Why Marine Engineering is an Excellent Career Option

Marine engineers, as we all know, are paid the most exorbitant salaries in comparison to other engineering streams. This is on account of the risks they take and the uncertain work hours they deal with. There are very few colleges offering the Marine Engineering courses in India, which has kept the demand very high even to date. In this blog, we will discuss the prospects of a marine engineer and what needs to be considered before choosing this course.

Let’s begin our discussion by assessing what exactly a marine engineer does while on the sea.

What Exactly Does a Marine Engineer Do?

A marine engineer performs a large number of tasks during a particular voyage as an when required. They help in testing and installing marine equipment, preparing the system layout, feasibility analysis, preparing technical reports, dealing with contractors, testing automatic controls and alarm systems, preparing contract specifications and schedules, and finally supervising crewmembers for routine and emergency activities.

Apart from these, senior engineers work with top agencies for finalising equipment required for marine maintenance. They also provide updates to the government during crisis situations and review work requests from offshore clients. Marine engineers also review the operational efficiency of a task to ensure that a particular work is completed at a minimal cost

Skills Required to Become a Marine Engineer

Marine Engineers need to have an extremely high technical knowledge with very good observation skills. Finding faults in the marine vessels require a significant amount of introspection. You should also be able to communicate and coordinate with your crew members, ship captain, and company management to sort out issues. In short, a good team player. Excellent writing skills are essential as you will have to explain the problems to your team members and fix it immediately.

As far as technical knowledge is concerned, you need to be very good at physics, Mathematics and design. Marine engineering is an applied discipline that is a mix of electrical, mechanical and civil engineering concepts. The main subjects that you will be studying will include naval architecture, ship structure, engine room management, applied thermodynamics, applied marine control and automation, etc. In a 4 year course, you will be studying around 80 such papers in a total of 8 semesters.

Salary

The most attractive part of being a marine engineer is the salary that it offers. In India, they easily begin their career with a Rs 16,20,000 package per annum, which is an enviable amount in this part of the world. In the US, the average starting salary is around $80,771 per annum and as you grow higher up the ranks, it increases by an exponential margin. In about 5 years, when you can go upto the 2nd or 3rd engineer position, you can touch the eight-figure mark (1 crore or around $200,000 per annum).

Final Words

Marine engineering is an extremely difficult course to pass. It is not just another typical engineering course and you need reliable guidance both during the entrance exams and while studying the course curricula. IIT Mumbai, marine engineering and research institute and Indian maritime university are some of the best places to study this course.