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Hello all,
I am currently in quite a situation, I returned home from my first sea phase at the beginning of June, just over 2 months ago now.
Due to a very poor experience which I had while I was away I decided to look for other opportunities while home, after applying and interviewing for a position I luckily got offered the job, which i have been working for the past few weeks now, the job itself is a slightly better paid than the job I left over a year ago now in order to take up my offer of sponsorship so I feel quite lucky to have found a good job so quick.
But what I am struggling with is how exactly to inform the Training Organisation I have no intention of returning to college, I have often found them unhelpful at best and downright awful and insensitive at worst, I don't know whether to contact them directly or to speak to nautilus beforehand, whom I am a member.
I am not taking this decision lightly as last year I decided to give up my car and various other creature comforts in order to simply afford to live on the cadetship, and had to rely on homers for any real spending money from month to month, though at that particular time I seen the potential rewards as more than worth a few years of austerity, as such I have no regrets.
My experience at sea was, well downright awful, out of a Engineering crew of 3 officers and 4 motormen/fitter only the 1st Engineer spoke any english, which as you can imagine caused issues when attempting to understudy and learn from them, also by "spoke any English" I am only referring to only his ability, he chose not to speak english when it simply was not required, e.g, communicating with bridge, bunkering, superintendents etc.
This meant that my learning experience was solely from observing and then using the manuals and documents to learn about what I had just observed, though to be perfectly honest this was not fully unexpected and I simply made the most of it, already being a qualified engineer probably made this a little easier.
What I found difficult was the sheer isolation, there was days, many many of them, where id go down to the engine room, and throughout the whole day nobody would speak to me, interact with me, acknowledge me, ask me for assistance, give me jobs, not even the supposed sh*t jobs, I was literally idling the whole time, when i asked for jobs, offered my assistance and other ways of basically saying "let me do something" I was usually totally ignored, as if i was a ghost, other times i would be told that they will give me jobs in time, time that never ever came.
I honestly could have died in my cabin and nobody other than the two deck cadets would have noticed, thats another thing, when i joined the ship after a brief introduction to the 3rd officer nobody came and got me for another 2 days, eventually i had to speak to the captain as i genuinely felt like nothing was forthcoming, who sent me to the engine room, where i was then sent back to the cabin without allowing me to explain who i was or introduce myself, before speaking to the captain again who had to escort me down to the engine room and explain (in russian) who i was.
I found this very frustrating and this alone made me resent my decision to take the offer of the cadetship, at that time anyway, I had been through my training a few years earlier and I was starting to think that i had made a terrible decision, though i must say the irony of the "The working language on this vessel is - English" stickers everywhere kept my spirits high.
I would like to add though, that despite having a awful sea phase, i dont regret it looking back now, regardless of the experience in the engine room, i seen things that i probably will never see again, amazing places, scary storms, learned the meaning of awful awful food (makes you appreciate the mrs's cooking) a giant green turtle, a nimitz class. so if anyone is reading my experience and thinking twice, id like to encourage anyone with this opportunity to take it, an opportunity to see some of the things out there cannot be passed up, especially while still young.
My experiences of Clyde Marine on the other hand, comes with no positives, throughout my college time i found them awfully unhelpful and just generally not logical, for example I currently have a HND in Engineering Systems, 17th Edition and a SVQ Level 4 in Production Engineering as well as 5 A pass Higher grades, copies of the certificates of each was provided to them at my interview, I applied for PD and was interviewed for such, When I got my joining instructions they were for the HNC class, when i enquired about this I was informed that I must have Standard Grade Mathematics at level 1 to be considered for PD, i informed them that i did not sit Standard Grade Mathematics, instead doing Intermediate 1 at that stage, they told me this was not accepted, to which i countered by enquiring why my Higher - A in Maths cannot be counted, which she told me they needed a standard grade, despite being 3 levels higher than what they required going by official SCQF levels.
I accepted this as simply an inconvenience as the main thing for me was the COC, so then came the start date at college, and after a day or two i got a phone call from them, threatening me with expulsion from my course unless i move into the halls, despite filling out their little disclaimer about a month previous allowing me to stay in my own place, eventually i actually had to provide proof to them that i would be unable to afford both the shockingly priced halls and my mortgage which they reluctantly accepted and allowed me to stay in my own place.
Without going through each little thing one by one i will say that the general consensus from the class was that their communication was terrible, the blame somehow always lay with the class.
The thing which set in stone my feelings of them though was events while on ship, towards the end of my time on the ship i was informed of the passing of a immediate family member, to which i attempted to just power on through as i couldn't have done anything to change the past, however less than a fortnight later tragically there was another passing in my family, as you could maybe imagine this on top of the bad experience onboard i was having this just deflated me.
I thought long and hard about it and eventually called clyde marine and informed them of what had happened and requested to be sent home under the circumstances, to which i was treated to this magnificent comment, when informed of the passings, the girl on the phone advised "it would have been good if it had happened later on in the month because you have only been onboard 2 and a half months" I simply just hung the phone up, what can you really say to that?
Two days later i was informed via email that i could indeed be sent home, however i would have to pay for my flights to join my next ship, given the circumstances i did not really care, however on reflection, how would that possibly be fair considering to get my full sea time i would require yet another sea phase anyway?
Then... nothing, i did not hear a thing and eventually spoke with the captain who had to arrange himself at the last minute for the company to send me home, to this day i haven't heard a single thing from them, nothing.
From my experience I dont even know if i feel like informing them at all, just letting them do what they do, which is usually nothing, but one thing i have noticed is they are not slow when it comes to money. so after sharing my experiences i would still like to know how anyone thinks i should confront them about this?
Also can i add for any qualified engineers thinking of using this as a stepping stone to something more lucrative, (and i know there is a few others) just keep in mind the old adage, the grass isnt always greener...
Cheers
I am currently in quite a situation, I returned home from my first sea phase at the beginning of June, just over 2 months ago now.
Due to a very poor experience which I had while I was away I decided to look for other opportunities while home, after applying and interviewing for a position I luckily got offered the job, which i have been working for the past few weeks now, the job itself is a slightly better paid than the job I left over a year ago now in order to take up my offer of sponsorship so I feel quite lucky to have found a good job so quick.
But what I am struggling with is how exactly to inform the Training Organisation I have no intention of returning to college, I have often found them unhelpful at best and downright awful and insensitive at worst, I don't know whether to contact them directly or to speak to nautilus beforehand, whom I am a member.
I am not taking this decision lightly as last year I decided to give up my car and various other creature comforts in order to simply afford to live on the cadetship, and had to rely on homers for any real spending money from month to month, though at that particular time I seen the potential rewards as more than worth a few years of austerity, as such I have no regrets.
My experience at sea was, well downright awful, out of a Engineering crew of 3 officers and 4 motormen/fitter only the 1st Engineer spoke any english, which as you can imagine caused issues when attempting to understudy and learn from them, also by "spoke any English" I am only referring to only his ability, he chose not to speak english when it simply was not required, e.g, communicating with bridge, bunkering, superintendents etc.
This meant that my learning experience was solely from observing and then using the manuals and documents to learn about what I had just observed, though to be perfectly honest this was not fully unexpected and I simply made the most of it, already being a qualified engineer probably made this a little easier.
What I found difficult was the sheer isolation, there was days, many many of them, where id go down to the engine room, and throughout the whole day nobody would speak to me, interact with me, acknowledge me, ask me for assistance, give me jobs, not even the supposed sh*t jobs, I was literally idling the whole time, when i asked for jobs, offered my assistance and other ways of basically saying "let me do something" I was usually totally ignored, as if i was a ghost, other times i would be told that they will give me jobs in time, time that never ever came.
I honestly could have died in my cabin and nobody other than the two deck cadets would have noticed, thats another thing, when i joined the ship after a brief introduction to the 3rd officer nobody came and got me for another 2 days, eventually i had to speak to the captain as i genuinely felt like nothing was forthcoming, who sent me to the engine room, where i was then sent back to the cabin without allowing me to explain who i was or introduce myself, before speaking to the captain again who had to escort me down to the engine room and explain (in russian) who i was.
I found this very frustrating and this alone made me resent my decision to take the offer of the cadetship, at that time anyway, I had been through my training a few years earlier and I was starting to think that i had made a terrible decision, though i must say the irony of the "The working language on this vessel is - English" stickers everywhere kept my spirits high.
I would like to add though, that despite having a awful sea phase, i dont regret it looking back now, regardless of the experience in the engine room, i seen things that i probably will never see again, amazing places, scary storms, learned the meaning of awful awful food (makes you appreciate the mrs's cooking) a giant green turtle, a nimitz class. so if anyone is reading my experience and thinking twice, id like to encourage anyone with this opportunity to take it, an opportunity to see some of the things out there cannot be passed up, especially while still young.
My experiences of Clyde Marine on the other hand, comes with no positives, throughout my college time i found them awfully unhelpful and just generally not logical, for example I currently have a HND in Engineering Systems, 17th Edition and a SVQ Level 4 in Production Engineering as well as 5 A pass Higher grades, copies of the certificates of each was provided to them at my interview, I applied for PD and was interviewed for such, When I got my joining instructions they were for the HNC class, when i enquired about this I was informed that I must have Standard Grade Mathematics at level 1 to be considered for PD, i informed them that i did not sit Standard Grade Mathematics, instead doing Intermediate 1 at that stage, they told me this was not accepted, to which i countered by enquiring why my Higher - A in Maths cannot be counted, which she told me they needed a standard grade, despite being 3 levels higher than what they required going by official SCQF levels.
I accepted this as simply an inconvenience as the main thing for me was the COC, so then came the start date at college, and after a day or two i got a phone call from them, threatening me with expulsion from my course unless i move into the halls, despite filling out their little disclaimer about a month previous allowing me to stay in my own place, eventually i actually had to provide proof to them that i would be unable to afford both the shockingly priced halls and my mortgage which they reluctantly accepted and allowed me to stay in my own place.
Without going through each little thing one by one i will say that the general consensus from the class was that their communication was terrible, the blame somehow always lay with the class.
The thing which set in stone my feelings of them though was events while on ship, towards the end of my time on the ship i was informed of the passing of a immediate family member, to which i attempted to just power on through as i couldn't have done anything to change the past, however less than a fortnight later tragically there was another passing in my family, as you could maybe imagine this on top of the bad experience onboard i was having this just deflated me.
I thought long and hard about it and eventually called clyde marine and informed them of what had happened and requested to be sent home under the circumstances, to which i was treated to this magnificent comment, when informed of the passings, the girl on the phone advised "it would have been good if it had happened later on in the month because you have only been onboard 2 and a half months" I simply just hung the phone up, what can you really say to that?
Two days later i was informed via email that i could indeed be sent home, however i would have to pay for my flights to join my next ship, given the circumstances i did not really care, however on reflection, how would that possibly be fair considering to get my full sea time i would require yet another sea phase anyway?
Then... nothing, i did not hear a thing and eventually spoke with the captain who had to arrange himself at the last minute for the company to send me home, to this day i haven't heard a single thing from them, nothing.
From my experience I dont even know if i feel like informing them at all, just letting them do what they do, which is usually nothing, but one thing i have noticed is they are not slow when it comes to money. so after sharing my experiences i would still like to know how anyone thinks i should confront them about this?
Also can i add for any qualified engineers thinking of using this as a stepping stone to something more lucrative, (and i know there is a few others) just keep in mind the old adage, the grass isnt always greener...
Cheers
I can totally understand your reasons for leaving. Sadly I fear more and more people are finding life at sea like this, not just as cadets either, but at least when you're qualified you get a smidge of respect for having a ticket.
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