Become a Professional Diver

Most professional divers are, sadly, not filming James Bond-style movie scenes in tropical seas. They are working for commercial construction and engineering companies, with marine scientists collecting specimens and recording data, as police underwater search divers, as nautical archaeologists, or with the Royal Navy.

However, working as a professional diver can still be exciting, rewarding work. While it can be cold, dark or dirty work, pay starts from around £120 a day, going up to as much as £1,000 a day with experience and contacts, and professional diving also provides excellent opportunities for travel.

Diving training

If you’re thinking of a career as a diver you must be an excellent swimmer, physically fit and able to understand safety procedures. Even once you pass your initial exams you will still need to stay in shape as you’ll have to pass an annual medical assessment.

The vast majority of professional divers are men, but there is no reason why women can’t make a career out of diving, too.

There are loads of private professional diving schools around, just make sure that your course is Health and Safety Executive (HAS) before you part with your cash. Many diving schools also run aptitude tests that will help you decide whether you are suited to working underwater.

Some university courses in subjects like marine biology, underwater science and marine archaeology also include diver training as part of your studies.

There are no minimum qualifications for diver training and while experience in recreational diving can be a useful start, it is not essential.

Finding work

Once trained, you’ll never be short of work. Steve Ham, marketing manager at The Underwater Centre in Fort William, Scotland, says that if oil production in the North Sea stopped tomorrow, decommissioning all the rigs would take at least 60 years and require many trained divers.

Many professional divers gain academic and technical qualifications relevant to their chosen industry before they train to dive. For example, a diver working in oil and gas production might have a degree in engineering or a science subject, while a construction diver might have welding qualifications.

Divers in the police force are usually chosen from within the service and the Royal Navy prefers its Diving Sub-Branch recruits to have previous experience.

Most commercial divers – those not in the police or armed forces – are self-employed. Work in the offshore oil and gas industries, in marine research and in television and film is often on a short-term contract basis, so divers must be flexible and prepared to travel for work.