from the start

[jayo]

hey people...im trying to make a decision on whether to start training as an ETO in college here in ireland...im just lookin for real info on salary and career progression once i start working as an ETO

[Bulman]

-Career progression on cruises is okay, you can get up to SETO (same level as staff chief), doubt you could go any higher as you wont have the engineer tickets. obviously the best thing about being a ETO is, it will be dead easy to come ashore! (dunno much about other ships im afraid!)
- Salary is on par with 3rd Engineers but i think at the moment as they go up in rank the gap gets bigger as obviously each rank they have to get tickets where as us ETO's dont, but we do now have a ETO COC and we have plenty of other courses we can take. Hopefully in the future (soon) this gap will go down as although we don't have tickets we are having to learn a lot more as technology gets more automated meaning more electronics woop, and some companies are losing a lot of ETO's who going to better paid jobs on RIGS etc!

[jayo]

cool..im 27 and im a qualified electician...i get to skip first year of college..do 2nd year...then its 10 months at sea...and final year of college and im done...what do ya think...should i do it...i dont even know if i have sea legs,haha
is it a good career move really??

[Bulman]

Go for it! Theirs older people who have changed from office jobs, if any thing it can only help your career if you do decide it's not for you, as you cover the whole spectrum of electrical engineering doing one job.

[ETwhat?]

Salaries are really very hard to pin down for ETO's out of my year there's people working on anything from 24k-50k in their first year now the lower end tends to be on ships with a large electrical department and there will be promotion and pay rises, the higher end tends to be the one man band idea and they will likely stay at that pay range for the rest of time.
on top of the actual money there is then leave and perks that can make one more attractive than the other.