Top up degree?

[Unregistered]

Firstly, this post is anonymous because I am concerned if my sponsoring company observing my intentions.

I am at my stage before my last sea phase and before I go I need to make the decision on whether or not I want to top up my FDSC course.

I am struggling as to what to do.

IF I top up immediately after my orals I will still be in that learning mode, thus performing better (I feel). Provided my sponsoring company will pay - which I feel is very likely, will they be more likely to employ me for an officer position after the job? I would think so after making that investment?

Then again, a lot has changed in the past couple of years regarding employment. What happens if I take a year to do the top up and no jobs are available after?

Is it necessary? It's n extra year for a dissertation that helps me to get a job ashore. Most job positions at sea require experience.

So say if I did the top up and one other member at the same stage got a years equivalent of sea time and we both applied for a officers position. Who would get the job? I would think the person with the experience.

Eventually, I would like to move to an off shore company (for the money of course) and as you can guess I am not currently sponsored by an off shore company. This is my planned goal - I have a rough idea of what its like, but I have not been on a DP vessel. Is it just simply maintaining a constant position taking into account lost of varying factors? Some may say it's boring, but I wouldn't think so.

I understand it's down to me, but I would appreciate some guidance.

Thoughts and advise please. Do I need it? Do I want it? More advantages and disadvantages?

[bobofinga]

The only real reason for doing the top up degree is for working ashore. If you want to work at sea on Offshore vessels or not , it will make literally no difference.

However if you want to come ashore it will help greatly. If you are wanting work in Maritime or another field , a degree is becoming a prerequisite for a decent job these days.

[HarmlessWeasel]

I can't comment on usefulness etc, but I wouldn't necessarily say that doing the top up immediately would mean you get a better mark. Yes you're used to studying at the moment, but after x years in the industry you'll have a lot of experience of problems/issues or solutions that you'll be able to draw upon. I think you have to write a dissertation for the top up, and I would guess that having real experience as an officer will help enormously in choosing and writing about a topic, especially if it's something you've got first hand experience of. You're dissertation will be far more detailed and have more insight than one written by a student who hasn't actually been in the situation, and has only read reports or secondary evidence.

Obviously I'm not an officer yet so feel free to ignore my advice, but I am in my final year of uni, so I've written an essay or two and know how hard it can be to write about something you don't have personal experience of. It really helps if you have intimate knowledge of the details of whatever you're writing about.

[Unregistered]

I can't comment on usefulness etc, but I wouldn't necessarily say that doing the top up immediately would mean you get a better mark. Yes you're used to studying at the moment, but after x years in the industry you'll have a lot of experience of problems/issues or solutions that you'll be able to draw upon. I think you have to write a dissertation for the top up, and I would guess that having real experience as an officer will help enormously in choosing and writing about a topic, especially if it's something you've got first hand experience of. You're dissertation will be far more detailed and have more insight than one written by a student who hasn't actually been in the situation, and has only read reports or secondary evidence.

Obviously I'm not an officer yet so feel free to ignore my advice, but I am in my final year of uni, so I've written an essay or two and know how hard it can be to write about something you don't have personal experience of. It really helps if you have intimate knowledge of the details of whatever you're writing about.

No not at all, I never thought of it like that. You put across a very valid point that I would be able to collect a better range of experiences and would have more access to some decent research.

I suppose by x amount of years, I will have eventually decided whether or not I would require a shore side position. To be honest I have only done one 6 month trip and I know I will like it. The only reason I can think of going ashore for would be for family support.

Thank you for your detailed answer. I was wondering why you were posting frequently with such good knowledge of this profession, but now I can understand that you are at the last stages of university and are hopefully going to become a cadet.

[noworries182]

Hi 'unregistered guest'. i took the nautical science BSc route and was in exactly the same position as you! i started my degree in 2007 and passed me OOW orals in 2010. but then i had to choose whether to do another year to finish off my degree, in the end i decided this was the best bet, my company was willing to pay for my final year which was a major bonus but i would of done it anyway, these days i dont think they would pay the ?9,000 for something that wont benefit them as to be honest it doesn't benefit them at all. In fact the company i trained with no longer offer the BSc route. anyway, after my degree finished i was very lucky and actually got offered various positions in my company, containers, tankers or supply, i picked supply. they offered me these because they said i done well throughout my cadetship, i dont think it had anything to do with the degree.

anyway, the benefits! well of course you can get onto any post grad course or scheme going with a BSc degree if you wish to come ashore, i've thought about it since starting as an officer as i want to start a family soon and im going to find it hard to leave a child for 6 weeks at a time. even if you wnated to do something not to do with shipping, a degree will help massively and its not 12 months its more like 9 months for the top up degree at the end of the day. one of my friends only did the foundation degree then went to work as a junior safety officer ashore and is now finding it very very very hard to get a new job as he only has a foundation degree that ashore, gets you no where, in fact it just makes it looks like you couldn't be arsed doing the full BSc.

another one of my friends did the same as me and he wasn't as lucky as me, he looked for a job for almost a year but in the end got one with carnival. although he did turn one down because he wanted some time off after his final exams, the job was on a tanker that started 4 days after his last exam. if this happens to you TAKE THE JOB! he was a total idiot not taking the job, but then he did get the time off, a whole 350+ worth!

I also think it would be very bad to start a career at sea (as an officer) and then at some point go back to uni for year, yes maybe if you have kids or get married (if your not/dont already) it would be a good chance to go back to uni but then you don't get paid and your also paying your own way through uni which these days is not cheap at all, ?9,000 a year to sit in a lecture hall and have people who know less about ships and haven't been on one in decades try and tell you stuff about ships!

so my advice would be to finish off your academic 'career' and then start with the seagoing one, i wouldn't mix them up! it tooe me a while to get back into the seagoing stuff after nearly 2 years out of it, but it didn't take long one trip and i was back in gear and had my head screwed on again. i hope this helped you out and didnt just waste your time =] good luck in whatever you choose. (you can always msg me if you want more indepth info of where i studied/who i work for etc)

p.s. 3 other reasons why i started on at uni

1. got to live like a student-no-good-tax-dodger for another year (at the expense of my firm)
2. there were some tidy looking girls in the maritime business lectures i was in
3. my mum wanted a picture of me in a cap and gown and i'm s**t on photoshop!

[Unregistered]

Hi 'unregistered guest'. i took the nautical science BSc route and was in exactly the same position as you! i started my degree in 2007 and passed me OOW orals in 2010. but then i had to choose whether to do another year to finish off my degree, in the end i decided this was the best bet, my company was willing to pay for my final year which was a major bonus but i would of done it anyway, these days i dont think they would pay the ?9,000 for something that wont benefit them as to be honest it doesn't benefit them at all. In fact the company i trained with no longer offer the BSc route. anyway, after my degree finished i was very lucky and actually got offered various positions in my company, containers, tankers or supply, i picked supply. they offered me these because they said i done well throughout my cadetship, i dont think it had anything to do with the degree.

anyway, the benefits! well of course you can get onto any post grad course or scheme going with a BSc degree if you wish to come ashore, i've thought about it since starting as an officer as i want to start a family soon and im going to find it hard to leave a child for 6 weeks at a time. even if you wnated to do something not to do with shipping, a degree will help massively and its not 12 months its more like 9 months for the top up degree at the end of the day. one of my friends only did the foundation degree then went to work as a junior safety officer ashore and is now finding it very very very hard to get a new job as he only has a foundation degree that ashore, gets you no where, in fact it just makes it looks like you couldn't be arsed doing the full BSc.

another one of my friends did the same as me and he wasn't as lucky as me, he looked for a job for almost a year but in the end got one with carnival. although he did turn one down because he wanted some time off after his final exams, the job was on a tanker that started 4 days after his last exam. if this happens to you TAKE THE JOB! he was a total idiot not taking the job, but then he did get the time off, a whole 350+ worth!

I also think it would be very bad to start a career at sea (as an officer) and then at some point go back to uni for year, yes maybe if you have kids or get married (if your not/dont already) it would be a good chance to go back to uni but then you don't get paid and your also paying your own way through uni which these days is not cheap at all, ?9,000 a year to sit in a lecture hall and have people who know less about ships and haven't been on one in decades try and tell you stuff about ships!

so my advice would be to finish off your academic 'career' and then start with the seagoing one, i wouldn't mix them up! it tooe me a while to get back into the seagoing stuff after nearly 2 years out of it, but it didn't take long one trip and i was back in gear and had my head screwed on again. i hope this helped you out and didnt just waste your time =] good luck in whatever you choose. (you can always msg me if you want more indepth info of where i studied/who i work for etc)

p.s. 3 other reasons why i started on at uni

1. got to live like a student-no-good-tax-dodger for another year (at the expense of my firm)
2. there were some tidy looking girls in the maritime business lectures i was in
3. my mum wanted a picture of me in a cap and gown and i'm s**t on photoshop!

Thanks for the detailed reply no worries, message coming your way.