What the work involves, what it pays, and grounded tasks, skills, tools, and experience you can choose from.
Also called aquarium diver, area commercial diver, certified diver and deep sea diver.
$72,990
Median pay a year
3,450
People do this work
6
Resume lines ready for you
Real figures for this work, and lines you can use in your own resume. Where they come from is at the foot of this page.
An example
A Commercial Diver resume, filled in
Common skills that can help you remember what you used on the job.
Inspecting systems
Testing mechanical equipment
Cleaning equipment
Installing structural foundations
Operating moving or lifting equipment
Recording needed images
Gathering work condition information
Monitoring work procedures
Surveying land or water
Decontaminating equipment
Drilling holes in parts
Operating welding equipment
Every line comes from the same public record as the rest of this page. The greyed parts are the ones only you can answer.
Commercial Diver
Summary
Commercial diver working below the surface to inspect, repair, and install underwater structures and equipment, utilizing various tools and safety measures while communicating with surface teams
Experience
Commercial Diver
Where you worked
Month Year to Month Year
Took appropriate safety precautions, such as monitoring dive lengths and depths and registering with authorities before diving expeditions
Checked and maintained diving equipment, including helmets, masks, air tanks, harnesses, and gauges
Communicated with workers on the surface while underwater, using signal lines or telephones
Descended into water with the aid of diver helpers, using scuba gear or diving suits
Inspected and tested docks, ships, buoyage systems, and underwater pipelines using closed circuit television and testing equipment
Operated underwater video, sonar, and recording equipment to investigate underwater structures or marine life
Performed offshore oil or gas exploration duties, including conducting underwater surveys and maintaining drilling rigs
Skills
Checking & Planning
Inspecting systems, Testing mechanical equipment, Surveying land or water
Gathering work condition information, Monitoring work procedures, Driver's license, Recording needed images
Education
Certificate Your training program, Year
Yours will not say this. You choose what matches your experience, and every line remains yours to confirm or change.
Nothing to write from scratch
What to put on a Commercial Diver resume
Real duties for this job, already written the way a resume reads. Inside Rung you choose the ones that were yours.
What did you do each day?
Choose what fits, or say your own.
Monitored dive lengths and depthsChecked and maintained diving equipmentCommunicated with surface workers underwaterDescended into water with diver helpersSupervised and trained other diversInspected underwater structures and pipelines
becomes
On your resume
Monitored dive lengths and depths to ensure safety during underwater operations
Communicated with surface workers while underwater to coordinate tasks
These are written the way a resume line reads. Rung asks which ones are actually yours, keeps your own words, and never claims work you did not do.
Then it asks for one more thing
The line that could show more, and the fact that lands it.
Make it stronger
A few lines could show more. Each one is asked, and answered by choosing.
Add how often you monitored dive lengths and depths.
The line
Monitored dive lengths and depths for every dive I completed to ensure safety during underwater operations
Add how often you monitored dive lengths and depths.
Pick one that fits
Every dive I completedMost of my divesEach dive expedition
Or add your own.
In your wordsAdd it
Adding it to the line…
Added to your resume
Show what improved because you communicated with surface workers.
The line
Communicated with surface workers while underwater to coordinate tasks
Show what improved because you communicated with surface workers.
Pick one that fits
Tasks were completed more efficientlySafety was improved during divesCoordination reduced delays
Or add your own.
In your wordsAdd it
Adding it to the line…
Added to your resume
Every ready answer is in plain words, never a figure. Nothing is invented to fill a gap.
The work itself
What a Commercial Diver does
The public record of what this job is, in one paragraph.
Work below surface of water, using surface-supplied air or scuba equipment to inspect, repair, remove, or install equipment and structures. May use a variety of power and hand tools, such as drills, sledgehammers, torches, and welding equipment. May conduct tests or experiments, rig explosives, or photograph structures or marine life.
What it pays
How much does a Commercial Diver make?
Annual pay across the United States. The middle figure is the median: half earn less than that, and half earn more.
25th percentile
$54,810
Median
$72,990
75th percentile
$101,550
About 3,450 people do this work in the United States.
What it pays in each state
State
25th percentile
Median
75th percentile
AZ
$85,810
$85,990
$85,990
CA
$39,980
$101,540
$131,110
CT
$58,250
$59,690
$71,280
FL
$43,330
$49,640
$60,080
HI
$72,480
$95,750
$101,180
IN
$79,040
$83,510
$87,370
KY
$62,140
$63,550
$78,520
LA
$48,890
$62,230
$74,470
ME
$38,140
$74,610
$80,100
MI
$53,640
$54,620
$62,490
MO
$50,710
$63,030
$89,530
NJ
$66,860
$86,920
$89,130
NY
$97,820
$157,800
$157,820
RI
$126,320
$126,320
$126,340
SC
$43,110
$49,260
$52,260
TX
$41,600
$46,490
$60,530
VA
$52,700
$62,340
$77,020
VT
$83,260
$85,780
$101,690
WA
$136,260
$161,800
$250,940
Other names
Other names for this job
aquarium diver, area commercial diver, certified diver, deep sea diver, diver, diver tender, hard hat diver, marine diver, navy diver, route diver, salvage diver, scuba diver.
More names for this work
skin diver, submarine diver, dive tender, divemaster, ndt u w welder, non destructive testing under water welder, non destructive testing underwater welder, plongeur, tender, u w assistant, under water assistant, underwater welder.
If you served
Military jobs this work counts as
From the crosswalk the US Department of Labor publishes itself. If one of these was your job, this page is about the civilian work it maps to.
Starting a Commercial Diver resume with no experience
Below are the tasks a Commercial Diver job is made of. Choose the ones you have really done. There is no wrong answer here, and you can change any of it later.
Which of these tasks have you actually done?
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This page is about the occupation Commercial Divers. What this job involves and what it is made of come from O*NET 30.3, the US Department of Labor's occupation database, refreshed July 2026; Rung writes those records into the plain sentences you see. Pay comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS release for 2025. How Rung handles accuracy is on the accuracy page, and the full data credits are on the credits page.