When the economy took a dump in 2008 many people were desperate to find jobs or change career paths. That being said, another resession is on its way. Some of those people were enticed by the ‘big pay’ of commerical diving. That search for the perfect job consisting of big pay with a challenging environment often led them to explore the option of becoming a commercial deep sea diver. This in and of itself is very understandable in that the diving industry can possibly provide these things and more. However, what disturbs me is when I see articles on the internet that boast of commercial divers earning thousands of dollars a day. Many of these articles do not even use the term commercial diver,they use the term underwater welder.

 

This term has always been used to describe in masse that of commercial divers because many of those who talk or write about this occupation know nothing about or ever were professional working divers. This seems to be a reflection of their ignorance and inability for simple research, period. (It also seems to be a prevalent problem in the blogging world.) But back to the subject of that one thousand dollars a day, in short it is bullshit and here is why.

 

The issue is complicated due to the fact of the many variables that go into the individual specifics of being a commercial diver such as startup costs beginning with dive school. One must pick a school and then either come up with the four to seven thousand dollars or so to attend or go in debt with student loans to cover tuition costs and this is just the beginning. One still must pay for rent, food, fuel for a vehicle (if necessary) and gear. These costs can add thousands upon the original amount needed for the sole purpose of acquiring a technical trade. Upon graduating the real test emerges, finding work. And I will let you in on a little secret, you will not start off at a thousand dollars a day or five hundred or some high ball number as such; You will start out making a crap wage and find yourself having to climb some ladder that, like most companies, is dictated by their rules as to how, why and when you are allowed to move in such a matter.



Now, as other articles on this website have stated before, we are sure there are commercial divers making large sums of money today upwards of one thousand dollars a day, perhaps more. Perhaps a lot more, but they did so after becoming skilled tradesman after many hours in the water and not immediately right after dive school. It is painfully obvious to this writer that other news agencies are given their facts to them by either certain dive schools or perhaps the dive companies themselves to make the industry look very lucrative for their own personal gain. So in stating this, the aforementioned must be defended in such a manner as to not portray the dive schools or even the dive industry as a greed infested mechanism. However, when one reads stories that skew the record on the monetary compensation of divers and do not mention the entire story of what one must endure to become one or the specifics of becoming specialized in one field or another (namely that of underwater welder) it can only be gleaned that such is the case. This website exists to keep working divers and those wishing to join this field informed and not for the purpose of serving the schools or companies that profit from their ignorance.

 

Does this writer sound like a broken record? Will this theme of money be written about again and again in an enduring and monotonous fashion driving those who see it to the brink? Yes and probably, but it is the only way for the working diver to realize that that they should be making more money right out of dive school than they do now and not having to work (for too long) up some ridiculous ladder designed to keep company profits high and commercial divers barely above the water line, so to speak.



Make no mistake, I am a captialist and want nothing more than a company or a ‘for profit’ organization to make as big a profit as they can. I just wish the same for commercial divers.

 

-Scott Kilgore is a former diver and Author of Under Dark Waters