Commercial diving is a career path that Mohamed Amzah Hassan, 35, has been aspiring to pursue since completing his National Service. However, a lack of local training opportunities and the prohibitive cost of going overseas for the relevant training saw him turn to a sales career instead.
“After spending 14 years in sales and marketing, I was retrenched from my role due to the economic situation. During the transition, I browsed through e2i’s website for career opportunities in other industries. When I saw a partnership between Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) and KBA Training Centre, I felt that this was a second calling to do what I’ve always wanted to do and got to it straight away,” said Amzah, who was drawn to a sense of accomplishment and responsibility that come from carrying out tasks underwater for ships and oil rigs.
Creating An Opportunity
As part of the Place-and-Train programme collaboration between e2i and commercial diving training institution KBA Training Centre, Amzah attended a briefing that enabled him to learn more about the industry, available career opportunities and job scope details.
With the subsequent training partially subsidised by e2i, Amzah undertook the Commercial Diver Training Level 1 – Commercial SCUBA and Level 2 – Surface Supplied Diver courses between April and June 2016.
“Without having this Singapore-recognised training, I could not have secured a job with my current employer, KBA Marine Services, who only hires trained and certified commercial divers and not recreational scuba divers for work,” he shared.
Since joining the company in late 2016, Amzah has also attended additional training courses in areas such as risk assessment and safety management.
Future plans
“My career aspirations are to first complete a top-up course with the Professional Divers Association (PDA) in Scotland and gain global offshore commercial diving qualifications. In the long term, I see myself becoming a diving supervisor and a client service representative in the marine or oil and gas industries,” shared Amzah.
He added that this training has also had a positive effect on his outlook on life, especially when it comes to safety.
“It has benefitted me in a lot of ways beyond just diving. The overall aspect of the work that we do before a dive, such as what checks we need to do, and what kind of personal protection equipment to put on, has made me very self-aware of such aspects at home and in the workplace.”