All opinions for a Rookie Appreciated

[Niall Stack]

I have read through the entire rookie forum and I am aware of peoples opinions on certain topics etc….

I have turned 40 and for the last 6 years I have been a graphic designer

The only problem I face is that I do not have any qualifications re mechanical, hydraulic, electronic or engineering…
but that is not to say that I don’t have any mechanical experience because I do all the maintenance on my own motorbike…
and likewise do all my own electrical work around the home….

I can appreciate that ROV Companys only want employees with experience, but the problem that I now face is that I am 40 years old and
do not want to spend the next few years studying for a qualifications such as HNC, NVQs, SVQs, City and Guilds in electrical & electronics if it would be more beneficial for me to get an apprenticeship and become a trainee instead….

So the way i see it, my options are as follows….

A) Do an ROV Training course (Which seems to be a Definite NO as to the number of responses on that topic)

B) Get a a qualifications such as HNC, NVQs, SVQs, City and Guilds in electrical & electronics (avoiding a degree)
Any courses youmay recommend would be appreciated

C) Get an Apprenticeship and constantly keep applying to the ROV companies as i am been trained….

And I am sure that there a lot of you who would tell me not to bother…. as there are more qualified people out there. Well that may well be true, but I have yet to train and I will be able to compete with the best of them….

Anyway, I am determined to succeed in this field and i warmly welcome all comments and please feel free to send me a private message, particularly if you are looking for a hard working trainee 🙂

Kind Regards,

Niall

[David]

Niall
I am experienced (32 years in the maritime engineering field) and after doing the course I never got a sniff – I thought the whole thing a con.
I’m now working offshore earning a lot more than the ROV guys.
There’s a lot of sat round doing nothing for them. When you’re offshore you want to be busy.
Save your money – take it from someone who didn’t.

[Niall Stack]

Niall
I am experienced (32 years in the maritime engineering field) and after doing the course I never got a sniff – I thought the whole thing a con.
I’m now working offshore earning a lot more than the ROV guys.
There’s a lot of sat round doing nothing for them. When you’re offshore you want to be busy.
Save your money – take it from someone who didn’t.

Thanks for the reply scalptroid…. I really appreciate it…

Any chance you can PM me and tell me what you do and how you went about doing it please…

[John Bridgett]

And I am sure that there a lot of you who would tell me not to bother…. as there are more qualified people out there. Well that may well be true, but I have yet to train and I will be able to compete with the best of them….

Hi Niall,
I’m not one to discourage anyone from the fascinating field of ROV work. I have to take you to task on the above statement however, just how are you going to compete with for example someone who is a qualified electrician, 20+ years experience of electronic design, hydraulics experience as well. You can do the qualifications (you say don’t want to), but that doesn’t give you the valuable and much needed experience. The job market is full of people with such experience and they will move above you on a very, very long ladder.
If you really are serious, I suggest you get a job, dependent on location with and ROV operator or manufacturer and serve an apprenticeship, become qualified and then move over to piloting.
Sorry to disappoint.

J

[Niall Stack]

And I am sure that there a lot of you who would tell me not to bother…. as there are more qualified people out there. Well that may well be true, but I have yet to train and I will be able to compete with the best of them….

Hi Niall,
I’m not one to discourage anyone from the fascinating field of ROV work. I have to take you to task on the above statement however, just how are you going to compete with for example someone who is a qualified electrician, 20+ years experience of electronic design, hydraulics experience as well. You can do the qualifications (you say don’t want to), but that doesn’t give you the valuable and much needed experience. The job market is full of people with such experience and they will move above you on a very, very long ladder.
If you really are serious, I suggest you get a job, dependent on location with and ROV operator or manufacturer and serve an apprenticeship, become qualified and then move over to piloting.
Sorry to disappoint.

J

Hi Innerstate,
Fair comment and not at all disappointing…, It is not that I don’t want to go through college studying etc, it is just everything that I have read and heard to date is that hands on experience will always win over someone who simply has a qualification…

ie: I study for 4 years or I go out and get an apprenticeship for 4 years… Who is more likely to get the job in the end?

I am of course willing to put in the hard work of studying but as I am now 40, I really am not in a position of wasting 2 – 4 years studying when i can get where i need to go faster by serving an apprenticeship….

I thank you for your feedback…. 🙂 and if you happen to have any doors that can be open to me, i would really appreciate it….

Cheers, Niall

[John Bridgett]

And I am sure that there a lot of you who would tell me not to bother…. as there are more qualified people out there. Well that may well be true, but I have yet to train and I will be able to compete with the best of them….

Hi Niall,
I’m not one to discourage anyone from the fascinating field of ROV work. I have to take you to task on the above statement however, just how are you going to compete with for example someone who is a qualified electrician, 20+ years experience of electronic design, hydraulics experience as well. You can do the qualifications (you say don’t want to), but that doesn’t give you the valuable and much needed experience. The job market is full of people with such experience and they will move above you on a very, very long ladder.
If you really are serious, I suggest you get a job, dependent on location with and ROV operator or manufacturer and serve an apprenticeship, become qualified and then move over to piloting.
Sorry to disappoint.

J

Hi Innerstate,
Fair comment and not at all disappointing…, It is not that I don’t want to go through college studying etc, it is just everything that I have read and heard to date is that hands on experience will always win over someone who simply has a qualification…

ie: I study for 4 years or I go out and get an apprenticeship for 4 years… Who is more likely to get the job in the end?

I am of course willing to put in the hard work of studying but as I am now 40, I really am not in a position of wasting 2 – 4 years studying when i can get where i need to go faster by serving an apprenticeship….

I thank you for your feedback…. 🙂 and if you happen to have any doors that can be open to me, i would really appreciate it….

Cheers, Niall

Niall,
at 40 you’ve got years ahead of you, I moved into ROV’s at age 58 from being a school network manager, I did have previous and very relevant experience in industry though. You may be lucky, I think without relevant experience the odds are very much stacked against you.

J

[damian archbold]

niall,

i am serving in the royal navy, i specialise in minewarfare predominatly piloting and maintaining Observation class Rov. i have over 20 years experience of maritime life and life skills that go along with that. i have a basic engineering background in electronics and electrical (nvq) a basic understanding of hydraulics and pneumatics. i am qualified in fibre optic splicing and have many more military qualifications. if you want something so badly then im afraid you will have to put the work in to greap the rewards……… you get nothing in life for free.

i applied for a position with a company in subsea telecoms as a trainee rov pilot tech i am now at the stage of negotiating salary and start date. ( 1st job application by the way).

my questions to you are why the sudden career change and what makes you think you have the temprament for such a demanding industry.

[Niall Stack]

niall,

i am serving in the royal navy, i specialise in minewarfare predominatly piloting and maintaining Observation class Rov. i have over 20 years experience of maritime life and life skills that go along with that. i have a basic engineering background in electronics and electrical (nvq) a basic understanding of hydraulics and pneumatics. i am qualified in fibre optic splicing and have many more military qualifications. if you want something so badly then im afraid you will have to put the work in to greap the rewards……… you get nothing in life for free.

i applied for a position with a company in subsea telecoms as a trainee rov pilot tech i am now at the stage of negotiating salary and start date. ( 1st job application by the way).

my questions to you are why the sudden career change and what makes you think you have the temprament for such a demanding industry.

Hi Archie,

First of all, Big congratulations on getting your job, and well deserved by the sound of it with all the work u have been doing with the Navy….

I don’t mind training for qualifications as mentioned before, i would simply prefer to get the hands on experience as you did… From what i am reading and after speaking with a number of reps, having hands on experience will win every time over having simply a college degree….

I am changing career, as I am self employed in graphic design and my main core is printing… I am finding that I am having to cut my costs constantly in order to be competitive… I have the right temprament for this kind of work and i know I will enjoy it…..

Thanks for the reply 🙂

[David]

Niall
I’ve done 32 years in the Royal Navy as an engineer.
As I said, I have an offshore job now which pays well.
Throughout the whole job application process there was no mention of my qualifications. As I’m a silly old git a lot of them aren’t recognised by the civilian world like the more recent ones are.
My success was totally dependent on my level of experience.
Again, not wishing to be negative but employers want to know what you can do rather than what you think you’ll be able to do.
I hope you get lucky but my impression of the ROV market is that it’s saturated with people seeking trainee positions.

[John Bridgett]

niall,
I don’t mind training for qualifications as mentioned before, i would simply prefer to get the hands on experience as you did… From what i am reading and after speaking with a number of reps, having hands on experience will win every time over having simply a college degree….

Niall I feel youre missing the point you need qualifications AND experience. It’s a bit like reading a book on freefall parachuting and then jumping out of an aircraft would you do that with no further tuition? I’m sure you wouldn’t, nor would you jump out of an aircraft with no theory just someone showing you what to do, you need Qualifications AND the experience, I feel youre in for a long drive on a dark knight with an icy cold wind blowing if you try getting a job.

J

[Niall Stack]

Niall
I’ve done 32 years in the Royal Navy as an engineer.
As I said, I have an offshore job now which pays well.
Throughout the whole job application process there was no mention of my qualifications. As I’m a silly old git a lot of them aren’t recognised by the civilian world like the more recent ones are.
My success was totally dependent on my level of experience.
Again, not wishing to be negative but employers want to know what you can do rather than what you think you’ll be able to do.
I hope you get lucky but my impression of the ROV market is that it’s saturated with people seeking trainee positions.

Hi Scalptroid,

That is exactly what I was referring to …. In my opinion from reading through websites etc, it comes across to me that I will be more employable by having experience under my belt, and they want to know what you can and what you can not do….

Of course I will not be happy to leave it at just that… I do want to study and i can do that whilst working as well….

And I really know that there are a bunch of people out there with a heck of alot of experience and chasing very few jobs….

As I am not directly involved in any offshore activities, I am unsure of what positions are available offshore to those people without any experience…

I do not even necessarily need to go into the ROV field… It just came across my path…

If you happen to know a fast way to get offshore, I would appreciate it if you could recommend any area to work for a novice get into…

The idea to me to first of all get a job offshore so I can see what is going on and then decide on an area to aim for… If that makes any sense at all…

[Niall Stack]

Niall I feel youre missing the point you need qualifications AND experience. It’s a bit like reading a book on freefall parachuting and then jumping out of an aircraft would you do that with no further tuition? I’m sure you wouldn’t, nor would you jump out of an aircraft with no theory just someone showing you what to do, you need Qualifications AND the experience, I feel youre in for a long drive on a dark knight with an icy cold wind blowing if you try getting a job.

J

Hi Innerstate,

Of course I realise that I need to study and it is not in my nature not to want to better my education, so that is a definite that I will be studying…. This however can be done by distance learning….

Like I mentioned in the last post to Scalptoid, I really want to work offshore, and they only way that I will find out for sure what area I want to get into, is by going offshore and seeing what the jobs entail….

Can you recommend a career to get me offshore quickly? Are we talking about Roustabout, Rigger or maybe deckhand?

Any and all ideas are greatly appreciated….

[John Bridgett]

Niall I feel youre missing the point you need qualifications AND experience. It’s a bit like reading a book on freefall parachuting and then jumping out of an aircraft would you do that with no further tuition? I’m sure you wouldn’t, nor would you jump out of an aircraft with no theory just someone showing you what to do, you need Qualifications AND the experience, I feel youre in for a long drive on a dark knight with an icy cold wind blowing if you try getting a job.

J

Hi Innerstate,

Of course I realise that I need to study and it is not in my nature not to want to better my education, so that is a definite that I will be studying…. This however can be done by distance learning….

Like I mentioned in the last post to Scalptoid, I really want to work offshore, and they only way that I will find out for sure what area I want to get into, is by going offshore and seeing what the jobs entail….

Can you recommend a career to get me offshore quickly? Are we talking about Roustabout, Rigger or maybe deckhand?

Any and all ideas are greatly appreciated….

I don’t know how your education would fit but have a look at inspection 3.4. I have no experience other than working with the guys, the pay seems very good for what they do, I believe if you have a degree you can do it but I may be way off target here.

IS

[Niall Stack]

I don’t know how your education would fit but have a look at inspection 3.4. I have no experience other than working with the guys, the pay seems very good for what they do, I believe if you have a degree you can do it but I may be way off target here.

IS

Thanks IS…

Will check it out… I appreciate all your help 🙂

[John Bridgett]

I don’t know how your education would fit but have a look at inspection 3.4. I have no experience other than working with the guys, the pay seems very good for what they do, I believe if you have a degree you can do it but I may be way off target here.

IS

Thanks IS…

Will check it out… I appreciate all your help 🙂

No problem and I do sincerely wish you luck with whatever you pursue.

IS

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