Top 12 Pipefitter Skills to Put on Your Resume
Standing out as a pipefitter means proving you can read the work, build it right, and keep it tight. The skills below show employers you can do exactly that—on time, safely, and to spec.
Pipefitter Skills
- Blueprint Reading
- Welding (TIG, MIG)
- Piping Systems
- Hydraulic Systems
- Steam Systems
- AutoCAD
- Safety Protocols
- Pressure Testing
- Equipment Installation
- Pipe Bending
- Valve Installation
- Threaded Pipe
1. Blueprint Reading
Blueprint reading for a pipefitter means interpreting plans, P&IDs, isometrics, sections, and details—symbols, line types, specs, tolerances, and notes—so the system in your head matches the one that gets built.
Why It's Important
Without accurate interpretation, layout goes sideways. Correct reading leads to proper takeoffs, clean installations, fewer reworks, and safer systems.
How to Improve Blueprint Reading Skills
Drill the legends: piping symbols, valve types, weld symbols, and line specs. Read isometrics until you can visualize the run in space. Practice scale conversions and dimension chains. Do mock takeoffs and create cut lists. Compare drawings to the field—walkdowns sharpen your eye. Learn common code notes and general specifications. Redline changes clearly and update as-builts. The more sets you study, the faster your pattern recognition snaps into place.
How to Display Blueprint Reading Skills on Your Resume
2. Welding (TIG, MIG)
Welding joins metals by melting and fusing. TIG (GTAW) uses a non-consumable tungsten electrode for ultra-clean, precise welds—great for stainless, thin-wall, and critical joints. MIG (GMAW) feeds wire for speed and productivity, strong on carbon steel and thicker sections.
Why It's Important
Sound welds keep systems sealed and strong. Poor welds invite leaks, failures, and costly downtime.
How to Improve Welding (TIG, MIG) Skills
Prep the joint—clean, bevel, fit-up tight. Control heat: travel speed, amperage/voltage, and interpass temperature. Torch and gun angle matter; keep a steady arc length and consistent stickout. For stainless, purge properly. Follow qualified WPS parameters. Inspect your beads: profile, tie-in, penetration, spatter, undercut. Practice in all positions. Run test coupons, break and bend them, learn from the results. And wear the right PPE every single time.
How to Display Welding (TIG, MIG) Skills on Your Resume
3. Piping Systems
Piping systems are the pipes, fittings, valves, supports, and instruments that move fluids from A to B and back again. For a pipefitter, it’s layout, fabrication, installation, and maintenance.
Why It's Important
Every plant depends on piping that flows safely and efficiently. When it’s built right, operations hum. When it isn’t, problems multiply.
How to Improve Piping Systems Skills
Optimize routing to reduce stress, friction loss, and congestion. Plan anchors, guides, and expansion loops to manage growth and vibration. Select materials for temperature, pressure, and corrosion exposure—think liners and coatings when needed. Provide isolation, vents, and drains for startup and maintenance. Place instruments where techs can actually reach them. Prefab spools to boost quality and speed. Verify slopes on drains and steam condensate lines. Label clearly, document thoroughly, and close out with updated as-builts.
How to Display Piping Systems Skills on Your Resume
4. Hydraulic Systems
Hydraulics transmit power using pressurized fluid. Pipefitters install and service the lines, hoses, manifolds, fittings, filters, and related hardware that make that power reliable.
Why It's Important
High forces, high stakes. Clean, tight, and well-routed hydraulics keep equipment responsive and safe.
How to Improve Hydraulic Systems Skills
Fight contamination: proper filtration, clean assembly, caps and plugs, and fluid sampling. Size hoses and pipes for flow and velocity; respect minimum bend radii. Secure clamps to control vibration. Set and test reliefs. Manage heat with coolers and return-line design. Use compatible seals and torque values. Add test ports and clear labels. Track condition with preventive maintenance—filter changes, leak checks, cleanliness codes, and temperature trends.
How to Display Hydraulic Systems Skills on Your Resume
5. Steam Systems
Steam systems generate, distribute, and condense steam through a network of boilers, mains, traps, and returns. Precision matters; heat loss punishes mistakes.
Why It's Important
Hospitals, food plants, refineries—steam is everywhere. Efficient, dry steam saves energy and extends equipment life.
How to Improve Steam Systems Skills
Insulate everything that’s hot—mains, valves, and fittings. Survey and maintain steam traps; failed traps cost real money. Eliminate leaks fast. Recover condensate to boost boiler feedwater temperature and cut treatment costs. Install proper drip legs, strainers, and separators. Allow for expansion with guides and anchors. Keep water chemistry in range. Periodically audit the system and correct what the audit finds.
How to Display Steam Systems Skills on Your Resume
6. AutoCAD
AutoCAD creates precise 2D and 3D drawings—layouts, isometrics, P&IDs, details—so you can plan, coordinate, and document the work before a single pipe is cut.
Why It's Important
Good drawings prevent rework. They align trades, clarify scope, and speed fabrication.
How to Improve AutoCAD Skills
Build templates with layers, linetypes, and annotation styles that match piping standards. Use dynamic blocks for common fittings. Leverage external references to coordinate with structural and electrical. Extract data for bills of materials. Lock in parametric constraints for consistent geometry. If available, use Plant 3D for specs, catalogs, and isometric generation. Keep tool palettes tight, keyboard shortcuts faster, and drawings clean with audit and purge. Name files and sheets in a way your future self will actually understand.
How to Display AutoCAD Skills on Your Resume
7. Safety Protocols
Safety protocols are the guardrails: PPE, hot work rules, confined space entry, lift plans, and lockout/tagout. They turn hazardous tasks into controlled work.
Why It's Important
Pressures, temperatures, weights, and chemicals don’t forgive. Protocols prevent injuries and keep projects compliant.
How to Improve Safety Protocols Skills
Write job hazard analyses and brief them before work. Train on equipment, permits, and emergency actions. Enforce PPE that matches the task. Inspect tools, slings, and rigs. Control ignition sources, assign a fire watch, and monitor air as needed. Lock and tag energy sources—verify zero energy. Barricade the area, keep housekeeping tight, and report near misses. Update procedures after lessons learned, not just annually.
How to Display Safety Protocols Skills on Your Resume
8. Pressure Testing
Pressure testing proves a system’s integrity by pressurizing with a test medium—usually water or air—and checking for leaks and weaknesses.
Why It's Important
It’s the last checkpoint before turnover. A passed test protects people, product, and schedule.
How to Improve Pressure Testing Skills
Follow applicable codes and procedures (for example, ASME B31 series). Choose the correct medium and test pressure. Use properly rated test blinds and vents; exclude personnel from the hazard zone. Calibrate gauges to recognized standards and place them where readings make sense. Increase pressure in steps, stabilize temperature, and hold for the required duration. Inspect with appropriate methods (visual, bubble solution, or other approved techniques). Record everything—pressure, time, ambient conditions, instruments—and restore the system safely. Dry and protect the line if the service demands it.
How to Display Pressure Testing Skills on Your Resume
9. Equipment Installation
Equipment installation covers setting pumps, exchangers, compressors, and the piping that serves them—aligned, supported, and ready to run.
Why It's Important
Misalignment and poor supports eat bearings, vibrate fittings loose, and leak. Good installation avoids all that.
How to Improve Equipment Installation Skills
Verify foundations, elevations, and anchor bolt patterns before the lift. Level, shim, and grout appropriately. Check for soft foot and correct it. Align piping to the equipment—not the other way around—using proper supports and expansion joints. Follow torque patterns and values. Protect nozzles from strain, install temporary strainers for startup, and complete functional tests. Close out with punch lists and O&M turnover packages.
How to Display Equipment Installation Skills on Your Resume
10. Pipe Bending
Pipe bending forms a pipe to a precise radius or angle so runs fit cleanly without a forest of fittings.
Why It's Important
Fewer joints, fewer leak points. Cleaner routing and faster installs.
How to Improve Pipe Bending Skills
Pick the right bender and shoes for the pipe material and size. Know minimum bend radii and plan for springback. Mark clearly and measure twice. Apply steady pressure; avoid kinks and flattening by using mandrels or correct dies. Heat only when appropriate for the material and with proper ventilation—never heat galvanized without controls. Check angle as you go with an angle finder. Deburr ends and verify ovality stays within limits. Practice on scrap until your bends hit dead-on.
How to Display Pipe Bending Skills on Your Resume
11. Valve Installation
Valve installation places the right valve, in the right direction, with the right sealing surfaces, into a system that will be operated and maintained for years.
Why It's Important
Valves control flow and isolate equipment. If they’re stressed, misoriented, or leaking, the whole system suffers.
How to Improve Valve Installation Skills
Confirm valve type, rating, materials, and end connections against the spec. Clean and prep the mating faces. Observe flow arrows and stem orientation. For flanged joints, choose proper gaskets, lubricate studs as required, and tighten in a star pattern to the specified torque. Support heavy valves so the line doesn’t carry the weight. After installation, stroke-test, tag, and leak-check. Pressure test to the applicable standard and document the results.
How to Display Valve Installation Skills on Your Resume
12. Threaded Pipe
Threaded pipe uses tapered threads to make mechanical joints without welding. Quick to assemble, easy to disassemble, widely used on smaller lines.
Why It's Important
It’s fast, economical, and perfect for systems that need frequent maintenance or modifications.
How to Improve Threaded Pipe Skills
Cut clean, to-standard threads and use proper cutting oil. Clean the threads before assembly. Match materials to the service, and pick the right sealant—PTFE tape, dope, or both as allowed by spec. Start by hand to avoid cross-threading, then wrench to the recommended turns; back-wrench to protect fittings. Don’t over-torque. Inspect for leaks during testing. Maintain dies and chasers so threads stay sharp and consistent.
How to Display Threaded Pipe Skills on Your Resume
