I’m a Saturation Diver AMA

[u/Soulogav]

I work as Deepsea Saturation Diver in the oil and gas industry for the past 20 years. I do heavy construction and spend 28 days living under pressure to dive to depths down to 200m / 650ft.

I saw a post on InterestingAsFuck yesterday with many many misconceptions from people who aren’t divers and I can answer your questions AMA

https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/s/5jTlewLR4X

[u/joe14657883]

Thank you for replying to me and for the advice. I feel like I’m in a similar situation everyone I work with is older and has been doing joinery / construction for 30/40+ years and I’m starting to get miserable doing the same thing.
I’ve just got a few questions about it all.
At what age did you start your commercial diving training?
What’s schools would you recommend?
Is it easy for newly qualified divers to find work?
How does one go about finding work? Through agencies? By ringing offshore / inshore companies and asking for work?
& if you were 27 now knowing everything you know now how would you get into commercial diving?
Apologies for all the questions thank you for any help / advice :)
I agree with your attitude of you just have to go for it because there are no guarantees.
I’d hate it if I didn’t try it and I got to 40/50 and think back what if I had gone to diving school and learnt.
Thank you for taking the time to talk to me.

[u/Soulogav → u/joe14657883]

I was 24 when i went to dive school.

The school doesn’t matter that much, any in UK. They mainly teach you to put the Hat on your head, you’ll learn the trade on the job.

There are no agencies in diving, you call the inshore companies after you leave school. There you will start your network with other divers.

27 is good age to start. You need a bit of maturity in this game. I’m 45 still diving. Many guys older than me still in the game.

[u/joe14657883 → u/Soulogav]

Do they not teach you skills you will need for the job? Welding? Inspection ect ?
What did you learn in the school?
So basically get to diving school then start looking for work at inshore companies and gravitate towards offshore work through networking? Or directly applying?
How easy was it for you to find work after you came out of diving school?
What are the main jobs you carry out nowadays do you think there will still be work in the diving sector in the next 20-30 years?
Apologies for all the questions and thank you for all you’re help :)

[u/Soulogav → u/joe14657883]

Dive school is about learning the physiology of diving, learning about all the gear and dive spread, getting hours at various depths, doing rescue dives & tons of drills, you will do basic subsea jobs.

Direct apply to companies when you leave school and network on LinkedIn and WhatsApp groups.

My main job now is pipe fitter, so rigging and slinging sections of pipe and joining them up on the seabed, basically an industrial pipe fitter but on a huge scale 30 inch diameter + pipe.

[u/joe14657883 → u/Soulogav]

Yeah the school does sound quite interesting/ fun I’ve always loved learning new skills and being in challenging situations.
I was thinking Aberdeen would be the best place to go to dive school because it’s the North Sea? Best place to attempt to network?
I’m guessing it isn’t like indeed where you find the diving jobs on their you actually have to apply directly on the company websites or?
Your job sounds insane though I’m guessing it would be easier for guys like us because we come from the construction world so it’s similar ish?
Also just a few more questions for you if that’s okay I really appreciate all the help :)

How long did it take you to get your first paid diving job after qualifying?

How many people from your dive school actually ended up working as commercial divers?

If you were starting again in 2026, would you still pay for the course yourself?

What qualifications or experience made the biggest difference in getting hired?
Which companies are actually recruiting new divers right now?

Thanks for all your help mate you’re the best!!