Advice for 36 yo looking to start commercial diving / DMT

[OCEANMOTION]

Hello everyone, I am new to this site and was looking for some advice by experienced divers and or DMTs.

I am considering enrolling in a commercial diving program with the added training of a DMT/ Life Support Technician program. I would like to work offshore and internationally as well. I have been doing my research as far as schools go and what credentials I will need to work internationally.

I am curious about the job prospects I will have when I graduate. I will be 36 this year and have seen mixed opinions if my age will be a hinderance or not. I have been a scuba diver for 20 years and recently got my Divemaster cert. I have an Associate degree in Maritime Technology as well as EMT training. I also am a distance runner and pretty fit.

My questions to the forum are:

1) What is the the reality of my expectations of finding employment in the field these days?
2) Will the DMT training allow me to start right away as a DMT, or will I have to climb the ladder starting out as a tender?
3) What is the average salary I can expect with a few years experience as a DMT/ diver?
4) Are there any training programs that you would recommend or discourage?
5) What is the upward mobility of a DMT/diver for future advanced positions?

Any and all advice is much appreciated, thank you in advance and have a happy new year!

 

[descent]

Hello everyone, I am new to this site ... Any and all advice is much appreciated, thank you in advance and have a happy new year!

6) Holy mackerel, those are some hard questions.

7) OCEANMOTION is a good forum nickname. Welcome! And Happy New Year!

8) There are a handful of people on ScubaBoard who can give you specific, credible answers to your commercial-world questions based on their extensive commercial experience.

9) I am not one of them.

10) You may be able to find more career specific info in the "Diver's Forum" on offshorediver.com.

11) I like the medical angle a lot. Working underwater is dangerous. I prefer to dive with people who can adjust to rapidly changing situations. Having a background in emergency medicine suggests that you can deal with urgent, possibly conflicting inputs in a safe and sane manner. That is the kind of person I want backing me up when the situation becomes unnecessarily interesting.

12) This chart shows spot prices for crude falling off of a cliff. Low commodity prices may mean that big energy companies are about to start cutting back on investment. That could mean fewer new extraction projects and less need for construction workers. It seems like there are already a lot of commercial divers looking for work.



But don't take my word for it. Ask someone who follows offshore project staffing. Or follow it yourself ...

13) You probably already read Marine Technology News.

14) While it's not the Wall Street Journal of energy project news, the Subsea World News is awfully cool. It's mostly a prettied-up press release site, but (as the kids around here say) the content is "hella interesting".

Thank you for coming to SB for advice. It's great to hear from someone who is about to start down this path. Please come back again with stories or advice.

Good luck!

 

[TheTrickster]

I'm gonna be blunt...

I'm around your age, and its quite clear to me, that is a young man's game - (early 20s) - and always has been for new recruits. 12hr days, for 3mths on is hard. I looked at swapping out from my current job about 10 yrs ago and i'm honestly glad I didn't. I would of lost everything, including the wife! I did anyway, but thats a different story..lol

The schools out there, like to talk the talk about prospects and jobs - but there are just too many CDs out there already and not enough work to share

Got friends who are/were CDs - even a CDT! Yet they have had to become Opticians, dog trainers! something else since the 90s, as work dried up.

Yes, there is work out there, plenty - and fantastic money to be made. But Titan, SMIT etc have a large pool of veteran CDs just waiting for the next ship to go down.. and they would rather pull someone in they know/used before than 'risk' a newbie.

With your Maritime background i would actually look at a role within the salvage industry (so still the money ) but not the diving aspect...

 

[Heliumthief]

I guess you are looking at working in the USA, so I can't really give you that much advice first hand, as the industry in America is different from many of the other big Commercial Diving regions, but there are a few universals....

firstly, yes, the oil price is taking a nose dive, and while there is always work offshore in Inspection and maintenance, there will be a lot less construction and exploration. This impacts on the whole industry globally, as you go from high utilisation of labour, but when the work is lean, the experienced Saturation Divers that can't get Sat work, take Offshore Air work, pushing the less experienced Air Divers into different sectors, such as Inshore construction etc. and you end up with a lot of less experienced divers falling off the picture. Also, there are nationalities of Divers willing to work for much less money, as their home nation can have much lower costs of living, which impacts on the industry as a whole.

As a newly-trained Diver, you will be competing for jobs with experienced Divers, which is hard, and there are much more Divers than there are jobs. Your age isn't quite so important- fitness is, though. Age brings a better attitude to work most of the time, but young divers can usually cope better through the times of no money, waiting for a job.

Now, as for a DMT, there is a big difference between an IMCA Diver Medic, and one in the USA. A DMT outside the US is basically a more trained First Aider, with the addition of intubation, administering drugs, installing IV'schest drains, etc. and there is a requirement for a certain ratio of divers to DMT's on most jobs(for example, in the North Sea, in Saturation, there has to be at least 2 DMT's in the system, and in practice, there are usually 1 per team at least.) but we only work under guidance of the Ship or Installation Medic (who must be at least a Nurse-standard)who in turn is advised by a Diving Doctor on the beach. DMT in itself is not a job- DMT's are divers who can perform advanced First Aid if required. It may be the case that in the US the DMT is equivalent to a ship's medic, I don't know- the initial training for an IMCA DMT is 2 weeks, so it is obviously less in-depth than the US certificate.

so basically, there will always be jobs out there for any diver that is willing to work for it, but the current climate makes it very hard, and there is a lot of competition for the work. If you can afford to fail, then go for it, but if you have a young family, or other commitments, then maybe you have to think fairly hard about it...

There are other jobs out there for people interested in 'diving' or offshore work. ROV's are a good avenue to go down if you're good with hydraulics or Electronics, and Rope Access is a growing discipline Offshore, where you can get good money and work around the world, as long as you can bring other skills to the table, and aren't scared of heights(!)
i would look on the Offshore Diver forum for an American opinion on this, as like I say, the scene over there is different from most other areas, but get ready for a whole lot of ****-talking on any of the commercial websites...!

good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[muddiver]

You need to look at what part of the industry you want to target. If you want to go offshore, work 12 hour shifts for months then go cheap and fast by getting your tickets at Young's Memorial College in Louisiana. If you have money to burn you can get U.S and overseas tickets at DITin Seattle. You want the full education from the number one school in the U.S. Go to Santa Barbara City college in California, and bring your check book to pay rent.

Age can go both ways, if you are a hard worker, pick up fast, don't complain, bitch or moan, show up on time (I.e. 15 min early) you will do ok anywhere. Being older you should have a better work ethic than the 20-something tattoo star your working with. Offshore is about doing the above, asking questions when an assignment is vague, staying busy by keeping a clean work area and working quickly but safely. Inshore is more 7:00 to 5:00 and home most nights. Harbor work might be slow because the economy controls the shipping traffic, but it a lot easier to get into because the outfits are small, pay is low and the work is nasty.

Also consider the hyperbaric treatment industry. There are more medical facilities doing this and the industry is slowly growing. Probably more prominent in the Los Angeles area because people have more money to burn around here.

DMTs get additional pay offshore because insurance companies require them on the dive site. Inshore and harbor work, not so much. Your just a hand that can do CPR better than the next guy. EMts don't get payed very well on the west coast, might be better where your from.

I've been out of the industry for a while, so I hope this helps. I never had trouble finding a job. It's all about attitude, spending the time to look for work and the willingness to move around.

 

[cameron]

Helium thief and muddiver are spot on. I think you would have more chance working overseas with a IMCA ticket. Get the cheapest and quickest ticket possible. You don't learn anything in school other then how to put on a hat and sometimes guys don't even learn that. 36 is getting up there to start this career out but your at the later end of totally possible.

Shut up, switch on, work hard, don't complain and listen to everything everyone says. If you can manage that you'll be far ahead of a lot of the the younger guys with attitudes and be on your way up.

Oh, and your goal is saturation diving. The biz is garbage unless your in sat and making money.

Cam

 

[Underwaterlumberjack]

there is no work in america right now. out of my graduating class of 25 from CDA, there's about three still working in the field, i got very lucky but i'm freelancing and running a hull cleaning business on the side. Not to smash any dreams, but you will not get a job being 35 offshore, and the work is thin not to mention most big companies are starting around $12/hr with not enough work to pay bills. You might want to look into another field. DMT is a waste of money, it was only good for an extra $1.25/hr from cal dive, and breakout times were at five years, however, age considered, no one is going to break out a 40 year old diver, you'd have about 3 years of dive time left and then they'd invite you to work somewhere else, it's a liability. I'm not trying to be mean, that's what happened to a guy in the class before mine.