5 Things you need to know before choosing to be a Commercial Diver – cDiver
1. Specific training and certification
Commercial diving is a professional career that requires specific training and certification. The work is not simply learning how to breathe under the water but it requires knowledge about the tools and safety precautions, awareness about the danger of the work environment, skills, and application of acquired knowledge from training to real life situations.
Acquiring knowledge about this profession happens during the completion of training. In addition, professional diving has different branches so it is important that you know your preference before even going through training.
2. Is there an age limit to become a professional diver?
Age is an important factor for most employers in hiring divers. The prospective companies mostly prefer to hire people in the range of 18 to 35 years old. Although there are some employers who still hire people beyond the age of 35, training is only given after the waiver was signed.
Age becomes part of the selection process due to physiological reasons. Professional divers who are beyond age 45 are mostly restricted for deep diving.
Despite the desire of hiring younger people, this doesn’t hinder opportunities for those who reached middle age and beyond. For those who have great passion and determination to work as a commercial diver still gets employed.
3. Is it a prerequisite to get a degree and which school should I choose?
The basic requirement is a high school diploma or equivalency plus completion of what we mentioned in #1 – specific training.
For those who wants a broader perspective of education, there are degree programs offered in commercial diving. Check out our list of schools which offers degree programs.
Most often, it is important that the school or training institution is federally accredited. This gives chance for students to receive financial aid which consists of federal loans and grants necessary to cover cost of training program.
4. Health Condition/ Physical Exam
Employers give highest consideration about hiring healthy applicants. Diving career needs responding to dangerous situations and challenging tasks which is why applicants must be fit to work.
Medical test usually involves general physical test, hearing test, vision test, urinalysis, and urine drug screen. Medical certificate shall be provided depending on the results and it may be valid up to 2 years.
5. What is Commercial Diving?
Before even deciding to get a diving degree or certification, it is always essential to know what commercial diving is. It is highly recommended to research, check legitimate resources and asks commercial divers to get an overview of what would be the career like.
An overview or basic knowledge about it shall help you decide if you really want to take it as a professional career. Below are some of the tasks a typical diver performs.
Search and recovery
Salvage
Bridge inspection/repair/ construction
Injection equipment installation
Marine environmental control check
Site surveys prior to installation
Underwater inspection, installation, repair and maintenance
Drilling
Seismic surveying
Sewage maintenance
Underwater photography and videography
Fabrication of equipment
via 5 Things you need to know before choosing to be a Commercial Diver – cDiver.