I feel it all depends on your amount of heart and conviction you have. If you are willing to hump and bust your butt, hawsepipe is the way to go. Tugboat life isn’t going to be like sport fishing. No baiting hooks or pulling on fishing poles and lines. Deck Preventive maintenance, cleaning bilges, greasing wires, splicing lines and depending on the type of tug, it could involve much more dirty work than you ever imagined. Blood, sweat, bumps, bruises and body aches are a part of the gig.
Workboat program and SIU piney point will get you the training, but they will get there monies worth of work out of you as well. Nothing is free!!!
Most important thing to remember is that nobody hires someone to have them move on. The moment you mention that you are going for your mates license, most AB’s will stop helping or training you. Why would they train someone who is going to move on or turn around and “act as if they know so much more the day after they get there license.” I have seen that happen a hundred times.
If you smart enough and have the means to complete a maritime academy degree, do it! If your conviction to become licensed isn’t strong enough, you will end up settling like many do…