TJ,
PM sent.
PM sent.
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
Hello, my name is TJ and this is my first post on here. I just turned 23 and I am very interested in getting into the marine and commercial diving industry. I have no kids, wife or girlfriend, and there is nothing that ties me down to a particular area. I have been looking into and researching the industry for a number of years now. I came across this thread and figured I would make an account on here and ask for some input from people who are currently in the industry.
I am not new to the technical field. I am a skilled welder, mechanic, fabricator, and machinist, with construction experience. I have worked on and built off road race vehicles and other race cars. Also I worked building the skate parks and gigantic ramps that can be seen during the x-games and other extreme sports competitions. I have experience in the fast paced aerospace industry where I designed, built and assembled tooling to manufacture assemblies and parts that went on commercial and military aircraft and spacecraft. I have a heavy engineering background in the field of manufacturing and mechanical engineering. I was attending Cal Poly for an engineering degree, however I found that it was not for me and I chose not to continue, however, during my studies I have acquired, numerous skills ranging from Foundry engineering, Computer aided design, to CNC programming.
I have been looking into commercial diving training schools for a while now and i am pretty much set on one near my area(SBCC). My diving experience, however is limited to freediving. I spear fish and collect lobsters as a hobby. I was hoping to receive some input and recommendations about getting into this industry and what to expect, and what other skills(besides diving) are currently marketable in the industry today. I am definitely not interested in this field because of money. i want to apply the skills i have learned so far in a different environment.
Thank You very much.
TJ Woodland.
Amongst the many people who write in here asking about the industry, you are one of the few, I feel, that has good potential. You sound extremely mature and experienced for 23 years. Thats great news. Do a search here and you should find a lot of information. Anything specific we can answer to ?
Hello there, this new section is a good idea.
I don't have many questions, because, frankly I don't even really know enough to ask anything intelligently. I'm just looking for an over-all realistic expectation of the industry so I can make an intelligent decision if it's something I want to do or not.
Thanks for starting the forum! I look forward to reading everything you guys have to say!
I'm in the same situation as "jimmyjjohn" and I've read a decent amount of this thread, but most of it seems to be outdated, such as the advice on the situation of the industry. Do you have any advice in area? And if not, where should I look?This "new" section is over three years old. Have a look around. Much has already been discussed.
I'm in the same situation as "jimmyjjohn" and I've read a decent amount of this thread, but most of it seems to be outdated, such as the advice on the situation of the industry. Do you have any advice in area? And if not, where should I look?
There are several commercial diving forums. I don't frequent them anymore, but I think one is c-diver, and offshore diver. As far as the info being outdated, nothing has really changed except that in the last several months, the industry has gotten busier. Dive schools are still lying and cheating students out of tens of thousands of dollars. The cheapest place in the USA for school is still the community college in Louisianna. And if I were going to spend 40k on an education, it would probably be a nursing degree.