding is usually required to be eligible for trade certification.
• Trade certification is compulsory in Alberta and available, but voluntary, in all other provinces and the territories.
• Red Seal endorsement is also available to qualified welders upon successful completion of the interprovincial Red Seal examination.
• Welding, brazing and soldering machine operators
• Some secondary school education is required.
• Several months of on-the-job training are usually provided.
• Experience as a machine operator helper may be required.
• Experience with robotics may be required.