Any Ex military done an ROV course?

[Daniel Woodhall]

Hi all,

I am currently a Sgt in the Royal engineers (electrician), I have just started my resettlement phase and plan on doing an ROV course.

It may or may not improve my chances of getting in to the industry but with the Military footing the bill for a large percentage of the course i might as well do it.

I have ELC, SLC and termination grant at my disposal.

If anyone has done a course as part of resettlement could you offer any advice on how best to use the credits and which course you did? and how you have got on since doing the course.

Thanks for any advice offered.

Dan

[Roy Simson]

Hi woody565

Please go to ROV Rookie Corner on this Forum as this question has been asked many times before .

However the answer still remains the same " Please Dont join the Hundreds if not thousands who have done a course and are unable to find work "

Just spend a hour or so checking out Rookie Corner its all there , Some guys have spent Thousands doing a course only to be sitting at home for years after still looking for work .
Look at the post on LinkedIn regarding guys who did a rov training course. .

Yes from time time some guys do get lucky but for every person who lands a Trainee post there is about 10 still looking .But dont take my word for it check the forums post .

If you all ready have the basics any main line company will hire you and put you through there own in house training program .

But this debate has been going on for years .

Good luck and happy reading

Raptor

[Ray Shields]

Agree with above – however, as you said you will not be paying. If the is absolutely no other course that you can spend the money on, then, why not.

But, as Raptor said, have a read through the Rookie section on the site here, also at the How To Layout Your CV in the FAQs (link on the left). As your background is electrical, there may be fibre optic, hydraulic and mechanical courses that may prove of more value. An ROV Training course may only be used to apply for one specific type of job, other qualifications can be used towards MANY jobs.

Ensure any qualification you get is a nationally recognised one (NVQ, City & Guilds etc.).

There are thousands of people, all with good qualifications and experience, all applying for a handful of ROV trainee positions.

I would urge you to use any settlement money to get training and qualifications that would not only be useful for applying for an ROV job but also for many other jobs rather than risking applying for a job in ROVs and being unsuccessful and only having a training course that is applicable to it.

[Daniel Woodhall]

Thanks to both of you for the advice.

It will be paid for my the army so no financial cost to myself. I have other money available so will look at other courses as well.

Its certainly not encouraging to here that it is so difficult to get a trainee position, and i am fully aware that this may take a few years of dedication to get a break. However it is a job that ticks a lot of boxes for me so i will give it my best shot and hopefully my efforts will be rewarded.

Dan

[David]

Woody
I did the ROV course as part of my resettlement – I think it was a waste of money and time.
Unless you specifically want to do ROV work I would look at being a rig electrician – they need them.
I have an offshore job which pays regular good money.
Have a look at the CTP site, there is an Oil & Gas Jobs Fair in October. That’s where I got my first step into the industry.
Dave

[K2]

Just read about this in th ON&T, could be worth a look for ex service personnel:

http://www.thenetworkaberdeen.org/

K2

[deepseacon]

Yes but you will always earn more in ROV than being a RIG Electrician.

Plus there is more prospects of earning even more after 10 years in ROV work than being a RIG Electrician after 10 years.

[David]

Hi deapseacon
I know everone’s experience is different but what you say is the opposite of what the ROV boys on my rig told me.
If you can get into a rig engineering supervisory role then the money is a lot higher.
And, the market seems to be saturated with people like me who fell for the con of the ROV course.
Dave

[James McLauchlan]

Yes but you will always earn more in ROV than being a RIG Electrician.

Plus there is more prospects of earning even more after 10 years in ROV work than being a RIG Electrician after 10 years.

mmm…. Compared to many offshore trades, ROV pay is so poor these days I’d seriously doubt that statement. Plus the market is flooded with trainees thanks to the schools churning them out with no regulation.

You are far more likely to pick up work as a rig sparky and start out on better pay than a trainee ROV PT.

Woody, if I were in your shoes I’d look at rig sparky to kick off with. If after a few years you still want to do ROV then look into it (and the pay) once more.

REspect! 😉

[Roy Simson]

Very true words scalpatroid "

people like me who fell for the con of the ROV course "

I only hope that people will read this and save them self a few Bob .

Cheers

Raptor

[John Bridgett]

Very true words scalpatroid "

people like me who fell for the con of the ROV course "

I only hope that people will read this and save them self a few Bob .

Cheers

Raptor

It amazes me just how lucky myself and in fact the other 3 on my course must have been, we all found trainee positions in less than 6 months, the course before that everyone got jobs, several whilst still doing the course yet you guys keep professing theyre a waste of money, in my experience they are not.

I hope people read this and IF they have a suitable background, go and do a course, I went to The Underwater Centre in Fort William, it was an excellent course and gave me a good introduction to the world of ROV’s and the industry. If I had my time over again, I would do exactly the same.

J

[Roy Simson]

Well you said it

"It amazes me just how lucky myself and in fact the other 3 on my course must have been "

Thousands of people play the lottery and yes you get the odd winner but what a price to pay any thing from £2000 to over £10.000 for a worth less worthless piece of paper that gets you no closer to a rov job . Doing a rov course is not mandatory requirement its guidelines set by IMCA.

The role of IMCA as a trade association is to offer good practice guidance in the area of competence and training amongst other areas .

The training schools are turning out hundreds of Rov trainees were are all these guys going to go ?

Good luck to those like your self who got a job within a short time of doing the course but there are so many others still searching .

Good Luck

Raptor

[John Bridgett]

Well you said it

"It amazes me just how lucky myself and in fact the other 3 on my course must have been "

Thousands of people play the lottery and yes you get the odd winner but what a price to pay any thing from £2000 to over £10.000 for a worth less worthless piece of paper that gets you no closer to a rov job . Doing a rov course is not mandatory requirement its guidelines set by IMCA.

The role of IMCA as a trade association is to offer good practice guidance in the area of competence and training amongst other areas .

The training schools are turning out hundreds of Rov trainees were are all these guys going to go ?

Good luck to those like your self who got a job within a short time of doing the course but there are so many others still searching .

Good Luck

Raptor

I feel there is a huge difference between the centres offering courses. When I went on the 1 day experience course they looked at everyones CV’s. only 2 out of the 8 attending were told a course would be right for them (I was one of the two) so they werent pushing the courses. Having the right experience and background is of prime importance. Doing a course will improve your chances of finding employment, it has to. If 2 people were stood in front of you for a single ROV trainee position, identical qualifications and experience, one had done a course and the other hadn’t, which would you choose?

[Roy Simson]

Sorry but it makes no it no difference I know this because I am one of the poor buggers who goes through the Cvs looking for crew .

The first thing I look for is " What has this man got to offer me " Because now days you cant have baggage " Every body must have some thing to offer .

The main thing is " Can you Fix It " ? "Can you fly it " ? .

I am looking at previous training or skills in hydraulic or electrical , I am looking for people who can look outside the box . Many of the jobs that you may find your self on are in the middle of no where . If we cannot fix that vehicle and keep the client happy your off .

I only know I feel very guilty seeing so many people doing these courses after being given the impression that soon after this course they would go straight into employment .

Like you say you and your friends were very lucky but the pile of Rov trainees applications is getting larger and larger. One thing is for sure the schools will keep taking your money .

Cheers

Raptor

[Bristar]

And then there was the ROV course that I did 5 years ago at Global Marine. On it we had:

1. A Rig Sparky that was bored of his job
2. A Marine Technician, 6 years exp, no offshore experience
3. A Farm Machinery Mechanic, no offshore experience
4. Two Phillipinos benig trained for a job with Global

The 2 phillipinos obviously went straight into work and the 3 of us applied to various PT jobs on spec (about 20-30 each) and got knocked back, but we also saw a Subsea 7 trainee intake advert on oilcareers.com, so all 3 of us applied.

Those jobs had about 500 applicants, of which they interviewed c. 80. Us three were all immediately available and had been well trained by Global Marine… we were the very first three hires out of 20 that went through their base training.

Our 3 week ROV course did make a massive difference, but then we were a little more useful right from the start, I guess because Global had taken the time to train us in some of the basics:

Taped Splices, Potted Splices, making up an ST hotmelt, fibre splicing, how to use an OTDR, how use a 12/24V bench supply for fault finding, basic Fluke meter use, mainlift reterm, soft tether reterms, solenoid fault finding, HCU fault finding (including the board), electrical and hydraulic diagram reading, 7 function arm use + we had about 25 hours of flying learning about tether placement and sonar use while doing a survey of some pier legs in 1m viz.

Once I actually got offshore after 3 weeks on base (so 2 months after my course) I felt that I was a quite useful trainee and I progressed pretty well. Now i’ve been a Sub Engineer for a while and have just started Supervising the odd job… I still value a lot of the training I had back at the start and thoroughly recommend it.

If you’re committed to get in AND have a relevant background I think in a competetive field it gives you a slight edge. The most useful thing I learnt on the course was which of my skills that I already had were actually relevant to ROVs and how to highlight them on my CV, and what to talk about in an interview. Going in to the interview with a little confidence about what I could and couldn’t do with ROVs and able to highlight which of my skills were truly relevent helped me nail that 1st offer on my first ROV interview.

All in it was £3000 well spent and has earnt me many many times more than that since then now that I’m on £500/day and still loving my job.

[Author]

Posts