Who works as ROV technician?

[Andy Shiers]

Don’t forget the Common sense side ……………………
I know plenty of so called High-grad Techs with Absolutley NO Common sense and could not navigate on deck let alone fly an ROV and the only reason the ROV was broke was due to their bad flying ! 😕

[Paul]

Well that got a few replys…

I spent 10 years fault finding to component level. I worked for a company called SKF. We did not manufacture the instruments. The PCB’s were made, populated, built into there casings then sent to us as an untested product.

I enjoyed the testings and fault finding but you could be on a single PCB for a day or more. That part i did not enjoy.

I guessed the tech’s would swap out PCB’s and then send the faulty PCB direct to the manufacturer. Im guessing the ROV tech’s offshore will have a stock of PCB’s.

[RW]

Sounds the same as the way things worked in the Royal Signals.

In the field swapping out boards was much more practical than working at the PCB component level in both data signals and power systems. I could understand it working in much the same way offshore.

Back in the workshop it was still only board level unless people felt like a personal challenge. Never really had enough time maintain all the equipment to that degree. There was simply too much to take care of.

So the way things work offshore….are they company/supervisor independent or do all corners of the industry work pretty much in the same way?

[Paul]

This is what i wanna find out? is it the same across the board in the onshore/offshore oil and gas industry? fault finding is done to board level?

Thats part of the reason i left my old job but thats the only job i had been in so never knew what to expect. I was chatting to a guy who i used to work with who now works in Holland but not in oil and gas.

He has had loads of jobs in electronics in the UK and Europe. I was asking him and he said what i done was as hard as it gets!!!

I remember we had an American guy over for training. He said ‘yeah man i have a list of every fault in the last 12 years’. I said to my boss when the American left the room ‘we need a copy of that list’. The boss replied ‘whats the point? he swaps out PCB’s but we change components’.

[RW]

Closest to component replacement work ive done recently is components on a xbox motherboard with SMT components, a steady hand and patience gets the job done and makes friends happy that their console magically works again. A magnifying glass doesnt go amiss either, some components are very small.

Makes larger through hole components feel huge!

[Paul]

Thing is i see so many onshore/offshore electronic tech jobs requesting ‘be able to fault find to component level’ advertised.

Production faults i felt were the hardest to find i,e PCB is fully populated and will not work. You could have a mix of open and short circuits and/or wrong value components or in the wrong place.

Returned faulty from the field were more easy as it had worked in the first place. Most of the time it was a fault on the power supply side like faulty diode, etc.

[Andy Shiers]

In a nut shell , ROV manufacturers need people like you. Not offshore which 99 % of the time – PCB change out.
Write to the Manufacturers (Dotted all over the country) If they havna got any positions ………… try again next year. Good luck

[Paul]

I dont want to repair to component level.

I would be happy to change a PCB out 😀

[Andy Shiers]

Write off to the ROV Operators then , Join the queue , with your qualifications , you should jump the line. DON’T join an agency. 👿
Good luck 😀

[Joe Nemeth]

i was lucky, i did an ROV course as part of an redundancy package last yr.. i left a CV with the company and thought nothing of it after not hearing back from various job applications.. a few months ago i get a call from a company in aberdeen asking if i’d like to come join them.. who wouldn’t jump at the chance.. i left a very well paid job and came in as PT2.. i have no regret at all and am loving it, but the thing that has helped and is so so important is havin a technical background.. i’m lucky, i’ve spent the last 20 plus yrs in hydraulics, mechanical and low voltage electrics, ideal for this industry…

All i can say is perceiver… and good luck…

[Author]

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