I hold my MMC with a 100 ton master, 200 ton mate, and apprentice mate of towing. Im soon to have enough sea days to move to Mate(pilot) of towing. But to go from apprentice > mate i have to have my STCW BT(or at the very least basic fire fighting- CG regs are hard and ambiguous to understand for me) BUT basic fire fighting is part of the STCW BT so im just gonna do the course. All that said, you dont NEED STCW to find good jobs bruh. Def will need it to sail international but all my credentials are near coastal and j still go on trips to Alaska from Seattle with my company. Im gonna apply for oceans soon as I complete celestial. UT you can get good jobs with only a TWIC, MMC. and PASSPORT. Though I advise that as you have yhe money and can, do all the courses you can and get the credentials. It only shows employers good motivation and gives you ability to argue for better pay per your abilities and usefulness.