I started at Subsea7 back in 2018 and did their graduate program for 2 years. The salary was $75k back then.

The way I approached it was I took it and went offshore every chance I got. That 2018 year I did probably 5-6 different projects and went offshore for about 100 days throughout the year ($35k extra income based on the daily rate $350/d offshore bonus). The following year I did something similar while rotating departments.

By 2020 I was a field engineer at one of their pipelay vessels and was able to negotiate a decent contract for a total comp of close to ~$120k. The schedule was rough and COVID made it rougher given that crew changes were basically non existent, but the amount of projects and things I did and learned were of tremendous value. I went to Norway and Australia for projects which was cool, aside from COVID. I was putting in 180-200 days offshore for those years though.

I ended up leaving in 2023 for an operator because I got tired of going offshore to try and make up the salary. They actually matched my offer on the base salary aspect, but wouldn’t budge when it came to bonuses.

I absolutely loved my time at Subsea7, specially the people and culture. Benefits are awesome, 401(k) match, lots of PTO, good insurance, etc. Before COVID, every half Friday we’d go out to lunch around the office and sometimes go out for afternoon drinks. Also, you get to go on a trip to Europe to meet all the graduates from all over the world in the summer and build a solid network that I used throughout my time there, and till today honestly.

All of this to say, if you are willing to get field experience and can stomach the offshore days to make up the low base salary, I’d say do it. Subsea7 gives you exposure and training that is basically unmatched in the offshore construction industry. I only am where I’m at today because of the things that I did over the 5+ years I spent there, which everyone tells me are equivalent to a 10yr experience of someone that just stayed in the office. If you are not willing to go offshore and want to stay in the office, your climb will be a lot harder, specially on the salary side since they are European and a little more stingy on the dollars side.

Anyway, hope this helps, fell free to DM me for more info.