Air diving... Continuation courses??

[Kogeko]

I stumbled accross this website whilst trawling the net for info on commercial diving as i'll be starting my course mid '08 at PDA. And i've read some really useful info here, which has helped to back up what i've heard and read elsewhere...

Fingers crossed, post qualifying on my course next year (scuba/ss/top up)... I'd be really interested in finding out what the experienced divers out there recommend for continutation training?... I would like to make it offshore (But so wouldn't everybody..), so i'm gonna do an OPITO approved sea survival course , which will cover me for the Uk, Danish, Dutch and Norgy sectors. Further to that, i'm thinking perhaps Diver Med Tech as i've touched on Med in the military and thoroughly recognise the requirement for good quality trauma care in isolated environments.... This is where it starts to get a little hazy as i've read a few conflicting opinions. So... To the old and bold out there, if you had to make an instinctive call with experience and a good grasp and understanding of the future climate off diving.. Would it be.... Wet welding or NDT 3.1u??? These 2 are by far the most expensive, so any opinion would be great......

Any other info on.... Recommended courses, equipment use and career profiling would be really helpful...

Regards

Phil

[A. Berk]

Originally Posted by Kogeko

To the old and bold out there, if you had to make an instinctive call with experience and a good grasp and understanding of the future climate off diving.. Would it be.... Wet welding or NDT 3.1u??? These 2 are by far the most expensive, so any opinion would be great......

Phil, my view is that if you get all the offshore requirements and the Med Tech then that's enough until you get into the industry. After a while you'll have a better view yourself of which direction to take. Neither wet-stick or NDT are big money-spinners at present, though like you say they are exspensive to get. If you have some spare cash and really want another feather for the cap you could do worse than get the 'hat maintenance' ticket (my apologies to the other lads on the boards for not mentioning this earlier - 'brain-dead' ). Every dive site is supposed to have a qualified person to work on hats now - summat to think on.

All the best,

Berko

[Kogeko]

Berko,

Thanx for your reply, that's not something i'd even considered, but i think i could help to strengthen my profile in what is a very competitive area of work!

In terms of saturation work, do air divers generally support offshore saturation divers? And if so, in what capacity? Do they have other jobs whilst onboard, such as a Riggers? Deckhands?....... I'm asking this because, i intend to start putting out the feelers a couple of months before i start my course, and i realise that there's going to be alot of 'thankyou for your time, but we're after experienced divers'. But anything i can do to maximise my employability will surely help when the right job comes up.....

Just a quick one... Rope access, can you recommend any training centres??

Thanx again

Phil

[Narked@50]

Hi Phil

One of the biggest problems is getting off shore in the first place. This is often because it costs the companies a lot of money if they take a chance on you and your not up to the job, and lets face it, if you have never been off shore working in this environment you could be the best diver on the planet but not stick the job. This in mind, one of the best qualifications to have is "off shore work", even if it's just as a general worker. Here you can also impress the relevant people, get your face known and find out more specificaly what you have to do to land the job you realy want??

Makes scense considering how few dive jobs are on the go?

James

[BigHairyAl]

Originally Posted by Narked@50

Hi Phil

One of the biggest problems is getting off shore in the first place. This is often because it costs the companies a lot of money if they take a chance on you and your not up to the job, and lets face it, if you have never been off shore working in this environment you could be the best diver on the planet but not stick the job. This in mind, one of the best qualifications to have is "off shore work", even if it's just as a general worker. Here you can also impress the relevant people, get your face known and find out more specificaly what you have to do to land the job you realy want??

Makes scense considering how few dive jobs are on the go?

James

And once you are offshore, don't be relying your uber diving skills to get you by.

Got my first offshore start earlier this year in the North Sea. Weather was a bit crap, so of the 7 weeks we were retained for, 3 were spent at home on standby, and during the month we were on the installation the busiest diver (me, thank you 3.1u!) was only in for 5 dives - 2 of were aborted after 15 minutes due to weather. Longest dive was a fantastically fun inspection around a riser turret.

So, during that month do you think it was my diving that (hopefully) impressed the supervisors? Nah, it was the simple things you were asked to do every day i.e. ropework, helping set up shop, not being a lazy git, keeping the place tidy etc.

I'd echo what Berko says though - a DMT ticket is a help. I'm hoping to do mine early '08 - any North Sea operation needs at least 2 DMTs, and they were scratching round for them on my last job......

[spongebobb]

hi al ,
who are you doing your dmt ticket with ? how long is the course ? and how much is it ?
i,m going up to dunoon in jan , and also see this as a good ticket to have , may like you said , help to get offshore work , wondering if it would be good to do early / soon as poss ?
cheers bob .

[stew]

how much did you win on the lottery spongebobb
this place seems to be cheap & have a good reputation.

[BigHairyAl]

Originally Posted by spongebobb

hi al ,
who are you doing your dmt ticket with ? how long is the course ? and how much is it ?
i,m going up to dunoon in jan , and also see this as a good ticket to have , may like you said , help to get offshore work , wondering if it would be good to do early / soon as poss ?
cheers bob .

Diver Medic Course 201 - IMCA Approved Diver Medic

10 days, £590 and down in Plymouth - quite a bit closer than the peeps Stew posted (think they are in Singapore)

A full list of approved training providers is:

IMCA Diving Division · Profile · Training & Education

Enjoy.

[spongebobb]

hey up stew , big hairy al ,
what bout this then ! , pda ( hyperbaric centre ) in aberdeen do a dmt ticket for 780 quid , 12day course ( so accomodation to pay for ) !!! ,
west lancs hyperbaric centre , in the wirral , also do a dmt ticket , also 12 days , but for 400 quid , !!! WOW .
anyway this all said and done the verdict is to sod the ticket for now , and go get some time in first , then take an informed choice !!!

[spongebobb]

STEW ,
no lottery win , just keen , but nice thought though !!!
could start a new thread !!! what would you do if you won the lottery ??? ha