Skills
Commercial Diver Skills & Tools
The technical skills, people skills and tools employers look for in commercial divers, and how to build and show them.
What skills do commercial divers need?
Commercial Divers need technical skills such as surface-supplied diving, underwater welding, and underwater cutting, plus people skills like calm under pressure and teamwork. They also use tools such as Dive helmets and Umbilicals.
Technical (hard) skills
- Surface-supplied diving
- Underwater welding
- Underwater cutting
- Rigging
- Inspection
- Dive safety
People (soft) skills
- Calm under pressure
- Teamwork
- Physical fitness
- Communication
Tools, equipment and technology
- Dive helmets
- Umbilicals
- Underwater welders
- Cutting torches
- Cameras
- Decompression chambers
Skills in action: common tasks
These step-by-step guides show how commercial divers put their skills to work:
- How to tend a commercial diver
- How to inspect underwater pilings
- How to follow decompression procedures
How to show these skills on a resume
- Lead your skills section with the technical skills from the job posting, for example, “Surface-supplied diving” and “Underwater welding.”
- Prove soft skills with results: instead of listing “calm under pressure,” describe a situation where you used it.
- List credentials such as ADCI certification near the top, with the issuing organization and date.
- Use the employer’s vocabulary. Our commercial diver glossary covers the terms hiring managers expect.
How to build these skills
Formal training, supervised practice and certification are the most direct routes. Our Commercial Diver training introduces each of these skills with plain-language lessons, procedures and a final knowledge check: a strong foundation before hands-on training or your first day.