Wanting to start commercial diving
- Thread starter Buckeye83
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So...you're thinking about being a commercial diver?
Did you see suggestive pictures, or catchy captions in one of the scuba magazines? "Excitement, Adventure, and Money" ring a bell? Have you assumed that because of the inherit risk commercial divers work with, that they must earn great salaries? Perhaps you like scuba diving and thinking about taking it a step further and making it a profession of some sort? A lot of commercial divers started out with those same thoughts. But before you shell out your money or make a major career change, here are some in-depth facts, without the hype, that you need to consider.
WHAT IS COMMERCIAL DIVING?
You often hear in the commercial diving industry, things like "a commercial diver is really only a construction worker that is also a diver", or "diving is just a mode of transportation to get down to the job site". This is very true. Essentially, everything that is done on a land based construction site is done underwater, from welding, to pile driving, and everything with patching, maintaining and replacing. The key for anyone that is thinking about becoming a commercial diver to remember is that it doesn't matter how good a diver you are as a main concern, but how good you are on the construction site. Employers are looking for divers that can put it together, build it, fix it, better, faster, and with less problems, and not that you necessarily swim 4 miles a day. This means you will be doing labor intensive work, just like your counterpart on the surface. Except you will have the added bonus of doing it in cold water, with little to no viability, often in layers of mud and sludge, and under the pressure of an already hostile underwater environment.
Commercial divers are apart from the mainstream and most take great pride and satisfaction on being able to do a job that few other individuals can. Often having to do more with less than their counterpart on dry land, because at 140ft, you can't run down the hardware store and get a different wrench without a major break and time loss on the job. They are resourceful, good at working alone and making decisions and developing solutions. Most commercial divers truly love what they do and look at the rough conditions that they have to work in as just another challenge to their abilities.
Start at Offshorediver.com a wealth of info..... and Good Luck......
Did you see suggestive pictures, or catchy captions in one of the scuba magazines? "Excitement, Adventure, and Money" ring a bell? Have you assumed that because of the inherit risk commercial divers work with, that they must earn great salaries? Perhaps you like scuba diving and thinking about taking it a step further and making it a profession of some sort? A lot of commercial divers started out with those same thoughts. But before you shell out your money or make a major career change, here are some in-depth facts, without the hype, that you need to consider.
WHAT IS COMMERCIAL DIVING?
You often hear in the commercial diving industry, things like "a commercial diver is really only a construction worker that is also a diver", or "diving is just a mode of transportation to get down to the job site". This is very true. Essentially, everything that is done on a land based construction site is done underwater, from welding, to pile driving, and everything with patching, maintaining and replacing. The key for anyone that is thinking about becoming a commercial diver to remember is that it doesn't matter how good a diver you are as a main concern, but how good you are on the construction site. Employers are looking for divers that can put it together, build it, fix it, better, faster, and with less problems, and not that you necessarily swim 4 miles a day. This means you will be doing labor intensive work, just like your counterpart on the surface. Except you will have the added bonus of doing it in cold water, with little to no viability, often in layers of mud and sludge, and under the pressure of an already hostile underwater environment.
Commercial divers are apart from the mainstream and most take great pride and satisfaction on being able to do a job that few other individuals can. Often having to do more with less than their counterpart on dry land, because at 140ft, you can't run down the hardware store and get a different wrench without a major break and time loss on the job. They are resourceful, good at working alone and making decisions and developing solutions. Most commercial divers truly love what they do and look at the rough conditions that they have to work in as just another challenge to their abilities.
Start at Offshorediver.com a wealth of info..... and Good Luck......
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Might want to read the book "Descent into "Darkness". Great book about salvage divers in Pearl Harbor. Give you an idea of what commercial divers go through.
DivingOtter
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140 ft? Hell! at ten feet hearing a diver breathing over the coms following by. " aaahh shhhhhit " ... What?! .. Nothing.. Okay.. Hey Otter? Do we have anymore keyways for a 72 inch wheel? 
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