Advancing in Your Seagoing Career – Accelerated Development

Accelerated development?

On his first day offshore, a recent graduate from a top-notch university approached a rig hand, and introduced himself as a future Rig Manager.

Not impressed by this newbie’s vision of self-importance and status, the Rig Hand calmly stood there while being questioned about his academic background.

“Wow, you graduated high school, that’s awesome”, he says.

“Yah.”, the Rig Hand replied.

From the painfully awkward mutterings that ensued, a shocking surprise was revealed to the new graduate…  The individual standing before him wearing somewhat faded coveralls and a white hard hat had not only graduated high school, but a 4-year university as well.

The fun wasn’t over however, at least not for the Rig Hand, because he had just found his minion for the next three weeks and was all too happy to bring this individual down to the right level with the assistance of a pressure washer, a squeegee, and a mud-splattered pumproom.

Lessons Learned to New Graduates…

1. Be humble and respectful to everyone you meet.  Make a good first impression.
2. No matter what your accomplishments in school were, they mean nothing after graduation.  Alienate the people you work with and you will not be successful.  Guaranteed.
3. Success is not a factor of how educated you are, it’s a measure of how effective you are at applying the knowledge you have to accomplish your goals in life.  Be a team player, it’ll make success easier to come by.
4. Many of the most successful Rig Managers do not have college degrees, but that certainly doesn’t make them less effective as Rig Managers. They are however, good listeners and communicators.  Neither of which are skills gained from a textbook.