Smoking and Rov

Yes, for the most part you can but there are strict smoking policies now. There are a few vessels and rigs that have banned smoking in the past but did a turn-around. You’ll find, much like onshore, there are designated smoking areas.

Rovspoilt:

I am not sure what is the current status of ROV industry in Australia, are they still taking trainees or not, keeping in mind the current global financial crisis?

For more info about Oz check out the Woodside project thread under General posts.

Hi Blackberad
I am in the same course which is starting from Nov at Fremantle. I just smoke ordinary Cigarettes nothing dangerous. Yes the statistical figures look good but recently i have seen a post from a guy who did this course and still looking for the first job.
Also keeping in mind the current financial crisis i am not sure that the Australian ROV market is still looking for new trainees at the moment.
But still we are selected out of 33 candidates who applied for the course and only 7 places were available, as told by Bill Evans.
Lets see what happens next.
See you in a couple of weeks mate.

Cheers

What are the requirements for enrolement on this course? I’d really like to hope that technical qualifications are finally being considered.

I’m constantly amazed at non- technical people paying huge amounts of money for training courses and hoping to walk into jobs in ROV. These schools are robbing you, making promises of work that they know don’t exist.

To put it into perspective- would you do a basic home car mechanics at your local college (around a year with evening classes) and expect an immediate start at an Aston Martin garage? Your average work-class sytem costs upwards of £2.5 million these days.

This rant has come as a result of going onto too many jobs with a non-technical trainee and a non -technical supposed sub-eng with two years experience (but he’s a nice lad and keen, therefore he’s been good at fetching/ carrying/ filling/ draining but has no idea about fault finding) and having to do everything myself.

If you’re not technical either do an apprenticeship or spend a couple of years at college. There’s no way a couple of weeks at these schools can give you enough background in either hydraulicsl/ electronics to be of any use. Save your money.

I recently went onto a job where no-one on the crew had more than 18 months ROV experience but they were all time-served techs. It was fantastic. Ops were a bit difficult at times but by far the easiest trip I’ve had for a long time. As soon as the vehicles hit deck they were on the case.

This may sound harsh but it’s better to find this out now while your money is still in the bank. Too many of the technical lads are coming through the courses with stories of mates who paid the same money but had no technical background and haven’t worked yet.

Do some research before you part with your money. The best resource is here. Check through the previous posts, and good luck.