Hi,I,m a new member to this site. Im currently a MK25 diver for the military, I'd like to get some advice from some of the commercial diver's and DMT's out there. I've been toying with the idea of attending a commercial diving school near me and wanted some advice. The school is Diving Academy International in Atlantic City,NJ and they offer something like a 5 month program or Commercial diving academy in Jacksonville,FL.Does anyone have any experience with this schools? Is job placement relatively easy once graduating from a program like this? What is starting pay generally for a commercial diver? Do you commercial divers enjoy your line of work? Any regrets? Any advice would be appreciated.
Hey MM,
Thanks for your service!
Both schools give a decent course, it is more expensive to go to a private school than one of the state funded courses (Youngs memorial in LA and SBCC in Santa Barbara) but all give you the same basic level of training allowing you to start out in the field.
Pay is going to fluxuate with were you decide to settle down.
Union work in the Northeast is from $38-$58 per hour depending on the jobsite location.
Union work out West can be as high as $78 per hour.
Inland diving throughout the US is normally a range from:
tender (entry level diver) $14-$19
diver $18-$24
Supervisor $20-$28
Offshore the hourly rates track pretty closely with the inland numbers but you make a minimum of 12 hours for each day your offshore (84 hours a week = 44 hours overtime) you make out better on the overtime, of course that can be tough on families / personal life.
Getting a job is not tough, but you need to travel to were the work is. The market fluxuates throughout the year, to stay busy allot of travel is involved normally.
An average batch of graduates from a commercial school:
of ten graduates 6-8 will quit the industry before reaching two years
most of the remaining will have left the field before five years is reached.
Most of the people that stay in the industry more than ten years are in it for the work and enjoy what they do.
I would not want to do anything else!!
If you have any questions feel free to contact me,
Jeff
jlane@rmediver.com
feature. Hope you enjoy your time here. Click my Username to PM me if I can help...??
