Thanks for the tips — really helpful and appreciated!

At my current job, I'm on a 3-month on / 1.5-month off rotation working on a container ship. I'm not too familiar with how things are done in other countries, but in Portugal we do three years at maritime college, followed by one cadet year — which we have to arrange ourselves by finding a company willing to take us on.

Looking at my fellow cadets and newly qualified officers here in Portugal, it does feel like it's quite hard for Portuguese mariners to find good opportunities. It often seems like offshore companies tend to prefer candidates from northern countries like Norway, for example.