GLMA/Maritime Industry Questions & Concerns

Hi! I’m a 19-year-old college student and I’ve been going over potential careers for myself and this one has stood out to me a lot. Especially because of the time off and of course I’ve always loved the water. Lately I’ve been thinking of attending Great Lakes Maritime Academy for their deck officer program. I’ve done a lot of research on my own but I still have a few questions.

  1. Are the GLMA students friendly? I have a mild case of social anxiety so I’m hoping it’ll be easy to make friends here.

  2. What is it like working on the lakes? Average schedule/rotation? Pay? Can you give me a day in the life of a deck officer on the lakes?

  3. I know GLMA isn’t regimented but how physically fit should I be to succeed at the academy and the career in general? I’m not the most fit person, sometimes I get winded going up a few flights of stairs haha. Can’t lift much either. Just want to know if I need to begin a rigorous workout routine or something

  4. While not a HUGE concern it would be nice to be home for holidays and such. So would I be able to pick and choose which months I want to work?
    For example: work: (feb, mar, apr) off: (may, june, july) work: (aug, sept, oct) off: (nov, dec, jan) Would this be possible? If not is there usually internet access available on the ships so I could at least skype my family?

  5. Could I eventually be able to work half the year and still net six figures?

  6. I don’t see many women in this career field. Would it be harder for me to find a job compared to a man? Is sexual harassment common? I’ve heard most women work on passenger ships, is this true?

If anyone currently goes to GLMA please message me so we can chat!

Sorry if these aren’t the best questions, I’m just really new to all of this and would love to hear from you all.

You might want to look at a different career if you are worried about people being friendly. I know a few disgruntled 45 year old AB’s that would probably have you in tears a couple days into your first hitch. You need a thick skin in this industry…

Ah well I’m not gonna let that discourage me. I can handle a few non-friendly people I was just hoping to make friends.

Hey Aang, I just finished my first year in the deck program at GLMA…I’ll take a crack at your questions

  1. Are we friendly? Generally, I think we have a pretty good group here. More-so than any of the other academies, we have a mixed cohort with a lot of non-traditional students who are coming from other prior degrees, careers, military, etc. Our average student age is somewhere around 27-28 I think. There’s about a third of each entering class that is coming in right out of high school or nearly so. Anyhow, I wouldn’t worry about fitting in or making friends. Just keep in mind you have to be slightly crazy to go to sea as a career, so everyone has a bit of weirdness to them. That being said, what Traitor Yankee says is true, there are those out there who are rougher around the edges. If you can’t deal with getting chewed out (even when it may be unwarranted), this may not be for you.

  2. On the lakes, the typical work schedule is 60 days on, 30 days off, with ~2 months off in the Jan. - Mar. period when shipping basically shuts down because of ice and the Soo Locks being closed for maintenance. That schedule is not set in stone however, and there is some degree of flexibility and differences between companies and their respective union contracts. Pay varies depending on how much you want to work, what size ship you are on (smaller ships make more docks, and you’ll likely work more overtime). Figure between 70-80k/year as a third mate, maybe more depending on the above mentioned factors. The third mate’s job on the lakes isn’t too bad in general, they’ll stand the 8-12 watch (0800-1200, 2000-0000), are responsible for the ship’s electronic log, they’ll call distances when locking/docking, monitor loading/unloading when on watch during those processes, and other odds and ends. Again, specifics can vary depending upon which company and ship you are on.

  3. We don’t do any sort of physical fitness tests or other shenanigans. Only the guys that sign up for the SSOP program have to do that stuff. (For the record, that is a good program, you get $8000/year for school in exchange for being in the Naval Reserves/Merchant Marine Reserves. I’d have done it if I weren’t aged out.) While it is certainly useful to have a modicum of strength to better be able to carry out shipboard work, you certainly don’t need to be an Olympic athlete either. Plenty of guys out here are in pretty piss poor shape if anything.

  4. Schedules are many and varied in the shipping industry depending on what you choose to do. I mentioned about Lakes work above. If you go deep sea, schedules range from 2-4 months on and the same amount off, but that also depends on if you are in a permanent job or a rotary position out of a union hall. Other sectors like in the GOM are 14-28 days on, 14-28 days off, some even time, some 2 for 1. Then there are other schedule on tugs, and others on ATBs. Do some digging on this forum and you’ll get a good idea. Shipboard internet varies in availability, though it seems to be in an upward trend as costs come down for the service. Generally speaking though, don’t count on skype or netflix being available anywhere but through your own mobile devices when near land.

  5. Yes. If you are a hard worker, the opportunities are there.

  6. There are three (out of 60) young women in the class I entered with last August (technically there were 5, 1 never showed up to orientation, the other was already a QMED and left after a few weeks to keep doing that). There are some others in the upper classes as well, though I don’t know how many offhand. Harder to find a job? No, just be a hard worker, and don’t expect special treatment. Everyone on a ship is expected to carry their own weight and do their job because the lives of all the crew are dependent on it. It doesn’t matter where or what kind of ship you are on, this goes for everyone. I can’t say sexual harassment never occurs, but it isn’t common. I have no idea if the women officers that are sailing are concentrated in any particular sector. There aren’t that many large U.S. flagged passenger vessels out there- the one NCL cruise ship, some small cruising vessels, and various ferries (Washington State Ferries, Alaska Marine Highway, etc.)

This industry can reward you well, but you need a good work ethic, and your head should be screwed on tight. Hope this helps.

There are some fat fucks out here, but you really need to not be winded going up a few stairs at your age. Get some exercise. You may be able to pass a physical for your license but companies are avoiding out of shape folks as often as possible. Imagine two equally qualified candidates, one in good shape, one not, who you 'gonna hire?

Yes, last time I renewed my Medical Cert they put my BMI on the paperwork. This is the first time that I have seen this.
I would guess that USCG will soon be using this to evaluate your fitness.

[QUOTE=Aang;163093]Hi! I’m a 19-year-old college student and I’ve been going over potential careers for myself and this one has stood out to me a lot. Especially because of the time off and of course I’ve always loved the water. Lately I’ve been thinking of attending Great Lakes Maritime Academy for their deck officer program. I’ve done a lot of research on my own but I still have a few questions.

  1. Are the GLMA students friendly? I have a mild case of social anxiety so I’m hoping it’ll be easy to make friends here.

  2. What is it like working on the lakes? Average schedule/rotation? Pay? Can you give me a day in the life of a deck officer on the lakes?

  3. I know GLMA isn’t regimented but how physically fit should I be to succeed at the academy and the career in general? I’m not the most fit person, sometimes I get winded going up a few flights of stairs haha. Can’t lift much either. Just want to know if I need to begin a rigorous workout routine or something

  4. While not a HUGE concern it would be nice to be home for holidays and such. So would I be able to pick and choose which months I want to work?
    For example: work: (feb, mar, apr) off: (may, june, july) work: (aug, sept, oct) off: (nov, dec, jan) Would this be possible? If not is there usually internet access available on the ships so I could at least skype my family?

  5. Could I eventually be able to work half the year and still net six figures?

  6. I don’t see many women in this career field. Would it be harder for me to find a job compared to a man? Is sexual harassment common? I’ve heard most women work on passenger ships, is this true?

If anyone currently goes to GLMA please message me so we can chat!

Sorry if these aren’t the best questions, I’m just really new to all of this and would love to hear from you all.[/QUOTE]

1- I have no idea I went to KP

2- I work mainly on deep sea. So, I don’t know for sure about the lakes. One of my friends does sail on the lakes, and she likes it. Generally you would stand watch for example from 08:00 till 12:00. Then do some overtime depending on your contract from 13:00 till say 15:00. Then you would have watch again from 20:00 till 00:00. But there are 2 other watch schedules that you could work say 04:00 to 08:00 or 00:00 to 04:00 but usually you start on the 08:00 to 12:00

3- You have to meet the physical requirements for the coast guard - it is not too strict, but you do have to be of a size that can pass through a standard manhole. Otherwise if you will be joining the navy reserve ROTC you will have to meet their requirements.

4- You both can and can’t arrange your holidays - it depends on if you are working union or what companies you work for or just luck. Same goes for the internet - more and more ships have it and with luck you could work for a company that does have internet.

5- Yes, I was by my second year out of school.

6- I am a woman, we are out there. I’ve been sailing now for ten years. I haven’t had too much trouble; I’ve never worked passenger ships. I have been working on mostly LNG tankers. I am currently sailing as Cheif Mate. I don’t think there are any more problems being a woman as there is being a man, or greater problems working at sea or ashore somewhere in an office. People are people. I’ve been on a lot of ships where I was the only woman, and I’ve been on ships where more than half of the officers and engineers were women - an LNG tanker not a passenger ship.

Don’t be afraid of choosing to go to sea or of going on a cargo ship because there aren’t many women - it doen’t matter. Choose what you want.

If you have questions you can contact me through my blog jepburton.com I would be happy to offer any advice I can.

best of luck.

Jaquelyn