onshore job oppertunities?

[barrington]

hey everyone,

I have an interview for the deck cadetship coming up soon, I was wondering if anyone could give me some information.. I have decided upon deck officer as I feel it suits me more and would enjoy it more, but I was wondering, is it very limited to jobs which can be done? I am excited at the prospect of getting to work away at sea, but after a few years, what kind of jobs are available onshore? is there a wider range of onshore jobs for engineers? glad to get any information from anyone

cheers

Andrew

[soopaspud123]

tons of jobs available onshore, im sure some other users will be able to go into more detail.

Lots of people do a few years at sea then decide it would be better to have a shore based job to start a family, but good luck with the interview!

[barrington]

thanks a lot soopaspud!

[GuinnessMan]

hey everyone,

I have an interview for the deck cadetship coming up soon, I was wondering if anyone could give me some information.. I have decided upon deck officer as I feel it suits me more and would enjoy it more, but I was wondering, is it very limited to jobs which can be done? I am excited at the prospect of getting to work away at sea, but after a few years, what kind of jobs are available onshore? is there a wider range of onshore jobs for engineers? glad to get any information from anyone

cheers

Andrew

Hello,

For all those who have been to sea, transitioning to shore side for the first time can be a bit of challenge. As much as ship's staff like to bitch and moan about the shore side staff, they don't really have an understanding of what working ashore entails and it can be incredibly challenging sometimes. Working on ship, you have one crew, one set of problems, problems that you can see and fiddle with. Working ashore, you'll have between 3-15 ships (depending on role), all with their own problems, all calling you, you're reliant on the crew to give you an accurate description of what's going on (easier said than done), owner's calling you demanding information, flag, class, port authorities, managers, etc, etc pretty much constantly.

For a deckie to come ashore is a lot harder than for an engineer. For a deckie, unless you have sailed as a Master (some will accept C/O, but not all) then it is very difficult to move ashore as for most marine shoreside roles require you to have a certain level of shipboard, cargo, port state, etc experience. For engineers, unless you're going into something like vettings, then you don't need to have been a Chief Engineer to be a good Superintendent, as a lot of the issues that you deal with on a day to day basis are more technical/budget related/managerial in nature, whereas for a Marine Superintendent a lot of what they do is cargo operations orientated. For example, one of my colleagues was forever on the phone to one ship, guiding them and assisting them with some cargo stowage and loading issues and if he hadn't had that direct experience of doing it himself, he would have had a hard time advising him!

There was an interesting article in one of the recent telegraphs about the role of the Superintendent, and I am aware of some companies that now try to avoid taking on C/E's as Superintendent's (they still do, just not as many) as they prefer to target graduates who they can train up....

[IFHP]

Ah Guinessman my old jousting partner

I have to disagree with some of what you said, you are half right about coming ashore as a deck officer. All the positions I have ever been put forward for shore side require a Class 1 Master Mariner Unlimited however I have never been at a disadvantage having not sailed as Master. Its the qualification and type of experience you have that's important not so much rank although if you have sailed as Master then obviously its not going to hinder you.

The only time when rank comes into it is when you want to be a SIRE inspector. I believe in order to be put forward for it you have to have held a senior position onboard tankers etc. The reason being you cant very well go out and audit shipboard practice if you have no cargo ops experience.

The crux of the above is if you wish to come ashore then do not leave being at sea until you have your Class 1 Masters, that?s irrespective if you have done the degree, foundation degree or HND. For positions ashore if you don?t have the Class 1 you will struggle to advance.

[GuinnessMan]

Ah Guinessman my old jousting partner

I have to disagree with some of what you said, you are half right about coming ashore as a deck officer. All the positions I have ever been put forward for shore side require a Class 1 Master Mariner Unlimited however I have never been at a disadvantage having not sailed as Master. Its the qualification and type of experience you have that's important not so much rank although if you have sailed as Master then obviously its not going to hinder you.

The only time when rank comes into it is when you want to be a SIRE inspector. I believe in order to be put forward for it you have to have held a senior position onboard tankers etc. The reason being you cant very well go out and audit shipboard practice if you have no cargo ops experience.

The crux of the above is if you wish to come ashore then do not leave being at sea until you have your Class 1 Masters, that’s irrespective if you have down the degree, foundation degree or HND. For positions ashore if you don’t have the Class 1 you will struggle to advance.

Welcome back!

Aye, with SIRE you have to have been a Master or Chief Engineer (2nd Eng for Class 3 inspector) and someone has to recommend you for it. CDI is a bit different in that you only need to have been involved in the Chemical Industry for 3 years (I've been thinking about going through it).

I was just going with what one of my colleagues was saying and from some of the job adverts I've been seeing on Spinnaker, as some have said "hold Class 1 license" and others have said "sailed as Master". It varies depending on who is doing the hiring and what qualifications they want you to have, but to be a Marine Super in some countries you have to hold a Class 1 license (Canada for example).

The bit about the difference between working on ship and working ashore still holds true though as the two are completely separate worlds to a certain extent....

[Lewis]

I always find these post weird when they come from an aspiring cadet. If your thinking about a career onshore before you've even set foot on a ship maybe you should consider if this is the career for you.

[EH75]

Dunno. I doubt most people want to be at sea their whole lives. Certainly most of the guys I know probably want to come ashore at some point. Easier for family life and all that. Nothing wrong with thinking long term. I would say it's quite sensible to get an idea of what other opportunities exist within the industry apart from the obvious on board roles which we all know about.