questions for commercial divers

[silversvt01]

hey, ive got a few questions about commercial diving. im looking to do this after i leave the navy, which as it stands now, is in around 3 years. im going to be taking a padi course for scuba in a few weeks and ive been looking into some things. 1. how do you get into the profession? should you be an experienced scuba diver first? i know i would have to go to school for it, but im talking about before going. 2. do you move all over the place, or are you in a general area? 3. does it pay good? 4. do you specialize in different things? 5. what about underwater welding? should you be a regular certified welder first? ive searched online and seen a few things, but i wanted to try here also. any help is appreciated. thanks, danny

[AzSnake]

I’m not a Tech diver nor can I answer all of your questions but I think I can point you in the correct direction.
YES you should be an experienced diver before you ever think about looking at technical diving. When I say experienced I’m not just saying get a bunch of dives under your belt. you should get a good amount of different dives, diving conditions, warm, cold diving, drift, so your familiar with high current, night diving, low vis diving and work at your navigation. you should be a stud when it comes to navigation and orientation. From what I understand the pay can be good (very good) but you can spend a large amount of time away from home (working oil rigs, salvage dives etc).

http://www.tdisdi.com/tdi/tdihome.html
http://www.oceancorp.com/

Search for underwater welding and technical diving in your search window, should be able to pull some stuff. Also get a Sport Diver mag by PADI. I have seen adds for schools in the back.

[AzSnake]

I recomend you request the catalog and vid from the 2nd link I included.

[silversvt01]

cool. thanks.

[sea dog 6]

imagine if you will....
years of apprenticeship as a tender, sitting around a very very hot barge...crummy pay by companies barely getting by. Crummy gear, well worn. New guys never never get the new stuff. Crummy water. Most divers do not work in the tropics or GMex. Plan on bridge inspections and intake cleaning when you finally get to work at all... and pack your bags, it will not be in the neighborhood. Crummy pay, unless you are very senior, and with one of the majors, (in line with every other comm. diving school grad) and on a good contract... that will eventually end anyway.
Bottom Line:
Better to make adult money at a job that allows you to dive when and where you want to dive, for the beauty and zen of it all. Anyone that tells you much different about the (early years at least) profession is selling you a training program.