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Permalink Reply by James Leach on August 10, 2009 at 11:44am

Dude, if you love your family, back out of the dream. Most don't make it and few stay in it. This game is very hard to break in to, and is not family friendly. If you have strong family support, people who will help your wife and nurture your kids, you will have a better chance. Being a commercial diver means missing birthdays, your wife will have to mow the lawn and take out the trash. You won't be making much money starting out so that will put a burden on those who count on you. It can be dangerous work, you WILL get injured. You WILL cry when one of your buddies gets killed.

On the flip side. You will make some of the best friends you ever had. People will risk there lives for you, loan you money, protect your family and things. When you meet new people and they ask you what you do for a living, there eyes will light up and ask you all kinds of questions. You can make more money than engineers, and travel all over the world. See amazing, beautiful things that you can't get from any book or video about nature.

This job isn't for the light hearted. You'll find yourself changing in good and bad ways. You will find most people to be contemptible. You will have to move several times in your life, because diving companies are undependable and the work is fickle.

To sum it all up, stay out. Keep your family.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Davisson on August 10, 2009 at 2:55pm

James I appreciate the info. gives me alot to think about i guess. However my wife stands behind me 110% as well as my parents so I will definitely attend the school. I always have my buisness to fall back on.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Gogola on August 10, 2009 at 11:00pm

Starting out as a tender is tough, looking at 3-5 years to break out. The work has slowed down in the GOM considerably. Rumor is next year will be worse. May not be the best time to get in the bussiness.

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