Big Bucks vs Job Satisfaction

[bobofinga]

Was having a chat with a friend of mine today who is a chartered accountant and to cut a long story short , he is earning a huge salary (six figures) but is completely miserable in his job and literally hates it.

My question to you guys is , in our industry what do you go for ?

A boring monotonous job which banks you a lovely wage or something a bit more 'user friendly' like a cruise ship or yachting environment which may have less wages/less time off.

[Hatchorder]

I see all these posts about money versus time off versus enjoyment.

There is an old saying "Find a job you truly love and you will never work a day in your life" - I don't work!

I have done jobs with six figure salaries, five figure bonuses and had all the associated perks, but I also had more airmiles than Santa, little time with the family, 70 hour weeks and stress up the gazoo.

I "earn" less now, walk to work, work 24 hours a week and am as happy as a sandboy. I want for nothing and have a wonderful lifestyle. None of what I want in life involve thinking about what I earn.

Be happy!

[bobofinga]

"Find a job you truly love and you will never work a day in your life", thats a fantastic quote haha.

[YoungMariner]

Theres so much diversity at sea, that you can find a good balance. I've dropped lucky and got a bit of both :-)

[Clanky]

There is absolutely no point earning big money if you are spending 8 months / year at sea being miserable on a ship that you hate.

For me the most important thing is leave, I would not even consider anything which was less than time for time and if that means earning less than I possibly could then so be it. Also don't think that you will have a more pleasant life on a cruise ship than a cargo ship, find the right cargo ship and life can be fantastic onboard and ashore.

YM, what is the paramilitary bit in your sig all about, where I come from that means something different!

[YoungMariner]

Ah essentially I work on a large yacht and support vessel which is part of the military (paramilitary), with Royal Navy style rank, Procedures and organisation. Hold military rank and wear military uniform with all the associated saluting and do exercises/operations with the countries navy as the HVU. Only problem being the vessel/s hold Passenger Ship Safety Certificates etc and with STCW they need a few merchant tickets around.
Trying to be a little bit vague so i don't get shot for breaching non disclosure agreement

[pignutpilot]

Ah essentially I work on a large yacht and support vessel which is part of the military (paramilitary), with Royal Navy style rank, Procedures and organisation. Hold military rank and wear military uniform with all the associated saluting and do exercises/operations with the countries navy as the HVU. Only problem being the vessel/s hold Passenger Ship Safety Certificates etc and with STCW they need a few merchant tickets around.
Trying to be a little bit vague so i don't get shot for breaching non disclosure agreement

Is that Serco Denholm? Or RFA?

[Lewis]

Is that Serco Denholm? Or RFA?

Think he works on a super/mega/hyper yacht for some Arab royalty. But he obviously can't confirm or deny that

[IFHP]

Doesnt sound like Paramilitary; from our friends at Wikipedia:

A paramilitary is a military-esque force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces.^[1] Under the Law of Armed Conflict, a state may incorporate a paramilitary organization or armed agency charged with police functions into its armed forces. The other parties to a conflict have to be notified thereof.

I wouldnt want to be on a yacht when that got announced as your pretty boat would be targeted, that would ruin your day when sat in the jacuzzi!

[YoungMariner]

And the next paragraph:

"The term paramilitary is subjective, depending on what is considered similar to a military force, and what status a force is considered to have. The nature of paramilitary forces therefore varies greatly according to the speaker and the context."

Except for a few merchant navy fellows like myself, we are essentially a naval operation in all other respects (probably similar to RY Brittania's operation). Very different to any other large yacht operation in the world, and very different to any of the other yachts I previously worked on.

Again, its hard for me to fully explain without breaching our non-disclosure agreements, but paramilitary would be the closest way to describe what we do and how we operate. Someone from the RFA would probably feel at home on the support vessel.

As for being a target, I'd be more concerned for anyone confused enough to approach us... We never travel alone.

[IFHP]

It does sound interesting though - I cant see why they have went down the MN route of PSSC, STCW etc if you essentially work on a government / military vessel. Why not just declare it as such and they no longer to have to comply with SOLAS, MARPOL etc and all the other civilian carry on.

Brittania was a for all intensive purposes a commissioned RN ship and as such civilian regs never came into play (Construction / LSA). It would ruin the pretty aesthetic with horrible looking extinguishers and lifebuoys all over the place.

[YoungMariner]

Well interestingly, we get several exemptions being a government vessel, and appear in Janes as such. But the quantity of persons carried and the type of operation seems to justify the requirement for a PSSC. I cant say I fully know where the rules come from, but I do know that they used to operate with naval personnel operating the vessels, and those people are no longer allowed to operate them, and those changes came in about 20 years ago. The deck and engine licenses onboard are civilian tickets, but the locals in our position have all been through Dartmouth in the UK in addition to a cadetship, and all the other positions are trained at the naval bases and on naval courses in the UK (logistics/supply etc).

There are many reasons for being setup the way they are, most of it designed for the benefit of the country and the people surprisingly. Too difficult to explain here, but most yachts of similar size operate with about 1/4 of the personnel that we do.

[IFHP]

Thanks for that YM - really interesting I think I could hazard a guess at the country you find yourself in, actually going on holiday there next month!