Well, I know but different folks start at different places in life. He is a good dude that wants to work but comes from a struggle situation. His family is a drunk father and a dope fiend mom in the hood. His brother is more worried about beefing with nikkas and fighting with his bm. My friend made a mistake of dropping out of HS right before COVID but has almost finished his GED (tests were unavailable during COVID) and wants to get out. Maritime is one of those industries that people don't know about that takes the less educated and gives reasonably stable job with opportunity for fast promotion. Let me explain.
Being on a boat 6 months out of the year he will have all his food, accommodation, etc. paid for. The company also flies him to the boat crew change for free. So he is not making huge bank but the typical expense of a commute/car maintenance, food, living expenses (minus rent which he would still pay), utilities, are substantially less. He will only really pay for rent and car insurance regularly. It's like being able to bank the same amount as someone making 25-50% more in a regular job since at minimum he is paying 50% less on food and gas a year than the average person. I reviewed the insurance plans in his offers too and he is getting insurance the same or better than white collar jobs with reasonably low premiums and deductibles. Also because of his background he has zero debt so that is a silver lining.
Maritime is hurting for workers because anyone with a family or even a gf doesn't want to be gone on a hitch that is 28 days straight with no shore leave. When fast food is paying $20/hr people with families rather stay shoreside. Also they have a crewing problem because of the DOT drug test. My friend doesn't do drugs and has no personal relationships right now so he is fine with this. They are also so short crewed overtime is available so he is going to try to work 9 months per year for the first year or two if he can and effectively make $60k with three months off (though not consecutive) per year.
Second, maritime is low entrance but has opportunity for fast promotion. The companies he is getting offers from are often shipping petroleum products and he starts as a deckhand but in one to two years if he takes a course he can become a tankerman and make $60k. By his late 20s (he is 21 now) he could be an engineer making $80k or by late 20s/early 30s a captain making $100k , all without a college degree. Part of the reason for the high salaries is the Jones Act which is a US law that makes ships serving the US only required to hire all US citizen crews. So no foreign competition.
He actually has a forklift certification but for some reason the warehouses weren't feeling him like that. Probably because he was still working on his GED. They said no and three different maritime companies were like "when can you start?" So he wants to start making money
