Costs - expect to spend £2000 or so for your tickets, and no guarentee of getting work. That ia the brutal reality of the offshore industry. The cotracting companies know that for every guy offshore working, there is another on the beach with all the required tickets looking for his first trip. That is why the salaries have not improved in 10 years. I was getting more money in 2008 with Wood grp than they are paying now in 2018.
You need survival and MIST as a minimum. That will set you back £800-£1k. You can get a start offshore without CompEx, but it's unusual. Mostly you need it. That again will be about £800-£900. Another route is rope access, another £700+. More money again, but it can lead to more opportunities to get that elusive first start offshore. Again, you really need Compex for the rope access as mostly it is inspection work.
The best times for getting the first start are generally from April-August and that dreaded Christmas trip when lots of people call in sick. Projects tend to ramp up March-September then quieten down October on.
Oh and don't forget to factor in accommodation for the training if you are not local to a suitable training center. If you want to cut the costs a little, choose a "University" city for the training. You can get a weeks accommodation for £150 or less in the student accommodation blocks through most universities. (eg last time I was in Aberdeen we were paying £100 a week in student block vs £50 a night minimum B&B).
Personally I had no compex for my first few trios. I did the survival around 1996 and never used it till 2000. I got lucky and Wood Group put me through my CompEx about 1 year later, but that was only because Shell were paying it as part of the project costs.
Financially, perhaps £50k - £60k per year on construction though I have not worked the North Sea for about 6 years so I am not sure of current rates. They have not really changed from what I know. Yes it sounds a lot, but of you work the same hours on JIB rates / blue book you actually make more money onshore!
Generally speaking it's best if you have some good, solid experience in heavy industry. Shipyards / rig yards, refineries, power stations and good solid industrial experience will stand you in much better condition than domestic & commercial for example.
There are some companies who commonly have work in Norway, Holland etc in the rig yards and refineries. Salary will not be great, but it will at least get you experience in the industry if you do not have it.
You could request to join the facebook site "compex electricians" which sometimes has jobs posted by members from various companies.
