Sheet Metal Worker
Fabricate, assemble, install, and repair sheet metal products and equipment, such as ducts, control boxes, drainpipes, and furnace casings. Work may involve any of the following: setting up and operating fabricating machines to cut, bend, and straighten sheet metal; shaping metal over anvils, blocks, or forms using hammer; operating soldering and welding equipment to join sheet metal parts; or inspecting, assembling, and smoothing seams and joints of burred surfaces. Includes sheet metal duct installers who install prefabricated sheet metal ducts used for heating, air conditioning, or other purposes.
Annual openings
211
BLS median wage
$57,880
Typical education
Flexible / varies by employer
10-year growth
+5%
Career requirements
What does this career require?
The education, credentials, and on-the-job competencies Colorado employers expect for this role.
Typical education
Flexible / varies by employer
Credential requirement
No specific credential listed yet
Credential detail
Become a Skilled Trades Master Craftsman. Depending upon the trade, Skilled Trades Professionals can become Master Craftsmen through experience and additional credentials. Master Craftsmen earn more money and may supervise apprentices in the trade.
Experience detail
Work experience under the guidance (possibly as an apprentice) of a Skilled Tradesperson is expected.
Work-based learning
Build Colorado provides more information about this job as well as links to organizations that provide apprenticeships for them.
Is this work a fit?
What the work actually feels like
How people in this career tend to spend their time, the interests it draws on, and a look at a typical day.
Automation exposure
High exposure
Many tasks are repeatable, so technology could reshape the day-to-day over time.
A typical day
- Maintain equipment, making repairs or modifications when necessary.
- Fabricate or alter parts at construction sites, using shears, hammers, punches, or drills.
- Determine project requirements, such as scope, assembly sequences, or required methods or materials, using blueprints, drawings, or written or verbal instructions.
- Select gauges or types of sheet metal or nonmetallic material, according to product specifications.
- Shape metal material over anvils, blocks, or other forms, using hand tools.
- Trim, file, grind, deburr, buff, or smooth surfaces, seams, or joints of assembled parts, using hand tools or portable power tools.