Is it worth it to complete last semester of bachelors before going to dive school?
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socaljohn
Contributor
I have no info about commercial diving but life experience has taught me that once you leave school and start working, going back is tough as there the daily life gets in the way.
My advice for anyone who asks is finish the degree first while you have the momentum. it will then always be there showing the follow through future employers will apreciate.
My advice for anyone who asks is finish the degree first while you have the momentum. it will then always be there showing the follow through future employers will apreciate.
So, the guy above named Akimbo, knows everything there is to know about commercial diving. I probably know 60% of what he knows. He's spot on. Listen to what he says. Absolutely finish your degree, you're probably going to hate commercial diving for 100 different reasons. And English Lit, not going to help you even a little, except that maybe you'll like to read while your sitting in a bunk with nothing else to do.
But, try to remember this...
On my first day of class, there was 30 people in class with me. A week later 25. 22 Graduated with me. One year later, only two of us were still commercial divers. 3 years later, I was the only one that was actively still a commercial diver. The chances that you'll do this, love this, and retire from this are less likely than finding a winning lottery ticket at the bottom of the ocean while working as a commercial diver.
So, get your degree. You'll probably need it.
---------- Post added September 1st, 2015 at 10:30 AM ----------
And heliumthief, I doubt this guy knows what DSV stands for. He's English Lit major lol.
But, try to remember this...
On my first day of class, there was 30 people in class with me. A week later 25. 22 Graduated with me. One year later, only two of us were still commercial divers. 3 years later, I was the only one that was actively still a commercial diver. The chances that you'll do this, love this, and retire from this are less likely than finding a winning lottery ticket at the bottom of the ocean while working as a commercial diver.
So, get your degree. You'll probably need it.
---------- Post added September 1st, 2015 at 10:30 AM ----------
And heliumthief, I doubt this guy knows what DSV stands for. He's English Lit major lol.
descent
Contributor
The timing seems really bad.
Those who are allergic to the dismal science should just skip this post.
Moe, I write software that tracks things that happen online. Last year, when the price of commodities started moving huge amounts, I decided to use your general dilemma as a test case: should a young man with various options enter the commercial diving field?
For a lark, and also because I am enchanted by commercial diving in a hugely impractical and romantic way, I started tracking the types, conditions and prices of various hats for sale online.
The hypothesis is simple. If the economy becomes bad enough, divers facing hard choices may choose to liquidate their gear. I should be able to track this by following certain themes that always reappear.
For example, in the last twelve months, I have not seen the price of [used] [Kirby Morgan] [Superlite] helmets fall much. There are occasional obvious cases of distress, but these are sporadic. Generally, these high-quality helmets seem to hold their value and provide good resale prices.
What I have seen is a large increase in the number of hats offered for sale, and the number of weeks each one stays for sale.
I have also seen unusual stuff coming out of the woodwork. This may be because I am getting better at sniffing them out, but I doubt that. This summer, I am seeing highly specialized gear listed. Military hats. Jewel reclaim regs. Entire closets full of brand new spare parts that a technician would use to rebuild the hats in the field.
From these data, I draw two conclusions, and also prepare my flameproof suit.
1) There are more hats for sale because the offshore industry is in distress.
This is not a clever insight. Nice big DSVs are going into mothballs. Industry trade magazines have been describing this for some time, but they paint a sanitized picture in abstract. They don't describe fallout, or human cost, as Heliumthief does.
2) Helmet prices have not fallen because the distress is not over, and may not really be fully started.
A worker with specialized skills and tools may hold out hope to return to a good job after an economic recovery. If an economic downturn continues for longer than the worker's savings can hold out, the worker may choose to throw in the towel and sell the specialized equipment.
If the recovery is less than raging, some workers will feel that their chance is "just around the corner", and will hold out "just a bit longer".
This happens in the stock market every day. An investor will lose all hope, say "screw this, I should have never gotten into this, get me out of this position now", and sell at a loss. This kind of doom-and-gloom selling is called capitulation.
When we start to see larger numbers of divers capitulate, and start dumping used helmets on the market at deeply discounted prices, then we can assume that we are scraping along the bottom of the downturn.
Ideally, a recovery follows.
That would be a good time to be graduating from SBCC.
Heliumthief
Contributor
Superlite, if this current **** lasts too much longer, then it might get hard to find a Diver, period who knows what a DSV is!
i tend to look on the bright side though, and I remember the last bust where oil was $8 a barrel when Subsea tied up and shut down the Mayo and Marianos. They sold the Mayo to an Egyptian Oil company for $3M and sent instructions for how to cold-stack her, Marianos went to the Far East and both are still working 10 years later. I reckon the laughter in PMS's office when they realised the 15man twin Bell DP2 Mayo had been paid off within a year was just a smidge louder than the wailing in the Subsea offices when oil went rocketing up and they had run out of DSV's to hire out (so desperate were they, they sailed the Eclipse over and spent the equivalent of 2 Mayo's worth of cash trying unsuccessfully to turn her back into a Sat DSV).
anybody want to club together and buy a boat?
i tend to look on the bright side though, and I remember the last bust where oil was $8 a barrel when Subsea tied up and shut down the Mayo and Marianos. They sold the Mayo to an Egyptian Oil company for $3M and sent instructions for how to cold-stack her, Marianos went to the Far East and both are still working 10 years later. I reckon the laughter in PMS's office when they realised the 15man twin Bell DP2 Mayo had been paid off within a year was just a smidge louder than the wailing in the Subsea offices when oil went rocketing up and they had run out of DSV's to hire out (so desperate were they, they sailed the Eclipse over and spent the equivalent of 2 Mayo's worth of cash trying unsuccessfully to turn her back into a Sat DSV).
anybody want to club together and buy a boat?
Hmmm...buy a DSV eh?
I always wanted to go back to the Bay of Campeche' with a DSV - we were burying pipeline & doing regular ditch checks when we found that they'd laid pipe right over a very large, likely very old sailing vessel/shipwreck. The very large, considerably grumpy, cigar-chomping Coon-Ass who ran the barge made us pick up the sled & get back to business, without a thought about our ( perceived ) treasure ship.
Always wondered about that wreck...
Best,
DSD
lamarpaulski
Contributor
Get your degree. It is so hard to go back and complete later. You're only talking about ONE semester. You never know where life will take you and any degree can sometimes make the difference.
I do not understand why you would even ask the question. Get your degree, you are too close to it at this point.
I am not a commercial diver, but I am a professional, full time diving instructor and dive shop owner. I also have 2 bachelor's degrees in environmental science & biochemistry, 2 master degrees in environmental law & enviromental risk assessment and a phD in environmental toxicology (see a trend here? )
I worked in my field of study for many msny years before deciding to work full time in diving, and having my degrees allows me the possibility of going back to it. So my opinion is finish your degree (after all, you're only 1 semester out), then start with the commercial diving.
) I worked in my field of study for many msny years before deciding to work full time in diving, and having my degrees allows me the possibility of going back to it. So my opinion is finish your degree (after all, you're only 1 semester out), then start with the commercial diving.
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