Best programs to become a heat treating equipment setter in Massachusetts
1 Massachusetts school offers programs that train heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic, graduating 3 people a year. The job pays a median of $49,280 in Massachusetts across about 250 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
You do not need a college degree to become a heat treating equipment setter. The field of study that leads most directly to this job in Massachusetts is Machine Tool Technology/Machinist (IPEDS completions). BLS lists a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical entry-level education.
Set up, operate, or tend heating equipment, such as heat-treating furnaces, flame-hardening machines, induction machines, soaking pits, or vacuum equipment to temper, harden, anneal, or heat treat metal or plastic.
1 program in Massachusetts that leads to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in Massachusetts (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own Massachusetts page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 48.0501In Massachusetts → | 3 | 100.0% | 1 | $36,566 | $9,429 |
Top 1 schools in Massachusetts
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 0 of the 1 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Southeastern Technical Institute South Easton, MA Public · 1 feeder program | 3 | Machine Tool Technology/Machinist | — | 74% | — | 71% |
All 1 schools in Massachusetts
Every school in Massachusetts with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.
| School | City | Control | Graduates / yr | Feeder programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southeastern Technical Institute | South Easton | Public | 3 | 1 |
Fields of study in Massachusetts that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
What heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic earn in Massachusetts
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $48,750. Massachusetts pays above the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in Massachusetts
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.
How to get in
The full skills and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic page.
How to become a heat treating equipment setter
- Typical entry education
- High school diploma or equivalent
- On-the-job training
- Moderate-term on-the-job training
The same job in other states
Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.
Related careers in Massachusetts
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 2 majors mapped to Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic2 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 48.0501Machine Tool Technology/Machinist
- 48.0503Machine Shop Technology/Assistant
Common questions
Answers for people weighing heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic programs in Massachusetts.
What degree do you need to become a heat treating equipment setter?+
You do not need a college degree to become a heat treating equipment setter. The field of study that leads most directly to this job in Massachusetts is Machine Tool Technology/Machinist (IPEDS completions). BLS lists a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical entry-level education.
Which college majors lead to becoming a heat treating equipment setter?+
The field of study that leads most directly to this job in Massachusetts is Machine Tool Technology/Machinist (IPEDS completions). In all, 1 feeder program graduates about 3 people a year in Massachusetts (IPEDS completions).
How much do heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic earn in Massachusetts?+
The median is $49,280 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 1.1% above the U.S. median of $48,750. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.
Is demand for heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic growing?+
BLS projects a -12.8% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, decline, with roughly 1,200 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in Massachusetts?+
1 institutions in Massachusetts reported graduates from at least one of the 1 program that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.
What other job titles do heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Heat Treater, Furnace Operator, Heat Treat Operator, Heat Treat Technician among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 51-4191.
About the data on this page
Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).
BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics
May 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.
IPEDS Completions
2024-25 (provisional)Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.
College Scorecard, Field of Study
2020-21 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.
Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA
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