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  • 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!

Whats up guys, today i'm going to tell you why maritime is such a great career!

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