Deep-Sea Welder Salary (Complete Guide with Salary By USA)

Deep-Sea Welder Salary (Complete Guide with Salary By USA)

In today’s world, where education seems to be the key to earning big, getting a job that is well paying and does not require you have a high educational qualification is rare. I will introduce you to deep sea welding. An interesting job that requires little education and, of course, well-paying. This article is not only for those looking for a well-paying job with little or no education. Rather, it is also for those getting to know the deep-sea welding occupation and those in this career line who need to know what to do to scale up their earnings. And no, I am not making things up, so grab a cup of whatever drink you love, sit back, and read a life-changing article. First, why don’t we talk about the job role of a deep-sea welder? This will help the up-and-coming professionals in the field get to know what they are getting into. We will discuss Deep-Sea Welder Salary here.

Duties of Deep-Sea Welder 

Before I go into the duties of a Deep-sea welder, you need to know that there is no age factor to be a Deep-sea welder. As long as you are legal to work in the United States of America, you are legally to be in this occupation. Some of the duties of a deep-sea include drafting, fitting, rigging. In the oil and gas industry, deep-sea welders are in charge of installing and repairing rigs and pipelines. In the United States of America, the average salary of a deep-sea welder is $25 per hour, although it varies depending on location.

Determining Factors Behind Your Earnings as a Deep-Sea Welder

Like you have in other career fields, a name to indicate your level of experience is entry-level, mid-level, and professional level. Deep-sea welding is a practical/hands-on job that requires specific skills to determine your experience in the field. 

Factors that determine how much you earn includes:

  • Level of Experience
  • Certificate obtained
  • Some job titles of a deep-sea welder and their income
  • Performance
  • Environment
  • Location

Now let’s see how each of the determining factors mentioned above are key factors to the earning rate of a Deep-sea welder.

  • Level of Experience

The higher your experience, the higher your pay. This occupation is the type where you have to work your way up. Depending on the type of contract, deep-sea welders can be paid hourly or by the end of the contract. So, I researched and found out that in the United States of America and as an entry-level deep-sea welder, you can earn as much as $30,000 with 1-4years of experience annually. As a mid-level deep-sea welder with 5-9years of experience, you can earn up to $65,000 annually. A professional or experienced deep-sea welder with 10-19years of experience can earn up to $100,000 annually. Attractive, isn’t it? And Yes, I am talking about the pay.

  • Certificate Obtained

This will validate the experience you claimed to have. The first certificate a welder must obtain is the commercial diving certificate. A deep-sea welder must be skilled in diving. No company will employ a deep-sea welder who is hydrophobic is not advanced in the diving scheme. So, if you want to be a deep-sea welder, you can attend a specialized commercial diving school to get skilled-up.  Also, a deep-sea welder must possess a welding skill that is already ranked at AWS d3.6 standard.

Additional skills like deep-sea photography, welding inspection, etc., are necessary for documentation, and they can also increase your earning rate. This brings us to the fact that the more knowledgeable or skilled you are, the more knowledge or skill you should yearn to acquire, as this will have a positive effect on your earnings. So, the more skill you acquire, the more money you make. Now, get the certificate.

Deep-Sea Welder Salary

Well, I skipped the part where I was supposed to tell you how risky being a deep-sea welder is because I was saving this information for this part of the article. There are several job titles of deep-sea welding that helps to determine your earnings, we have the Senior Welding Engineer with an hourly wage of about $64, and this wage can amount to about $135,000 annually. The Underwater Acoustic Engineer is another interesting job title of a deep-sea welder with an hourly wage of about $39, leading to about $83,000 annually. We also have the Welding Process Engineer $38 per hour and about $80,000 annually. Finally, as a Welding Manufacturing Engineer, you can make about $37 per hour and about $77,000 annually.

You will notice that I talked more about the mid-level deep-sea welder and the professional or experienced welders. If you follow this article up to this point, you will already know what you should do to get to the mid-level of the professional level as a deep-sea welder.

  • Performance

Who wouldn’t like employing a worker that does a job brilliantly and perfectly? A deep-sea welder who provides quality service will be sought after by employers even if a salary increase will be a factor in employing him/her. What about recommendations? Are we going to pretend we don’t know how networkable recommendations are? A brilliant deep-sea welder will get recommendations from his past employees, which will help him secure a bigger job or project.

  • Environment

A quote by Paulo Coelho says, “Be brave, take risks. Nothing can substitute risk”. Lindsay Lohan said, “Life is full of risks anyway; why not take them?”. Here, let’s talk about the challenges in Deep-sea welding, and let me show you how these challenges are actually blessings to you earning big. The most common challenges in deep-sea welding are Zero-degree visibility, Freezing temperature, and High wave currents. But like I said, these challenges are also your ladder to earning big.

  • Location

Like I said at the beginning of this article, the salary of a deep-sea welder varies depending on location, I will show you the top 12 average earnings of a deep-sea welder depending on their location, they are:

  • Hawaii: with average earnings of $47 per hour
  • Vermont: with average earnings of $37 per hour
  • Alaska: with average earnings of $31 per hour
  • Rhode Island: with average earnings of $27 per hour
  • Delaware: with average earnings of $22 per hour
  • Montana: with average earnings of $22 per hour
  • New Mexico: with average earnings of $21 per hour
  • Louisiana: with average earnings of $21 per hour
  • Wyoming: with average earnings of $21 per hour
  • Massachusetts: with average earnings of $20 per hour
  • New Jersey: with average earnings of $20 per hour
  • North Dakota: with average earnings of $20 per hour

Conclusion

We have seen that even with little or no education, you can get a life-change, very well-paying job in deep-sea welding. We also briefly discuss some of the duties of a deep-sea welder. We then finally talked about the factors that determine you’re earning rates. Finally, we know that deep-sea welding does not require a high level of education, but we should know that we need to possess the necessary skills in this occupation line. We need to possess more skills, do quality jobs and face risks. This is surely going to raise your earning rates. All been said, what do you think? Do you find deep-sea welding interesting and lucrative? Then give it a try. I wish you all the best.

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. What are the requirements needed to attend a commercial diving school?

You already know that attending a commercial driving school will earn you some certificates that are relevant to becoming a deep-sea diver, the requirement to be eligible for these schools or training are that you must:

  • Have a high school diploma or GED equivalent
  • Be at least 18 years of age
  • Be proficient in written and oral English
  • Be adept with mechanical skills
  • Be a competent swimmer
  • Qualify as “fit to dive” on the hyperbaric dive physical
  1. How much do deep sea welders make?

The average entry-level deep-sea welders earn between $25,000 and $35,000; the mid-level deep-sea welders earn between $60,000 and $70,000 per year, and the professionals earn from $100,000 and above. As you can see, the earnings vary depending on your level of skill and experience, the company itself, the type of work you do, and the geographical where that work is located. 

  1. What certifications are offered by commercial diving schools?

The certifications offered by commercial diving schools are listed below:

  • API Rigging RP-3D
  • Surface Supplied Nitrox
  • Divers Academy International
  • NDT Level-1 Liquid Penetrant
  • NDT Level-1 Magnetic Partial
  • Amongst others
  1. Should I have a welding skill before getting admitted into the commercial diving school?

No, it is unnecessary to have a welding skill because no matter your level of experience, commercial driving schools will teach you all the skills and knowledge you should know to be very competent in the field.

Also read How to become an underwater welder

Deep-Sea Welder Salary (Complete Guide with Salary By USA)

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