ROV Pilot Grade II seeking for opportunity

[Robert Branch]

When I was working in the diving industry in the early 90,s out of Singapore there were MUPPETS straight from dive school going out on jobs for $50 per day,to get experience,sometimes on a 3 month straight trip.It wouldnt surprise me that the same is happening in the supposedly semi skilled ROV industry.

[Archibald Carruthers]

Yes Surf91, as sad as this sounds I fear you may be right. Some of the "experts" have to work with on the last few jobs have beem bloody frightening. The agencies and companies must be rubbing their hands with glee and dripping with money – that is until they start realising what a false economy this is.

Once they start losing a few metres of tether every dive and spending more time on deck with it in bits than in the water, damaging subsea assets and it costing them a shitload in extra insurances etc then they may just get their begging bowls out. Then it will be our turn to twist the screws.

I did a job, not too long ago in Angola, there were only two expats on the crew and I ran day shift. When we arrived everyone was complaining that the vehicle had no power and did not respond well to commands.

A quick check revealed that the sub props were all handed wrongly, so I changed them all to the correct orientation – the night shift sup (a local guy but really pleasant) nearly shit himself. They were not allowed to make any decision regarding the vehicle without first talking to the beach – who presumably must then have been responsible for such a fuck up in the first place.

But the old adage about peanuts and monkeys is true – and I suspect will become even more relevant as the industry start to pick up.

I have had a lovely break since Christmas and now look forward to a profitable and busy year. Bring on these cheap monkeys it will make us more valueable more quickly.

[Robert Black]

It wouldnt surprise me that the same is happening in the supposedly semi skilled ROV industry.

I spent nearly four years in further education for the right to call myself a craftsman and technician. There are more like me in this industry than there are old divers nowadays. Try not to paint us all with your semi skilled brush. Regards, Rab

Andy Rose. You know good guitar players and Artificers always get preferential rates.

[Robert Branch]

Yeah sorry mate.I didnt mean it in the way you thought I meant it.What I meant is that there are alot of Muppets in the ROV industry,that get on because they have big traps,talk alot,talk a good job,know how to kiss the superindents back eye,stab everyone that is good in the back,and they themselves are f,ing useless,and they get by,because of their big traps…
This must be one of the only jobs in the offshore oil and gas industry,that will employ Muppets,because they can talk a good job,and are unskilled,so cannot perform when the shit hits the fan..but you can guarantee they will be on the next job.

[Robert Branch]

Oh and Kreuz I forgot to ask..What the f–k is an Artifier??,is that another word for RAF airframe fitter.Loads of them in the ROV industry..Good at riveting though..

[Mario Chahine]

@ ALL:

If I said "FOR FREE" it was to emphasize the fact that I’m ready to accept even internship ! I apologies for whom I offended but it was not my intentions. When situation like these get critical people sacrifice to get started ! I love ROV world and I can’t even begin, and I am ready to do internship for free just to get this start for once, and because I love what I do. Obviously these days no one is taking care of trainees like me and we are thousands and thousands around the world ready to get started !

I dont consider myself a mupet or a good talk as someone is saying, I have a backround in aviation and I can assure you I love what I do, but when agencies continue bouncing me who’s gonna give me the chance to have these 30 hours on my logbook ? they all anser the same : "no offshore experience no chance to start", its like a dog biting its tail no body losen the cord !

Sorry again have a good day all !

[bt]

Sorry Maiochine
But your not a trainee if you’ve never worked for a company but just completed an induction course.
You may be looking for a trainee position but you’ll find that very hard to come by in the present climate. It might be hard to take after spending a load of cash!! although i would assume a lot of people are in the same position which will be further competition to you.
your first port of call should be the training establishment where you completed your course.

Good luck anyway and hope things change soon!!

[andyrose]

Surf91,

Those that can – join the Navy as Artificers.

Those that cannot join the crabfats and walk sideways!!

[James McLauchlan]

Surf91,

Those that can – join the Navy as Artificers.

Those that cannot join the crabfats and walk sideways!!

UK Army – REME also has Artificers

Artificer Sergeant Major (ASM) is an appointment held by a Warrant Officer Class 1 in the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME), the corps of the British Army whose function is the repair and recovery of all mechanical and electrical equipments.

The ASM is normally the senior tradesman in a unit Light Aid Detachment (LAD) and is the technical advisor to the unit. An ASM must have passed the Artificer training course and served as an Artificer Weapons/Vehicles or similar discipline as a Staff Sergeant and Warrant Officer Class 2 (holding the appointment of Artificer Quartermaster Sergeant) prior to promotion to WO1.

And back to the subject of the thread.

I feel we are going to see a lot more of these types of posts on here. People getting sucked into paying for courses and the schools flooding the industry with so called PTII’s and then more some!

The fact is the industry just cannot support the numbers being pumped out. Not a concern of the schools you may think. I beg to differ, because the numbers should be regulated somehow (easier said than done!) rather than lifting all this hard earned cash out of unsuspecting individuals bank accounts.

Half the time the warnings are read on here by people after they have paid for and completed the course!

[Robert Branch]

I personally think alot of these ROV schools will start going under very soon,and the sooner the better…

[rov_er]

I dont consider myself a mupet or a good talk as someone is saying, I have a backround in aviation and I can assure you I love what I do, but when agencies continue bouncing me who’s gonna give me the chance to have these 30 hours on my logbook ? they all anser the same : "no offshore experience no chance to start", its like a dog biting its tail no body losen the cord !

Mario:
1) agencies are supposed to be there to provide experienced guys when ROV companies have a shortage of internal staff. Thus it will be quite hard to get a trainee position from an agency, I would rather say impossible considering this period in which also experienced guys are home.
2) 30 hours more on your logbook mean nearly nothing to me. A trainee position should last one year, during which you should work both offshore and onshore, doing maintenance. So please, forget about the idea that once you get a first job call and 30hrs, you’ll be ok, as you will end up with the bad surprise that it will still be hard to get a job call.
3) if you take the time to read posts on this forum, you’ll see that people get angry when guys like you offer to work for free. I advise you to read previous posts adn carefully choose your words when posting something. Otherwise, you’ll look just like another desperate "PT II" coming out from ROV schools and freaking out after realizing that reality is much different from dreams.

Anyway, keep patient and good luck for the coming months…usually the ROV market wakes up starting from april-may.

rov_er

[rov_er]

The fact is the industry just cannot support the numbers being pumped out. Not a concern of the schools you may think. I beg to differ, because the numbers should be regulated somehow (easier said than done!) rather than lifting all this hard earned cash out of unsuspecting individuals bank accounts.

I totally agree that numbers should be regulated James, and it seems to me that IMCA has addressed this point quite clearly in its guidelines (see attachment).
The problem, in my opinion, is not the lack of regulations, but the lack of consequences for not respecting them.
Maybe a solution would be of IMCA firing out those IMCA affiliated schools that do not actually respect the guidelines?

rov_er

imcar002_184.pdf

Filename: imcar002_184.pdf

Download

[Robert Black]

It is my considered opinion that people who take people’s (large amounts of) money and promise then a career as soon as they leave the premises should have there heads shaved and hung outside windows by suspended by their ankles.
I have even heard of a young man who thought he was a qualified supervisor after the school found out how much redundancy money he had left and promptly sold him the supv course they were running.
If companies like Fugro-Rovtech want to pay and send trainees to Fort Bill to get a taste before going offshore then good on them for investing in training but the quite clearly misleading literature of these schools should be curbed as they are often preying on people who have been made redundant or are at a crossroads of their life in some way and clutching at a dream. A dream quite a few of us know involves long periods sat at home and longer periods of sitting in a second hand Volvo chair swearing at a monitor in the dark. Not as rock and roll as I thought it would be.
Oh, yeah. Artificer also means ‘cunning technician’ in old english. They say we can tell you the square root of a tin of beans but will struggle to open it for you. This is true in Andy Rose’s case. 😆

[andyrose]

Oh, yeah. Artificer also means ‘cunning technician’ in old english. They say we can tell you the square root of a tin of beans but will struggle to open it for you. This is true in Andy Rose’s case. 😆

Thats silly, we all know that beans dont have square roots – they are long straggly things.

There was one tin that I did manage to cut open (with a hacksaw) but Rab did not know how to cook them. He threatened to play guitar and sing (he has invented c-rap) – so eventually I cooked them myself!!

Yeah sorry about the omission of the Army Tiffies – a fine bunch of chappies – I thought the government had cut back so far we did not have any "percy pongos" left. I did used to work with an army air corp bloke – a decent type but a funny coloured hat.

Andy

[Sit Rep]

Turning into a what’s a tiffy but so what…

It’s a very, very Navy term in the RAN strongly used in the marine engineering world i.e. I’m not a ‘effin stoker I’m a tiffy inferring that you shovel shit and are shit but I as a tiffy actually KNOW shit.

Although the loudest (and most heavily tattooed) were in the marine engineering dept there are also various electrical/electronic and also fleet air arm trash who are artificers as long as they have completed a relevant trade.

[Author]

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