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Permalink Reply by Will on March 3, 2011 at 3:43pm

im Canadian bro, and I hold a Euro passport so I dont need visas or any of that s*** over there with plenty of people all over Europe I can stay or live with. So its actually more practical for me to look towards Europe than the GOM.

I just didnt feel like doing all the reserch myself on whos who over there but it seems like everyone is pretty tight lipped about it which is understandable. Ahh well no harm no foul

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Permalink Reply by Barone on March 3, 2011 at 5:13pm

hey bruddah will it never hurt to try is what I always say

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Permalink Reply by stuart anderson on March 5, 2011 at 9:01am

REDS, Hughes subsurface engineering, Red7, Falmouth divers have all done work in the UK wind farm sector. No idea about Denmark, Germany etc. The money is usually civils rates or higher, but not up to offshore rates. From what I see, there's not too much actual diving work in the wind farms, and plenty of scope for engineering ROV's to do more of It. There are plenty of Divers sitting around with previous wind farm experience waiting on jobs to start, but I suppose you have to be in it, to win it.

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Permalink Reply by Borat on March 10, 2011 at 3:17am

Hey Simon Ive read a few of your posts and usually they are very negative for new divers thinking bout joining the industry. I'm not long started myself and I have been lucky to be working for the best part of the time and I'm sure thats been a combination of determination, luck and decent training that has ensured that when the chance arrived I made the most of it! There are many who will enter industry with none of the above and as such will fail. Can I ask if you are one of the ones who fall in that category as you continuously sound completly negative and do your very best to put folk off this career choice?

Everyone thats been working in diving for a while are aware of the BS thats constantly spun by the underwater centre in an attempt to get folk through the door and theyve got no credability because of it, a point that you made very well on longstreath http://longstreath.com/community/index.php/topic/2361-sat-divers-ne...

 

The advice I was given from the school I went to was this industry is tough as hell and it will do you no favours but if your determined and want it enough as a career then you will make it.  Most of the guys I went through with are working now so I know it can be done the only advice I would give is dont do it unless you really have that determination to suceed.

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Permalink Reply by Simon on March 10, 2011 at 9:14am

Hi Boreat,

 

I didn’t realise telling the truth was a crime. Now isn’t a very good time to be getting into the diving industry as many other people other than myself have also said. If the schools want to tell people otherwise then that is up to them. If you are happy to see the industry flooded with even more divers and many of those will end up with little or no work and thousands of pounds worth of debt then that is your decision.

 

As for my work situation you don’t need to worry about me. I’ve worked every month for the last 2 years and have the tax bills to prove it. And if you’re thinking I’m worried about baby divers stopping me getting work then don’t. I’ve not applied for any work in over 2 years and last year I was put onto a job to replace 2 baby divers who the client had just run off. Their problem, not mine.

 

If people really want to get into the industry  they aren’t going to listen to me or anyone else. In fact a friend of mine did his course last year and is working, sadly 10 others from his course are not. I think from my own course there are 3 or possibly 4 still in the industry and of the other others 2 never worked at all. The schools can tell people anything they like, after all they are in the business of making money.

 

The massive over supply of divers in the UK and probably the world has two effects. More divers means less work for all of them and the amount you get paid is also likely to remain the same. When I qualified a supervisor told me the day rate had barely gone up in the last 10 years, I thought he was joking but I have since had this confirmed by an RMT union rep. I worked for a small firm 4 years ago and the same firm now is paying divers the same day rate I got. In reality they are making less than I was when you take into account the increases in tax and national insurance. You can also add onto that the cost of just getting to and from the job site. 

 

This discussion was originally started about wind farm jobs. What most people don’t realise is the divers are in some cases are the lowest paid people on the job but are often the ones with the most qualifications. By this I mean the divers will usually have some or all of the following tickets, HSE diving tickets, DMT ticket, offshore survival, Rope access, confined space and FRC tickets.

 

I know many of my friends and colleagues are currently looking for work, maybe you just got lucky.

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