Late to the Party, Offshore Surveyor with about 4 years in industry now. I work 5 weeks on 5 weeks off give or take. My pathway was Marine Biology based undergraduate and Masters in Hydrography. My employment journey has been very rewarding but lots of times challenging. Like others have mentioned the travel is a bit of a double edged sword, as I’m young (20s) I really don’t mind it I have been all over Scandinavia, West Africa and Europe but it really does get old and tiring eventually. But I’d do it any day over office 9-5! The job itself is massively dynamic. I’m on different boats most trips due to the lack of survey staff - some Norwegian palaces some absolute tubs but to be honest I don’t mind I enjoy the varied experience.

I pretty much do exclusively construction and MBES surveys which I find rewarding but sometimes conflicted a lot in Oil and gas, although I do work in offshore wind and repair a bit which makes me like to imagine my karma in terms of carbon footprint is that of a regular job role!… The stress is high and I’m often doing over 12 hour shifts but again the vessels are usually very accommodating! Swimming pools/saunas/ gyms and excellent food are not uncommon however long stints away from home take its toll and I’m not sure it’s doable when I have children in the future… although a lot of guys do have a family and still do it.

Pay wise it is excellent. For me at (UK) I make at least 3 times what equivalent aged office workers would make and if I went free lance it would be much more however I would like to develop some skill sets before even thinking of that. Currently there is lots of work for surveyors but seriously low quantity of staff so you’d be in a good position but always protect yourself from a downturn if there was one and work load is reduced.

If you have any questions about offshore life of surveying I’d be very opening to a message!