Absolute Newbie Looking for Career in Diving

[chiefmonkey]

Hi all,

I'm trying to find out how realistic is it for me to become a commercial diver.

I'm 32 years old, and am wanting a change of career for something that I will actually enjoy.

I did a PADI cource on the barrier reef 5 years ago (so obviously not current) and it was one of the best things I've ever done. I realise generally commercial diving is far from glamourous compared to the barrier reef.

I am looking towards Closed Bell/Mixed Gas perhaps or Welding/Salvage... Ideally I'd love to research Marine Biology (orcas especially) but I'll probably need a degree for that and dont really want to go back to Uni.

I've hunted around the net for specific info but have come up with very little.

I'd like to know if at all possible if a 32 year old male can start from nothing and get trained in a profession in Diving?... how long would this take?... and what can I expect to earn?

Thanks in advance to anyone that replies

Chiefmonkey
Duncan

p.s. there's plenty of sites that I can see that do courses... but whats the point in doing the courses if I'm not likely to get employment... this is why I'm posting also, because I dont think the people selling me the courses are going to tell me this before I hand them the money

[Rob Dobson]

I haven't looked into this very much so I am sure others will come along in a bit with much more relevant information, but I did a bit of research a couple of years ago and found the following:

The work tends to be long stints away from home (think months at a time on an oil rig).

It seems to pay pretty well (£50K+) but I think this is probably only whilst you are working as most of the jobs seem to be contracts.

The training looked to be quite expensive (I looked at one course that was £8k but I think that was over 12 weeks), with no refund if you can't complete the course due to illness etc.

I have no idea how easy/hard it is to get your first jobs once you've been trained - you could be in the "no experience = no job = no experience" catch 22. I guess it depends on demand.

Good luck.

[Woz]

Might be worth calling one of the commercial diving agencies in Aberdeen to talk through it with them first. From my rig designing days diving commercially is bloody hard work- you are basically an underwater labourer. Knew a guy who did it round here in Nottingham and it was a pretty grim job- fingertip searches of canal bottoms in zero viz appeared to be most of his work.

[DVR]

Hi Duncan, I'm sure this was dicussed on these forums about six months ago,you could try the search facility at the top of the board, if you dont get a result I'm sure one of the ex commie's on here will give you the advice you need.

hth, John

[keith_henson]

Speak to andy the commie. I have done an aquaintance course at Fort William. It aint cracked up to what it sounds like.

You need 6.5k and 10 weeks for a surface supplied ticket, then the wet bell top up. Then that dont guarantee you are going to get work. Before you can progress to 50k earnings, that is saturation diving. For that you need a minimum of 50hours deeper than 30m on surface supplied work underwater and then another 10k and 10weeks for the sat course.

Its a long process. Ask andy and he should be able to help

Keith

[Dangerous Dan]

Hi Duncan,

I am currently training for my HSE Pro Scuba or Part 4 ticket, as it used to be known. This training is part of my Civil Engineering course at Plymouth university.

From what I have researched the Industry is in a pretty sorry state at the moment, no minimum wage and unions popping up and then dissapearing, divers undercutting each other, foreign dive teams not having to abide by HSE regulations etc etc

Do you have a relevant trade that you could use underwater such as Welding????

The money and prestige is no-where near what it used to be, one of the reasons for me doing my part 4 is that I am getting it cheap(er)(800 Pounds total cost) than Fort William and the Professional Dive Academy and hopfully alongside a degree it will come in handy and show that i have the knowledge and understanding to work within the coastal division of civil engineering

Whether I will do my Surface Supply and Top-up is undecided at the moment due to the cost I would have to pay out for maybe not recieving that much in return.

But basically at the moment shit hours and shit pay, I have heard a lot of divers telling people to get a trade such as electrician as it pays better and you still get to sleep with the wife at night etc etc

Anyway thats what my thoughts are, but as of yet I am not in the industry so this is just from word of mouth and my own research.

If anything I have said is incorrect im sure Andy will be along to your aid

All the best
Dan

[chiefmonkey]

Hey thank you all for taking the time to post... sorry to take so long to reply

I did a bit more searching myself and found out that on the whole those in the profession said dont do it and those selling diving courses said do (no prize for working out why)

Hi DangerousDave... I did actually look at plymouth uni also for doing a marine biology course that included the hse... hope you're enjoying it there looks like a cool place... I may have to reconsider going there

Chiefmonkey

[Andy the Coastie]

Originally Posted by chiefmonkey

Hey thank you all for taking the time to post... sorry to take so long to reply

I did a bit more searching myself and found out that on the whole those in the profession said dont do it and those selling diving courses said do (no prize for working out why)

Hi DangerousDave... I did actually look at plymouth uni also for doing a marine biology course that included the hse... hope you're enjoying it there looks like a cool place... I may have to reconsider going there

Chiefmonkey

Don't do it , unless ya really have 2.

[Fiona]

Originally Posted by Rob Dobson

It seems to pay pretty well (£50K+) but I think this is probably only whilst you are working as most of the jobs seem to be contracts.


Good luck.

If you watched the TV programme some years back you will remember that the students were asked how much they thought they might earn in their first year and yes they were coming up with those sort of figures.

The instructor then wrote a very large ZERO on the board and that is what you can expect to earn.

I have heard and Andy the Commie will probably be able to confirm but to earn a good living you really have to build up a reputation within the industry which seems to be the catch 22 in all this.

Good Luck if you do decide to give it a go.

[commy]

it aint worth it unless you are prepared to put in alot of time and money to start up then you will end up spending all your time looking for work very risky business unless your good at it and make the wright contacts which helps