Commercial Diving Certifications

The first step to a career in commercial diving is to become certified. Certifications come from several different SCUBA diving organizations like the Association of Commercial Diving Educators. Usually, this organization certifies a commercial diving school to handle your diving education. Check to see if the school you are considering is associated with a proper, respectable certifying organization.

Commercial diving schools are located all over the USA, from California to South Carolina to Texas. A simple search at Google.com will bring up quite a few schools for you to choose from. Most require a high school diploma or G.E.D., but no previous diving skills. You will need to be able to work in dangerous, stressful conditions, have strong problem solving and decision-making skills, high stamina, learn solid diving and swimming skills, be a team player, and willing to learn mechanical trades.

Before you pick a commercial diving school, do your research about them. Look into each school’s standards, training time, costs, experienced instructors, job placement services, curriculum, equipment, real-world training conditions, reviews by former students. Be sure to ask questions about anything and everything. Remember that this school is an investment in your future career and financial future. Picking the right school for you may be the most important step in your path to becoming a commercial diver.

As a commercial diving student, you will learn all the basics of commercial diving in a comprehensive and rigorous environment. Most schools vary in length from 16 weeks to 6 months. When you graduate from commercial school you should have a solid understanding of safety, surface supplied diving, physics, anatomy, physiology, dive medicine, decompression, hyperbaric chambers, underwater tools, support equipment, welding, cutting, dive operations planning, offshore oil fields, mixed gases, and saturation. The skills you learn will help prepare you for commercial diving jobs in fields such as deep sea exploration, hazardous material diving, underwater wet welding, underwater burning and rigging, salvage expert, or underwater structural inspection. Get the scoop on offshore oil rig jobs in that section of JobMonkey. Essentially you will become an underwater construction expert and any job that exists in construction on land, will most likely exist underwater also.

Your commercial diving school, if properly certified and in good standing, should be able to help you find your ideal job with a proper job placement service. Next you need to build your resume. As you gain experience, your opportunities open up. In no time, you’ll be making a good paycheck on a regular basis. Entry-level positions usually make $18,000 to $35,000, with $10,000 to $15,000 increases per year of experience. With time, you can make around $100,000 a year. Commercial diving is a booming industry that welcomes driven divers like you.

Here are a few organizations that will help you start this exciting career path:

Association of Commercial Diving Educators

Association of Diving Contractors International

American National Standards Institute

American Welding Society

International Diving Schools Association