>>838543Typical engineer.
I'm a Second Mate (Navigator) for Military Sealift Command, which is a civil service run 'company' that does the Navy's job, but cheaper and better.
I work much more than a union or private company guy, and my base pay is lower, but I make up for it because my overall pay is better (I'll probably do about 150k this year). As deckies, life is typically more laid back than the engineers, there are usually less crises, and much of your time is spent staring out the window. I should be doing chart corrections right now, but you see where I am.
Day to day I stand two four hour watches (04-08, and 16-20), and try to do 4 hours of overtime, if we're not in port. I come up with voyage plans, plot routes, reasarching the places we'll go, and monitor and maintain bridge equipment. Paperwork is a major hassel, and makes many easy jobs difficult, due to the beaurocracy. But I have an office with an incredible view, an office which I drive. Being away from land with limited communications, the problems of the outside world fade away, and though your AB's sea story gets old the third time he tells it, it's nice that you are getting paid to stand there and bullshit.
Engineering is undoubtedly more practical, but deck side has the romance and old school seamanship aspects going for it. You get to work outside plenty, when in port or doing cargo. You're in charge of driving the ship, when judgement calls need to be made, you're the one making them. You get to learn about celestial navigation, radar, radios, knot tying, cargo handling and stowage, stability, all kinds of neat shit.
There's always some rivalry between deck and engine, plenty of good natured and not so good natured ribbing. We tend to think of engineers as glorified mechanics, but like us, they have a depth of knowledgeach that just rarely gets called upon.
MSC has benefits over real shipping companies too, like actual port time, going interesting places, and all of your training is paid for.
