As an owner of a civil diving company everything this young man said was right on point. Dive schools are a business and make their money turning and burning students. The main point that was missing in his list is within the first year after students leave dive school 83% will not be working in this field. After the second year only 7% of all the divers who attended school will still be in the field. If you don’t believe this stat go back and see his point about the census bureau amount of working divers currently. Somewhere around 3500! Add up the main four schools plus the 6-10 fringe schools and see how many graduate each year, then multiply that by 5 years for a total amount of “qualified” divers. The number is going to be much much greater than the under 4K commercial divers actually working. Good luck it can be a challenging and rewarding profession but you must stay humble and put the work in.

Well all commercial divers are gonna be qualified space force mechanics!

I’ve been accepted to a school in Huston and a school in Seattle, I’ve wanted to do this for years but why are careers like this not rewarded highly based on risk and skill?

Much of what was said is relating to inland diving. We have no problem placing people at The Ocean Corp. Yes you start out as a tender in the Gulf and the pay is around $18/hour however, you are working/getting paid 12 hours/7 days a week. Like many jobs you have to pay your dues and work once out of school. Yes inland divers dive sooner than Gulf divers but that doesn't mean you won't get wet right out of school. Most companies start new guys on more shallow, less complex dives. Yes there is limited and zero visibility diving in the gulf but its not as bad as inland. I don't lie to any perspective students and let them know if they want to be a gulf diver they pretty much have to move to south La, its hard on relationships and it is hard work. Its what you make it. If you make good money but hate your job you wont have a very good quality of life.

Go in the military and be a diver. Full pay, medical insurance, retire after 20 years , lots of varied experience and military will pay for your college if you want to further your education.

so your telling me pipe welders on land, make more money that welders underwater lol why do people work in these places makes no sense lol

Hmm. I was interested in commercial diving for the impression I would be making good money, could travel, would involve some risk, could stay fit, all the while having some job security. It seems the reality is that there aren't many jobs, and the pay is not good... Dunno if it's for me.

Excellent vision of our profession , it’s everything I tell people who ask about the job , still no regrets , fits me like a glove

If you want to be a commercial diver, you should consider becoming a union millwright. I joined my hall about 2 years ago. They will train you for free, and diving is one of the things we do. As a union millwright, you don't have to worry about finding work if diving gets slow, they will find other work for you. Also, you will never have to work for $11/hr. or any nonsense like that.

Nice information, srry if I may ask. In that diver school, hw they going to teach u al the courses, e.g., underwater welding diver, offshore air diver, inshore diver, harbour diver... pls reply me🙏

You forgot MANY things....

Hello everyone

Blows me away how shafted American divers are. 11 bucks an hour starting? 25 an hour average?

Diving is kind of what you make it .

Watching you guys down there on KZread scares the shit out of me you guys have balls thank you for the video and good luck man

Thanks for the frank assessment of the stuff that doesn't appear in the dive school ads.

Thanks for the tips man. And for getting to the point

Delta P, look out, there's an accident about! Seriously good appraisal you give here. KZread has seemingly made this type of vocation somewhat "romantic" When I was young enough to train for this and scuba diving a lot, like three times or more per week; my neighbour, who I finally got to talk with (I saw him a lot but we never spoke more than a few words) told me he was driving a bus. He didn't look like any bus driver LOL and he wasn't. He told me he used to be a saturation diver on oil rigs (he had retired and was 50? at the time of retirement) and said he had bad knees which he reckon was from all of that commercial diving. I think one has to plan ahead carefully for retirement because it's not a job one can work till they are 65 (maybe so9me exceptions out there).

Thank you for your time sir!

Glad I found this video, the money was one of the biggest things I looked for in wanting a career