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Naval Electronics Technician (Communications) or Hull Technician?

Lizardmen

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Hi guys, I am planning to switch to Navy. I am interested in the two trades NET (Comms) and Hull Tech. Do you guys know any information about those trades? How's the working environment in Esquimalt, BC? And are the experience useful in the civilian side?
Thanks very much in advance for your insights. :)
 
Well, I guess that depends on which you'd rather be fixing, the radios or the toilets. :)

I kid, I kid. From a purely "looking out for the interests of the service" perspective, if I recall correctly, we're shorter on NET(C)s than we are on Hull Techs. And from a completely biased perspective, everyone knows that the Combat Systems Engineering Department is the better of the two. As for which are useful on the civie side, well, the world will always need people who are good at fixing electronics, and it will always need people who are good at welding, plumbing, fabrication, etc.

Honestly, just go with whichever type of work you think you'd enjoy the best.
 
Thanks for the reply. To be honest those two trades are going to be new to me. So I really have no idea which one I would enjoy more. I have a few more questions if you don't mind.

So out of those two trades, which one has to go on sea more often?
Which trade get less co#k? Like in the amry side, infantries get screw over way more than clerks and stuff.
Usually have you heard people complain about these two trades?

Thanks again.
 
Eh, they're both hard sea trades, so they'll both spend a fair amount of time at sea. I'm not going to speculate on which gets more without seeing some actual statistics on it, but I'd guess they're about the same. Ok, I lied, I just did speculate.

I also wouldn't say that members of either of the engineering departments are particularly mistreated more than anyone else, nor a particular trade in either department more than other trades in said departments. Any actual NET(C)s or Hull Techs should of course feel free to correct me on this. It's really junior MARS officers who get mistreated the most on ship, IMHO. :)

For the most part, complaints that I've heard from members of either of the two trades haven't been about the trades persay, but sailing in general.
 
A hull tech will typically be mostly employed doing his or her job within his trade.  (Ie, getting your Hep shots, cleaning the blackwater line out, welding up the pipe, building a new cabinet for the cave, etc)

An NET, particularly a (C) will spend more time doing stuff outside his trade specialty, but will be more broadly employable on the ship.

And, when an NET(C) is working, it's often in the Comm rooms (HFTR, SER, CCR, CER, Etc) and so kind of "out of sight" until something goes wrong.

With an HT, your workspaces would be literally anywhere and everywhere on the ship.

Both trades will work similar hours and duty watches when alongside, both stand engineering (MCR) watches.

At sea, the HT will typically be a "day worker" with occasional other responsibilities as Duty HT overnight, and DCC Watchkeeper.  This could be short days if gear is working right, or long days if stuff is broken.

An NET(C) at sea will stand a 1 in 2 rotation, basically working 5 or 7 hour watches on a rotational basis (5 on 5 off, 7 on 7 off) so theoretically, you'd only work a 12 hour day, but it's usually longer, though the work is usually "cleaner" I guess.  (electronics fixing vs mechanical/plumbing fixing)

I guess it comes down to your preference.  An electronics tech will get a broad spectrum of training and experience, as will an HT, but in different areas. 

Over to you, feel free to ask for more detail, or maybe I've already added too much.

NS
 
Hi, thanks for the response.

For the other two NET trades Sonar and radar, do they do almost similar stuff as a NET (Comms). Do any of these trades deal with fixing computers and networking? Because that is something that I really want to learn and get into.

Do you know if there are other spec trades in the navy that are fun and is valuable to the civilian side? It seems NET (Comms) and Hull Tech are not red flag trades, so it may be very hard for me to switch to.  :(

All my airforce and army friends are telling me not to go navy. I have been in the army for almost 5 yrs. But I know I want to be in Esquimalt, BC. The only problem is I don't know much about navy. You guys have been extremely very helpful.
 
Frankly, any of the NET trades will get very good at working with electronics, which is of course a valuable skill civie side. NWTs do as well, perhaps to a bit of a lesser extent, but they tend to get a bit more exposure to the mechanical side of an electro-mechanical system. Personally, I usually have more fun working with the NWTs on their gear.

As for the computer network, if I recall correctly most of the network admin is done by the NavComms, with the NET(C)s being mostly in charge of the hardware.
 
There are far more second career opportunities for NET(C) by virtue of the fact that there is far more communications equipment out on civvie street than there is radar and sonar/navigational equipment.  There's employment out there for the tactical and acoustic techs, but it's not as common. 

None of them will starve if they attain Journeyman status and move onto civvie employment.
 
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