i want to become a commercial diver, whats the current status of the industry?

[theyogitrade]

i wish to become a commercial diver, i love the job description, i get that its dangerous, however i see it as the right path in life for me. i am scared of one thing, is it still a viable career path, can you get a steady amount of jobs to keep you a float?

 

[LandonL]

I might suggest getting a recreational diver cert first, and see if you like diving.

I assume you mean a commercial diver working at something like underwater welding or pipework? Have you checked out any of the commercial diving schools for pay scales and employment rates post graduation?

 

[theyogitrade]

I might suggest getting a recreational diver cert first, and see if you like diving.

I assume you mean a commercial diver working at something like underwater welding or pipework? Have you checked out any of the commercial diving schools for pay scales and employment rates post graduation?

yes i have, theyre shooting out a 90% employment rate, however, im not entirely sure if its steady work afterwards.

 

[Buliwyf]

How old are you? You can spend 4 years getting all the tech training and diving experience you need.

Or join the Navy and get it for free in the same amount of time. The bonus is, if you stink at DSD, they find something else for you. Not kiddin. Many of the rig divers are X Navy or Marines.
Petroleum Industry Offshore Diving Jobs for Oil Rigs

You have to be 100% fit for many of those gigs, especially deep divers. 500+ meters.

The space analogies are a bit played out, but it's about that dangerous:
Under pressure: my job as a deep sea saturation diver

 

[Akimbo]

How old are you? You can spend 4 years getting all the tech training and diving experience you need....

None of that training qualifies you to be a commercial diver.

 

[theyogitrade]

None of that training qualifies you to be a commercial diver.

what exactly does qualify you?

 

[Akimbo]

what exactly does qualify you?

That depends on where you are and the work you are doing. Many are listed here:

Professional Diving Academy | HSE Approved Diver Training

Commercial Diving Certifications, Divers Institute of Technology

Available Certifications - Admissions - CDA Technical Institute

Edit: Some of you might be interested in this post:
What is Saturation Diving?

Here is Scubaboard's Commercial Diving Forum:
Commercial Divers

 

[EthanLandshark]

Tech training does not qualify you to be a commercial diver. I did the highest commercial SCUBA certification you can get in Canada and the course took 7 weeks of intense classroom work and diving projects. It was super fun and I am very glad I did it. I went in with just a PADI advanced open water and now my official title is Unrestricted Occupational SCUBA Diver with Nitrox endorsement and I have plans to go back and get a Unrestricted Surface Supply. It sounds like you want to do underwater construction or welding. To do that in Canada you need to have surface supply. At the school I went to that course takes 6 months, but my friends that have done it said it was amazing. I would recommend starting with commercial SCUBA and seeing how it goes.

 

[blac86]

5 major companies across the US have been pumping out 30 new hard hat divers a month for the last decade.

Even with the insane turnover you will not have the Paradise of there being 10 jobs for every diver like it was a decade ago when there were only 5,000 working commercial divers world wide.

The pay has slowed down, the work hasnt become more plentiful, hiring standards are high, people are having a hard time landing gigs as tenders let alone on a dive rotation.


Also the work ******* sucks, you spend six weeks at sea and two at Port over and over forever, you do hot racks on the dsv, and the job is being slowly but surely supplanted by long range unmanned submersibles.

 

[Superlyte27]

Not a chance. 90%? Lol

Ask them how many graduates are still working after the first year.

Getting employment info from comm dive school is like asking your waitress if she likes your haircut.