Considering a commercial dive. career

[sawracer]

Pay as little as possible for your air card. When you graduate you are only a tender, you wont be considered a diver anywhere period ( as a new graduate). When I worked as a tender diver offshore at global divers in louisiana they had an excellent wet welding school. In other words, they will train you their way. The so called speciatlties are scams to get more money out of you. If you arent prepared to spend a minimum of 250 days a year offshore dont plan on breaking out as a diver in the gulf. The gulf crowd is a tough bunch and when the day is over you are generally sleeping in close qtrs with the same crowd. I remember being asked to write a letter home for a co worker that was illiterate. It doesnt take rocket scientists to do most work on a rig. Just looking out. Pm me if you want to talk about it more or i can hook you up with a few working divers before you spend a bunch of money! Not trying to talk you out of it, i had a lot of fun, just be forewarned.

 

[JKPAO]

Anything that is worth anything will be at a cost! If you WANT IT go for it!
See you topside! John

 

[DCBC]

Thanks for the comments....I should have given a bit more info. This should give you a rough idea of what I am considering:

I live in Texas and would be attending the OceanCorp in Houston. After the school you are level II in ultrasonic and magnetic particle testing--NDT. They also tech you how to weld underwater. There is also a little bit of ROV operation training. They course is 30 weeks and during that time you get get a full range of diving, safety, Non-destructive testing, & underwater cutting and welding.

They also offer an Medical Technician program that certifies you as a hyperbaric tech. This is in addition to the 30 week diving program. The Hyperbaric course lasts for 5 weeks and costs an additional grand. There is also some other emergency medical training thrown in as well.

The school also provides you with a lifelong recruiting service for as long as you remain in the field. You had to have successfully graduted from the program of course, but they will help you locate work forever if you need it.

I inderstand that nobody is going to pay me to dive. I am wanting to do construction, salvage, ND testing, etc.... I was thinking that I would be able to work in the gulf. Maybe for an oil company. I really dont know. I have many more questions than answers at this point.

I understand that the schedual can be hectic but Im not married and I have no kids so travel is fine with me. I dont care about getting rich--I do want to have a nice lifestyle though. Be prosperous and be able to tuck some back for the "golden Years"

If you haven't done so already, I'd suggest that you look at some of the threads in the "Commercial Diving" area of ScubaBoard. You will find quite a bit of information that will be of interest.

OceanCorp is a good school, but know that there are a number of "qualified" divers out of work. If you are going to hire a diver to do a job, do you want to choose someone out of a commercial school, or someone who has worked as a welder or a rigger for 10 years and then got his commercial ticket? That's what the industry looks like at this point.

If I were you, I would consider getting trained in the Navy (SeaBees as a diver doing construction ideally) at their expense, or learning an oil related trade before you take the commercial program. There are also some other considerations.

I've been involved in military and commercial diving for quite some time as a diver, saturation diver, commercial instructor, dive supervisor, diving superintendent and as an underwater project consultant to big oil. Although I've recently retired from the commercial sector, I think I know it reasonable well. If you have any specific questions, send me a PM and I'll try to answer them. Gook luck in your career!