Career Prospects

This section enables you to look into the duties of the main positions in an offshore installation and help you find the career path that best matches your interest. It concerns jobs that can be found in the offshore industry, primarily in a drilling unit.

Are you a new entrant in the offshore industry? Then we advice to consider the message below. If you have already experience, continue with Career Paths and good luck with your search! 

NEW ENTRANTS
There is certainly no doubt that a good background in Mechanical/Electrical engineering or experience offshore will bring you closer to getting a position, besides giving a hand in understanding the technical jargon(not only jargon but also written and techniques) applied on board an offshore unit. However, not having a qualification should not turn down any striver who desires to enter the offshore industry since many starting positions do not require previous college degree, but offer the possibility to grow into management positions based on your own merit, ambition, motivation and ability to learn the right skills.

Either way, it is you who will collect the right competences and attitude to get as far as you want to. Many top management functions in the oil industries today are occupied by people who started at the bottom of the ladder.     

The most common starting entry-level positions are the Roughneck, Painter and/or Roustabout.

OFFSHORE CAREER PATHS
Five career paths have been identified:

Career Path 1 will follow the drilling side and end up on the onshore Operations Manager. Career Path 2 will introduce you to the deck operational side of an offshore unit and end up on the position of Barge Engineer. Career Path 3 and Path 4 are more specialized into Technical or Mechanical work. Finally, the 5th category will expand into possible job openings of radio operators and other specialisations onboard. 

See here the Offshore Career Prospects Diagram.