Am I too old?

[Darkprincze]

Hey guys,

Purely hypothetical but has always been something I have wondered about. At 33 years of age, am I too old to consider a career in commercial diving? I have never worked on the rigs, but my current field is NDT (Non Destructive Testing). I have my DPI, MPI, RAD and will shortly have UT. I have experience in the oil / gas industry. These tickets are for dry land obviously. I realise UT and Visual / Weld Inspection require additional training for underwater. I have 7 years experience in NDT. So. Anyone out there wanna throw me some comments? Again all hypothetical, just wondering. And be as blunt as you like.

Cheers, Paul.

 

[muddiver]

To work as a commercial diver the general cut off is around 40 yrs old. Depends on your physical fitness, experience and marketable skills. With all your NDT experience your a leg up on a new Tender, but with no commercial cert or commercial diving experience you will be competing with all the 18 to 20 year olds coming out of school.

If your serious about the field of work, move to Morgan City, LA and enroll at Youngs Memorial Community College. Santa Barbara City College in California is the best school out there, but it might take longer to get through the program and rent in Santa Barbara is not cheep.

 

[DCBC]

I suppose it depends upon where you want to work, but from my experience there is a shortage of qualified people to do the jobs that need doing. I'm not saying that there is a shortage of hopefuls with commercial tickets, but today that doesn't mean that they can do the job. Not all employers want to take a chance on a young person with no work experience. A few years of Oil/Gas experience is valuable and will stand you in good stead. Given this, I wouldn't say that you are not too old. It is however a risk. If you do well on the course (from a good school) you should be fine.

As far as a school is concerned, Interdive in the UK may be a good fir for you. They are well established and do all levels of training (including saturation). They are IMCA affiliated, so that's a plus, as it allows you to work anywhere. Good luck

 

[TheUnderwaterCentre]

Hi Paul,

It’s a question we get asked quite a lot to be honest! The average age of a North Sea diver is currently 45 (we recently posted on our blog about this very topic What is the best age to start commercial diving? ) so I would say you’re not too old. You also have good experience and a decent background for a career as a commercial diver. The required HSE tickets are quite simply your way of getting to the dive site – like your taxi to work; once you’re on the dive site you need to know what you’re doing when faced with the job at hand. Commercial divers are effectively underwater construction workers, so any practical experience you have working on the surface, can be taught underwater. The Underwater Centre provides the training for the HSE tickets required as a commercial diver, and we also provide training in subsea construction techniques, such as welding and burning underwater, rigging and slinging, as well as underwater inspection – NDT.

If you’ve any other questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Thanks
Ali MacLeod
Air Diver Training Manager, The Underwater Centre

 

[DivingOtter]

I know divers who are in their 60s and still diving. Granted I do inland work.

 

[bayliner]

www.offshorediver.com Will answer all your questions. By all means it is not an easy life but if you love working off shore 12hrs. a day 7days a week for 3 to 5 weeks at a time it is a very rewarding job. Working in the gulf everyone out of school starts as a tender. three to five years down the road you break out as a diver then start climbing the diver ladded. My son went to work at age 20 in 2008 for Global Industries and broke out 9 months ago. He loves construction and diving and is now reaping the benifit. He wouldn't change a thing ,there is a very high diving standard to meet in the gulf. 15 guys and 1 girl went to the gulf togther in 08, he and one other are still there.


Good Luck...

 

[Bombay High]

Good advice from DCBC.
I spent many years in Aberdeen in Scotland and Stavanger in Norway, and there were Sat Divers, well into their 50's still working. I am 43. I started at 17 ... so there you have it.
John Roat, who runs OffshoreDiver.com is in his late 60's at least and still dives.

 

[ChristophScuba]

I was told 50 is too old to get certified for commercial diving.