Whats up guys, today i'm going to tell you why maritime is such a great career!
Despite~ my previous video about 10 reason why it sucks
I've added time stamps so you can jump around.
Check it out in the description.
First off, The pay
Obviously everyone knows this, the pay is good.
You could be working as a officer or engineer at age 22, while making two or three times
the amount as someone who is freshly graduated working a white collar job.
Ofcourse theres lot of variables such as the nationality,the company, where you are from,
the flag state but if you compare domestically, its often a few times higher than land base.
That being said You can't compare, say, an american salary to a chinese one.
The standard of living is different.
The point is no matter which country you are from, money does play a big incentive for
all seafarers.
Second on is Tax free
Some countries like china is an exception, but for the majority of the international
seafarers we dont get taxed.
For example I'm from Canada and a high salary job can get hit up to 35% tax, thats one third
of what you make gone instantly to the government.
I heard in UK if you earn more than 151 thousand pounds a year, you get taxed 45%.
Thats crazy! half of your blood and sweat going into someone else pocket.
So now Maritime... not only is my pay better but on top of that I dont get taxed.
So the gap is pretty big.
Third one Career Flexibility and Long term prospect
Alot of officers dont make it to Ocean going unlimited Class 1 licenses because they either
work offshore or inland.
Class 1 meaning Captains or Chief Engineer.
So the demand for those with experience is very high.
You've got lots of career flexibility once you reach there, you can stay working on ship
or move ashore work in say marine department, mangment position in shipping companies, marine
surveyors,maritime consultant, port captain, maritime pilot.
The end game is filled with opportunity.
And seriously this industry have way less competition than any out there.
All of which pays really well.
Like REALLY REALLY well, im not pulling it this out of thin air, you can look up wikipedia.
I'm talking like four hundred thousand USD per year for some american maritime pilots.
In australia, maritime pilots earn about 250,000 auds per year.
Other places like UK, Taiwan and Hong Kong are similar too.
So!
No matter the ups and downs of economy that affects shipping, the long term prospect is
always going to be good.
I mean if tomorrow the stock market crashes or something, you still need Captains, harbour
pilots to bring ship in.
People still need their fresh food and LNG LPG coming into the port., you can't have
ships unmanned floating around.
This was actually one of my biggest incentive that got me working in the maritime field.
Number 4 Job Security
Lets be honest, no matter which industry you are from, if you are a fresh graduate from
uni, you will always have trouble finding first job So..
Finding company as a cadet can be tough but once you step foot into the industry and have
some experience as an officer, theres ton of company willing to hire you.
The key to finding a company is to be presistent, grind it out and keep sending reumes, keep
interviewing.
So taking it back to job security, if you all heard of hanjin going bankrupt earlier
this year..
I have a subscriber who kept in contact with me on instagram, when it turn to shit he was
messaging me.
What happened was within less than 2 months he was already hired back as a 2nd mate in
another company.
Now ofcourse this is only one sample size but lots of my seniors came fromother shipping
companies said the same thing.
Company will happily pick you up if you have experience.
And thats what I mean by once you step foot inside the industry, the job security is very
good.
Unless you company go bankrupt you really have nothing to worry, even then its easy
to switch company.
Fifth one is travel
Another obvious one, you get to travel around the world while getting paid.
Passenger ships will have the most touristy destinations.
Container ships will visit a lot of prots at a high frequency.
Bulk or tankers will spend much longer time at sea betweens ports but they also have long
port stay.
So take your pick.
Perhaps the only other industry that can match merchant marine is airlines.
Number 6 lifestyle
once in a while you will have to do some over time for a port state inspection or annual
survey but other than that, The lifestyle on ship is very uniform and scheduled.
Surprisingly, my lifestyle on ship is much healthier than my lifestyle at home.
I wake up early, sleep early, and exercise daily on the ship.
I also have less distractions and can focus on what I need to do.
Thats one of the reason why I make more videos on the ship.
I think the credit goes to limited internet, you became much more focus on improving yourself.
I learnt video editing from youtube videos without internet, crazy right?What I do is
while i'm at port I download the tutorials and save them for watching offline later.
Other seafarers i've sailed with, they read book, learn musical instrument, carving, or
just general hobbies, and they extremely good at it.
There was one of my cadets learnt how to back flip front flip and gianers on the ship.
Working Schedule, For deck officers we do 4 hours watch and rest 8 hours, 4on8off 4on8off
around the clock for 6 months contract.
Engineers work 8 to 5, with night rounds rotations.
And thats pretty standard across the whole industry.
So if you enjoy a steady work rest time table, merchant marine is perfect.
Number 7 Long Vacations and Holiday
Spending 6 months away from home sucks, well not really..
That's because I get to spent 3 months of quality holiday time.
People ashore work 5 days a week and get a small tiny weekend off.
You'll have to rush and do whatever it is that they enjoy in 2 days time.
For me I have 3 months all to myself to relax, go on vacation, spent quality time without
rush.
The sum of all rest is much greater when it is continous.
I get recharged after like 2 months and just can't wait till to go back to sea.
Number 8 Autonomy, You are your own boss
What I mean is, On ocean passages the captain only comes to the bridge for some adminstrative
work or paper work, and that's maybe 1-2 hours a day.
Even then the captain is on his computer and you are handling the navigation and in charge
of the overall command.
He is not going come and distract you at work and give you extra stress.
So the working envirnomet is very flexible and relaxing on the brdigeYou know cadet at
the back making me coffee.
Assign him everything because he has to learn.
For engineers and ratings, well the tasks assigned at sea is usually split up into groups
of 2 or 3 people, The Chief Engineer isn't going to stand behind your shoulders and look
at how you are doing.
each engineer is usually responsible for different set of machinerys and equipments.
so for example if you are 4th engineer, and you are assigned to do a task.
you can do at your own pace as long as you get it complete before the deadline, no one
is going to nag.
I mean unless you screw something up
Number 9 Straightforward Job and task
Because ships now days are in such minimum manning, everyone's job description is clearly
labeled.
Except Cadets.
In contrast if you work ashore you have to adapte and cater to lousy customers or special
project requests.
I'd imagine if you work white collar, in hospital or bank , everyday there's something different
happening.
But on the ship every task is very routine and designated.
For example Chief mates are incharge of cargo and stability.
2nd mates in charge of Charts and publications, third mates in charge of LSA FFA. engineers
are in charge of different set of machineries.
Bosun are in charge of the crew assigned to different sections of the ship.
Everyone knows what they are suppose to do.
You won't see third mate, me, going to assign work for the crew, that's bosun's job.
You won't see the chief mate chart correcting unless the second mate is newb.
The cook well he cooks.
No one else is going to cook.
It is pretty straightforward and no dramas
Number 10 No competitions, and fast promotion In a corporate office i'd imagine there will
be 10 people competing for managerial position.
But on ship it's actually quite simple.
What happens is most people sign on with a higher license.
For example a cadet will sign on with a class 3 license, a second mate license.
A second mate sign on with a chief mate license.
And Chief mate sign on with a captain's license.
You get enough sea time, Captain approves or company approves.
Then you get a promotion simple as that.
There's no need to compete for promotion, spots aren't limited, there was one sister ship
that had 3 third mate at the same time just because two of the cadets just happen to promote.
Last one is Solitude, now this one is like 11th and not included in the 10 reasons.
It is more personal since it is personal I don't think everyone will feel the same way
as I do.
Working at sea there's a lot of solitude, quiet time to think about myself and my life.
Perhaps it's the isolation.
And that changes my perspective in life.
working in this industry will give you the same effect.it is similar to people who are
enlightened when they go on a pilgrimage, like Mark Zuckerberg or Steve jobs on their
trip to India.
You travel the world while disconnected from internet and social media and realise that
how small and insignificant one can be.
Social media, news, events around the world just left me behind while on ship.
To me it can be parallel to what being in prison is like, you do time in prison and
you realize how precious time, relationship and just how precious being alive is.
So that changed me, one of which was I want to make an impact in the world, which is why
I started this maritime vlog to help cadets, seafarers or people who thinking about joining.
It seems i've become more altruistic because of the experience in maritime industry.
2nd thing was appreciating time spent with family and friends.
Back before I started I would play league of legends all day.
But now when i'm home, I would sit next to my grandma and hold her hand and have long
conversation, listen to what she has to say.
Spend the time bonding with her.
You start to realize that life is short and fragile and the time we spent together is
very limited.
Third thing is that i learn to hustle, On ship I realized i've spent so much time of my life
at work, so when i'm off work, I better make every second count doing whatever it is that
I enjoy.
And that's it folks!
Hope that give you some motivation as to why it is awesome to work in the maritime indsutry.
Please Share or tag a friend who is thinking of joining maritime or studying in marine
school.
Let them know its not as bad as it seems.
In fact i'd choose this maritime over any land job if I went back in time.
Give this a like and ill see you guys next time!