High paying Jobs for Electrician/instrument Tech

[japseye007]

I'm curious as to what are the best (paying) projects around the UK or abroad for electricians?

The Hinkley point job has been given the green light and I see Laing O Rourke are already hiring people there (civils) for site prep works with proper construction starting sometime next year. People say the pay will be very good on this project for trades, are people familiar with the pay on this? Maybe it's due the big hours worked/option of overtime that will mean the pay will be good, perhaps penalty rates on the weekend or something?

Is there much offshore work starting up again seen as the majority of the oil price pain looks to have passed and the price might start to gradullly rise from here and projects give the go ahead too?

Anybody ever taken jobs in Scandinavia, Europe or the Middle East and what is your thoughts on working in these places? I like the thoughts of living in mainland Europe for a change of pace.

Would be interested to hear about jobs that would be on a roster basis such as month on month off or two weeks on two weeks off. I would guess the majority of this types of jobs would be offshore but maybe that's not the case...

Thanks everybody.

Edited by japseye007 on Sunday 2nd October 05:47

[trickywoo]

It would need the seagoing side of the qualifications but ETOs, especially on LNG vessels, are well paid and in high demand.

£50k plus for 6 months work a year and no tax to pay.

[Brads67]

50k for 6 months on is not a good pay.

UK Offshore is down the pan just now so unless you have an "in" forget it.

An acquaintance was in Iraq last year and worked 6 or 7 months for just over £100k

[japseye007]

I agree £50k for working offshore isn't a great deal. £100k plus is more in line with what I thought the industry would offer. More again if based in Middle East or Africa.

I thought the offshore industry might been on its way back up but maybe that's not the case?

[thainy77]

japseye007 said:

I agree £50k for working offshore isn't a great deal. £100k plus is more in line with what I thought the industry would offer. More again if based in Middle East or Africa.

I thought the offshore industry might been on its way back up but maybe that's not the case?

Nope, look again in 6 months time but more likely 18 months.

[PorkInsider]

Brads67 said:

50k for 6 months on is not a good pay.

UK Offshore is down the pan just now so unless you have an "in" forget it.

An acquaintance was in Iraq last year and worked 6 or 7 months for just over £100k

Surely £50k for 6 months' work on a ship isn't as bad as £100k for spending 6-months in Iraq, though?

[GT03ROB]

japseye007 said:

I agree £50k for working offshore isn't a great deal. £100k plus is more in line with what I thought the industry would offer. More again if based in Middle East or Africa.

Dream on for the Middle East. Electricians or instrument tech will be on nothing like 6 figures. The trend is to source these from places other than the West to keep costs down. East europeans, Lebanese, Egyptians, Phillipinos set the salaries.

[ColdoRS]

Brads67 said:

50k for 6 months on is not a good pay.

UK Offshore is down the pan just now so unless you have an "in" forget it.

An acquaintance was in Iraq last year and worked 6 or 7 months for just over £100k

I think Trickywoo was referring to a take home of £50k, as UK seafarers don't pay tax. £50k take home is the equivalent of around £85k in the real world. For only 183 days a year at work.

That said, i'd say that figure is closer to the lower end of the scale for a good ETO job nowadays - Superyachts, LNG and Offshore if you can get it, will all give allow an experienced ETO to earn over £100k.

Also be aware that very few of the good jobs in our industry are walk in positions. You'll also need your ETO CoC for most jobs now and all jobs as of 1st Jan 2020.

[japseye007]

Has anyone worked offshore or where are these figures coming from and in what part of the world are they based on?

[Brads67]

I`ve just left an offshore Elec tech job in the North Sea.

Last year, with a retention bonus I earned 100k on a 2 on 3 off rota.

This year will be 28k

[ColdoRS]

I've been an ETO/Electrical Engineer in the merchant navy for coming on 6 years. Cruise ship ETO originally and now 2nd ETO on a 160m+ superyacht.

There are lots of bullst stories regarding wages in the offshore/marine world but there are indeed some huge earners out there thanks to experience, hard work, reputation, good luck and old boys clubs.

[LimaDelta]

We would start an ETO on around £7k x13 for an 8-week on/off rotation. Paid flights and health insurance. Shared cabin, ~90m yacht. No tax if you are a UK resident. ETO CoC not necessary on most vessels as there is rarely a requirement on the minimum manning certificate so you would be signed on as AV/IT instead but doing essentially the same job.

[trickywoo]

LimaDelta said:

We would start an ETO on around £7k x13 for an 8-week on/off rotation. Paid flights and health insurance. Shared cabin, ~90m yacht. No tax if you are a UK resident. ETO CoC not necessary on most vessels as there is rarely a requirement on the minimum manning certificate so you would be signed on as AV/IT instead but doing essentially the same job.

I know superyachts are a special case but £90k is way over the odds for an electrician. Global seafarer rates of pay surveys are actually my job

I'm only going to say whats publically available on an open forum which is that the higest grade in the RN - Commodore has a salary of £105k. This is actually pretty high when compared to typical rates for a Master with dangerous cargo endorsements in the MN. Cruise ship Masters are paid pretty well but (before the collapse in £ to $ exchange rates) aren't on loads more than this.

The offshore vessel market was paying big money but thats gone. If you still have a job 10 - 20% pay cuts are pretty common.

I can say with authority that the most an ETO will get on deep sea tankers doing 3 month tours will be $15K per month served and thats for a Brit. A Russian will be lucky to get $10k per month served.

I really can't see the big money, even for superyachts, staying now the offshore sector is the worst its been since the 80s.

[LimaDelta]

trickywoo said:

LimaDelta said:

We would start an ETO on around £7k x13 for an 8-week on/off rotation. Paid flights and health insurance. Shared cabin, ~90m yacht. No tax if you are a UK resident. ETO CoC not necessary on most vessels as there is rarely a requirement on the minimum manning certificate so you would be signed on as AV/IT instead but doing essentially the same job.

I know superyachts are a special case but £90k is way over the odds for an electrician. Global seafarer rates of pay surveys are actually my job

I'm only going to say whats publically available on an open forum which is that the higest grade in the RN - Commodore has a salary of £105k. This is actually pretty high when compared to typical rates for a Master with dangerous cargo endorsements in the MN. Cruise ship Masters are paid pretty well but (before the collapse in £ to $ exchange rates) aren't on loads more than this.

The offshore vessel market was paying big money but thats gone. If you still have a job 10 - 20% pay cuts are pretty common.

I can say with authority that the most an ETO will get on deep sea tankers doing 3 month tours will be $15K per month served and thats for a Brit. A Russian will be lucky to get $10k per month served.

I really can't see the big money, even for superyachts, staying now the offshore sector is the worst its been since the 80s.

I'm not in a position to say whether it is over the odds. I am just saying (with authority) that is the figure at which I would hire a new ETO. Superyachts are indeed a special case, YMMV etc.

We are getting more O&G CVs now, but the skills and experience are not necessarily directly transferable. It's enough of a culture shock for those coming from white ships, never mind O&G.