What Does a Marine Engineer Do?
Of all the potential engineering careers you can choose, few are as exciting and multidimensional as a marine engineering job. The profession requires both skill and intelligence, and can provide thrilling travel on board. This is not a job for the timid or impassive. Better yet, a career as a marine engineer pays well, with satisfying salaries.
If this sounds like something fitting, keep reading to learn more. We discuss the day to day tasks, educational requirements, typical working conditions, and likely salaries.
What Is a Marine Engineer?
At its core, this profession includes designing, building, repairing, testing watercrafts such as boats, submarines, offshore platforms, and any other marine structures. A Marine Engineer applies multiple sciences, including mechanical, electrical, and electronic, and computer science.
Skills and Education Required
As with any career, there are a few distinct traits and skills that go hand-in-hand and make it easier to be in the marine engineering field. An ideal marine engineer is someone curious, methodical, and logical. It is a person who enjoys inspecting and analyzing issues. Independence is also key as many jobs require working on board.
Traits such as the ones listed above are not adequate enough to join the field. Marine engineering requires an ocean engineering degree. Typical classes required include calculus, computer courses, physics. Courses specific to the job are fluid mechanics and mechanics of materials. Furthermore, a student can look forward to spending time out on the sea to get hands-on experience.
What Does a Marine Engineer Do?
The day-to-day tasks of a marine engineer center on inspecting equipment and structures, planning and prioritizing assignments, and providing consultation to others.
You can expect to conduct tests on equipment to ensure everything is functioning properly and meeting with quality control standards. If machinery isn’t, expect to investigate and solve these issues.
Preparing technical reports for peers, managers, and other related persons is another common task. Also, overseeing estimates and budgets and managing construction schedules is another regular part of the job.
What Are Typical Work Conditions Like?
One of the most-asked questions about this career is, what are working conditions like? Can potential workers expect to work onshore or offshore? The truth is that it varies. Much of the aforementioned duties can take place in a typical office environment while many must be performed on board a watercraft.
This is just one exciting factor in the field. Another determining factor to consider is any specialization that requires one working condition to another. For instance, a marine engineer specializing in offshore drilling will spend most of the time on oil rigs.
How Much Do Marine Engineers Make?
A career as an engineer is lucrative so it comes as no surprise that marine engineering also comes with a comfortable salary. After all, the role is crucial to keeping any watercraft working.
How much can you expect to make? An entry-level position as a marine engineer starts at $65,090, mid-level earnings average to $92,560, and the top 20% earn a whopping $148,950.
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