bill,
its been a mixed bag for me in my career so far, working with SMIT both in the middle east and with their african counterpart here in asia, mermaids and the malaysian company they own Allied Marine have been giving me work as well. also in the ME, i worked a few small contracts with mcdermotts and Halul (formerly known as qatar subsea services) Ya this economy crisis really made things difficult for up and coming diver, especially last year, when work was pretty scarce. Luckliy I used all my downtime to get some courses under my belt. I found having a DMT and a 3.2u Inspection ticket really gives me that extra advantage I need to keep securing jobs. Living out here with a local address also gives me an edge I think, i let the companies know im always ready, that i can mob for a job with little or no notice. and when they are in a pinch for divers, they call me to fill in wherever required.