Experience as a trainee

Hi all,

I recently started as a trainee, and as there is so much talk on the forums from those of you who want to get a foot in the door I thought I would share my experiences with those of you who are interested.

I started as a trainee with CTC last July. I had already worked for them as ROV Support Engineer for a year before I made the transition to offshore. This wasn’t essential as 4 others started at the same time with no experience of the industry. The prerequisite to gain position as a trainee was to have a technical background, hydraulic/mechanical or electrical. You didn’t have to possess offshore survivals/medicals or have been to Fort Bill or similar (Although these may well have helped). I think a technical background of some description is essential, for those of you who are trying to get in the industry without good luck, but I think you will need it!

During the first few months all trainees were put on the offshore survival course and had their medicals, all paid by the company. We also did the 2 weeks of basic courses with MTCS where we were given our competency schemes. The competency schemes were to be completed over the first year as we worked offshore, and upon completion you are certified as pilot-tech (As per IMCA guidelines).

As CTC is not specifically an ROV company work offshore is varied. We specialise in trenching (Ploughs, tractors and ROV trenchers) so any work class ROV work is in support of this. So if you are only interested in work class ROV’s then it wouldn’t be for you as we are required to work with all the systems. In my view it has been a good place to start. Working with any subsea vehicle will give you a good understanding of the technology involved as many aspects are interchangeable between different classes of vehicle (Survey equipment, control systems etc). And moving between totally different systems can keep the work varied and interesting (Although I have only worked with SMD Quantum up to now). I have no complaints so far.

As for actually working offshore, so far it’s all going well. You get to meet some good characters, and the occasional t****r admittedly! Most people are willing to help you out as long as you’re showing some interest in learning. You might have to hear the odd story (or dozens!) of the ‘good ol’ days at global’ (You know who you are!), which can bore you to tears (or maybe it’s just jealousy on my part??)! And you get to stop in at some good ports where you otherwise might never go in your life. For me the travel, time off (and time away so I’m not always falling out with the missus at home!) and the pay are the best perks, as well as having an interesting job in general. The worst part is that long trips are common, at least 6 weeks usually, although I’m in my tenth week at sea at the minute (Sad I know but I’m doing it for the tax days!!). I’m also away at short notice so it’s quite hard to plan your social life back at home.

All in all I would recommend offshore work, can’t really imagine myself back onshore at the minute.

Oh, and the pay is pretty good, I’m on more as a trainee than I’ve seen anywhere else on the forums, and I think when qualified it’s not bad either. Definitely not the biggest payers but reasonable from what I can gauge.

Hope this has been of interest to someone. If anybody wants to know any more drop me a line.

Good for you….So do you have any advised or how did you manage to get your fist job as a trainee since I’ve been struggling to find one….

thanks..