It’s getting really tough to break in these days. If you do not attend a maritime academy and choose to hawsepipe, you will have to spend a lot of money upfront to make that happen. I am talking everything from STCW classes to fees and so forth.
The new tax bill passed by the Senate changes the ball game as far as deductions go. Accountants and tax preparers have no idea yet how this legislation will affect deductions for work, but it looks grim. I was able to itemize and deduct STCW the first year I went back to sea, but I had other deductions, like mortgage and state and local taxes and charitable donations. Going forward, nobody really knows what can be deducted so be prepared to spend a lot of money.
Consider an academy or the job corps program if at all possible but still prepare yourself for a lot of financial layout with no guarantee of a job on the other side.
The Jones Act is under attack like never before. The hurricane in Puerto Rico gave the press and business people a lot of ammunition to attack it as an expensive protectionist policy. This is obviously an over-simplification of a multi-layered and very much needed law. But I no longer have faith in the average American voter to do the homework and inform themselves.
The argument that engine is better because he’ll have something to fall back on doesn’t apply if the OP has math and computers education. He might be OK going deck if that what he prefers as he shouldn’t have any worries if he decides to go shoreside.
Many people have expensive specialized training and formal education, but work in a totally unrelated field. Most important are strong basic skills, the ability to think and solve problems, and the ability to adapt and learn new things.
The normal advice here for the question deck or engine is that engine has the advantage of options for going ashore. In this particular case however the OP has a background in math and computer science.
My point was that this background makes the ashore option argument less valid.
While community college is a very good thing and it’s possible for a bright motivated person to learn a lot at a community college, it’s mostly about trying to teach late bloomers the things that they we suppose to have learned in high school.
Example: A barista tells me that her English literature course is really killing her this semester — “we have to read four (4) books.” I say, only four, what did you think you were going to do in an English lit course? She says, “I thought the professor was going to lecture and tell us about the books.”
“There are twice as many pilots as there are jobs,” Canoll said. “Those having trouble attracting that pilot to the job are the ones who aren’t providing a living wage, a good work-life balance, a career progression and a good balance in benefits.”
Holy crap! I became the wrong kind of captain!! That can’t be hourly pay… can it?