Diving as a career.

[muddiver]

I started as a firefighter, then I got into commercial diving. Commercial diving is underwater construction so if you think you want to try it out you really should go out and try working as a carpenter, a welder or an iron worker. It is work! And it doesn't always pay all that well. Offshore divers are making around $17 an hour last I checked. Union divers make closer to $60 per hour, but the jobs are sporatic, distant and sometimes very short.

I decided to go to college and study construction engineering and I now have a degree in Civil Engineering. I am not in diving now, but it got me here and I am working for a government agency making really good money.

While I was studying at teh university I did learn about the American Academy of Underwater Sciences and the academic/scientific diving community (see American Academy of Underwater Sciences - Login ). There are full-time jobs as Diving Safety Officers and some diving jobs as researchers. If you do research you really need to understand the concept of applying for grants and druming up your own source of money. DSO's like the one at the Wriggley Institute for Marine Studies are regular jobs for scientific organizations (USC Wrigley Institute | Marine Science Center). The position usually requires that you be a diving instructor and a member of the AAUS. You can joint the AAUS anytime and as a student you are in the prime position to do so. If you volunteer at teh local aquarium than you should be able to find out more about the organization through the aquarium. Some of the big aquariums like the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific have full-time DSO's.

It is good you are starting to think about it now before you get out of high school. It will allow you to really do some planing and maybe trace out a career path for your self. The last DSO I worked with was a retired U.S. Navy Master Diver. That was not necarily the easiest route, btu he got a lot of good diving experience through the military. I have another friend that is in the Coast Guard who was the assistant DSO at the Long Beach aquarium, but I doubt that she dives for the Coast Guard.

 

[SamArkey]

DennisS

The websites you posted are great ,thanks!

Sam

 

[dive_lover88]

Hi Sam, i'm just about to complete my technical diploma in engineering. Like what the rest has said, hope u would really sit down and think of the future instead of just the near future. Think about the future repercussions of your decisions. If you have no regrets, thats good, but what happens if it doesnt work out and it comes back and bite you.

I m also very much into diving and also planning to go pro. When i first started diving, i was about your age, and also was very much enticed about the life of diving. But after reading the other posters about the hard truth that the money aint much and tough life, it kinda woke me up. From then on i decided to get a stable job and do dm on the side(Getting discounts and free trips). At least i will know that my bills will be paid and also i have the cash to go places and dive.

I would advise you to at least finish college and have that degree as a backup if you feel that diving isnt your cup of tea after a while.

Sorry if i've offended anyone by my post, but this is the perspective of a 19yr old guy.

 

[muddiver]

Wow! Pretty wise for a 19 yr old!

I was typing away yesterday about all of the different routes to diving careers and I acidently ckicked the search button and erased teh page of information I typed. Maybe I will try again, just incase any one is interested.

There are five routes to diving as a career that I can think of.

1. Probably the least desirable is the military, but you can really get a lot of experience as a Navy diver that will help you later on if you want to change to a job like DSO for a scientific organization. And the Navy will pay your way through college. It is not the eaiest program to get into though, signing up for the military is the easy part, getting through the diver training is the hard part, if you are accepted to the program.

2. There is commercial diving which is nothing more than underwater construction work. Learn to be a welder, a carpenter, pile driver or welding inspector first. It is still primarily a macho-man's industry and there are few women in the field. The money is off shore in the oil patch where you will work 12 hour days, seven days a week until the hurricanes hit. Then you get a vacation (unpaided) until the weather clears.

3. Scientific diving - see the previous post.

4. Recreational SCUBA instructor, long hours teaching and catering to your students for a limited amout of pay. You've gotta love it to go down that road.

5. Public Safety Diving, you have to be either a cop or a fireman first to get onto one of those teams.

Otherwise, good luck and check back to let us know how it all turns out for you.

 

[stevewirl]

working as a diver means that you treat divin as a job and not as a past time .

if you love to dive this may clash with your love for the sport . i have worked as a dive instructor and as a comercial diver . i at present am involved with search and recovery .

diving can seem like a chore somtimes and it can get tough . espically when theres a dive for fun comes up and im not in the humor it can get abit much .

but on the plus if you start as a DM all the lovely people that you get to meet and divin is free although pay can be small .

but hey who needs money when your divin .

 

[Thalassamania]

...

1. Probably the least desirable is the military, but you can really get a lot of experience as a Navy diver that will help you later on if you want to change to a job like DSO for a scientific organization. And the Navy will pay your way through college. It is not the eaiest program to get into though, signing up for the military is the easy part, getting through the diver training is the hard part, if you are accepted to the program.

Frankly military is a poor way to prep for a DSO ... well, let's back up, there are different kinds of DSOs.

For the "real job" which would be better described as Program Manger for the University of West Underland's Scientific Diving Safety Program, where you'd be responsible for the safety of anyone going underwater in any way (snorkeling, scuba, surface supplied, submersible) you best prep (off the top of my head) would be:

• get a B.S. at an institution that has a 100 hour training program, get involved in the program and work your way up to help teach it.
• do an M.S. that also gets you some submersible experience.
• Pickup a NAUI, YMCA or LA County Instructor ticket along the way.
• Pickup a NOAA Working Diver ticket along the way.
• Now that Lee is no longer at Michigan I don't know where you pick up the surface supplied stuff. Is UNCW or Catalina still doing that?
• Do a Chamber Operator course with Rutkowski.

 

[muddiver]

Humm...

I guess you don't know Pete Phel.

It was meant to be an example of what a lot of diving experience might be good for. And I did say military is the least desirable industry to try to get into, espesially if you are a girl (note the OP).

Sorry not familure with the 100 hr course. I was grandfathered in because I have way more training than your average college student. I do agree with a lot of the other points you bring up.

The Scott Carpenter program in Florida use to do surface supplied and Santa Barbara City College has the best program in surface supplied I have ever seen. I guess I could do a class under the auspices of Long Beach State or WIES. WIES at Catalina does not offer surface supplied and I am not even sure they are doing scientific diver classes. UNCW who?

The Catalina chamber has a really good chamber operator course. You could get the training through Santa Barbara City College or the College of Oceaneering as well (for a steep price).

 

[islandgirl36]

amen?! i think we've all made decisions we've come to regret!