Pressure Welder
What the work is
Assembles, welds and repairs pressure vessels and pipes to relevant standards.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Reads and interprets blueprints and technical specifications to determine appropriate welding techniques for pressurised systems
- Examines welds for width of bead, penetration and precision, and performs necessary repairs or reworks
- Shapes, bends, cleans and smooths metal sections and pipes using hand and machine tools, and by heating, hammering, filing and chiselling
- Welds pressurised pipelines used for transporting oil, gas and other high-pressure substances
- Conducts tests on welds to ensure there are no leaks in the pressurised systems
- Applies post-weld treatments to relieve stress and enhance the strength of the welded joints on pressure-containing equipment
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a fictional steel fabrication workshop that builds frames, tanks and pipework for farms and factories. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A weld bead that is clean and even from one end to the other
- A big frame you marked out and built is lifted onto a truck and fits exactly
- A tough repair job that keeps a farm's machine working through harvest
Hard days
- Hot, loud work in a heavy mask while the day's deadline creeps closer
- A job that fails inspection and has to be cut out and done again
- A drawing that does not quite add up and nobody answers the phone
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 331132, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.