im looking for some help really, as im at a loss.
ive been an inshore deck monkey for a decade, and endorsed adv pwrboat for 2. and doing all the maintainance , painting and rust treatment you could ask for, but im getting nothing from it, there seems to be no advancement within the company i work for ( the bonus of a small company i guess) im also getting heartily shafted in terms of pay, employment status etc. so really its a joy…
time to move on, but it turns out, on paper im totally useless. nothing ive done, nor the experience (as little as it is) counts for much when you look into the real industry. you guys are all pros. but now im not in the position to work away for time-(family etc) im kinda at a dead end.
so really im looking for advice, on weather or not to continue, the dream would be building and designing the boats, so where would i go?
a decent amount of exp for a 26yr old, but none of the bits of paper most would have by now.
would i be better looking to full time education again , or seeing if there’s businesses in that field who would be interested on taking on a learner? or am i barking up too big a tree?
thanks folks, appreciate it
Sadly, most maritime jobs requires you to miss time from family life. If you have an MMC document you could possibly pound the docks for a local assist tug company, but those jobs are few and far between taken by sailors that have the required documents. Never say never, but your options are extremely limited without being able to sail. Consider higher education with a degree you can actually use or a trade school.
aye i hear ya, ive been lucky so far haha, mostly safety boat, crew transfer etc. theres a lot of wind farms getting built too. the tug jobs are only gotten through the coffin haha, around here they are crazy cushty. i spose im more looking to shift into the manufacture/design side of things, so more ground based.
If your dream is building and designing boats, it would seem the career you’re looking for would be naval architect, for that you’ll need college, there’s the Webb Institute, but they are tough to get into (students who apply to Webb and don’t get in got to MIT as their second choice) but there are other schools University of Michigan and the University of New Orleans, as do some of the Maritime Academies, I’ll include some links.
Other options would of course include attending a maritime academy to sail, including ones like Seattle central (two years, but no 3rd’s license)
As Seaeagle has stated, most shipping jobs require you to be away from your family, even most tugs, there are ferries, Washington state for example (but even then you’ll spend the odd night away from home)
Since you haven’t given much biographical information its hard to advise you.
https://www.collegecalc.org/majors/naval-architecture-and-marine-engineering/
https://maritime.seattlecentral.edu/programs
Good Luck