Blasting

What Blasting Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to blasting/blaster were asked what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. They weighted these areas on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest.

Knowledge Areas for Blasting/Blaster Majors

According to O*NET survey takers, a major in blasting/blaster should prepare you for careers in which you will need to be knowledgeable in the following areas:

• Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Production and Processing - Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

Skills for Blasting/Blaster Majors

The following list of skills has been highlighted as some of the most essential for careers related to blasting/blaster:

• Active Listening - Giving 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.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
• Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others’ actions.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.

Abilities for Blasting/Blaster Majors

As a blasting/blaster major, you will find yourself needing the following abilities:

• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).

What Can You Do With a Blasting Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with blasting/blaster:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Explosives Workers, Ordnance Handling Experts, and Blasters	7.9%	$49,860
First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers	12.6%	$65,230

How Much Do Blasting Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

Average salaries range from $52,780 to $70,540 (25th to 75th percentile) for careers related to blasting/blaster. This range includes all degree levels, so the salary for a person with just a bachelor’s degree may be a little less and the one for a person with an advanced degree may be a little more.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Blasting

Some careers associated with blasting/blaster require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. In general, the more advanced your degree the more career options will open up to you. However, there is significant time and money that needs to be invested into your education so weigh the pros and cons.

Find out what the typical degree level is for blasting/blaster careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	5.5%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	48.0%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	21.1%
Some College Courses	23.6%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	2.1%

Online Blasting Programs

In 2018-2019, 1 schools offered a blasting/blaster program of some type. The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	1	0
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	1	0
Bachelor’s Degree	0	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	0	0
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Is a Degree in Blasting Worth It?

The median salary for a blasting/blaster grad is $52,780 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 32% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $257,600 after 20 years!

Trades Related to Blasting

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to blasting/blaster.

Major	Number of Grads
Plumbing Technology/Plumber	1,617
Pipefitting/Pipefitter & Sprinkler Fitter	774
Other Plumbing & Related Water Supply Services	204
Well Drilling/Driller	11

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
• Image Credit: By Tomwsulcer under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.