electronics engineer

mechanical engineer

physician

learning and development officer

electronics technician

Royal Australian Navy

My experience in the Navy could not be compared to any other job I have ever had. Not only was it exciting, it was extremely challenging and pushed me outside my comfort zone and boundaries. A typical day was never the same... I could be staying awake all night on watch in the Bridge of the ship whilst at sea; sitting a three hour exam with a high pass mark or living off ration packs whilst completing officer training exercises up bush. I never knew what was going to some next, but what I did know is that everything I did I was done for a reason. My skills developed so much over the years.... Including: team management, leadership, academic and work ethic skills just to name a few. During this experience you become extremely close with your co-workers, as these are the people you will be spending the rest of your career with; sleeping next to, studying with, training with, everything....you name it, these people are now your family. The hardest part of the job is definately being away from your loved ones during stressful times of studying/training, you can never really know what its like until you experience it for yourself but it all gets forgotten when you realise your there for a reason and a purpose, to fight and win at sea. To know your living each day to protect your country is a reward within itself and gives you the drive that you need to continue.

Was great starting off as a young guy several years out of school. Does give you much more opportunities than starting off in some low level entry job out on civvy street! Don't join if you're solely there for the sake of gaining a qualification and want to travel the world - treat them as bonuses. 

The excitement and so forth usually wears off after the first couple of years - or maybe even sooner depending on the job. Most that stay in that don't have any career ambitions or not part of the inner circle clique only do so for the guaranteed paycheck and assoc. benefits! Often it felt like I was back in high school with a pack of good-for-nothing flaptards!

Overall the management - particularly at the senior sailor level and down I found was rather woeful and instilled a sense of averageness. Became a very mixed bag - most promoted to fill in seats, not on merit! Hate to think what the 50/50 quota nonsense has done now!

I left after my 4 year stint, primarily due to not only decreased job satisfaction, but the overall toxic, pecking order culture. At the end of the day, it's not just the job you do - but the people you work with that can either make or break it!

A collection of some of the worst people I have ever worked with. Zero civilian qualifications, if you don't make the time and effort to study on your own time, you will leave your RAN service with NO recognised qualifications.
RAN culture, is well, horrid. Nepotism is rife (especially in the Communications Information Systems world), promotions are not based upon merit, more on "who you know". If you are a single member (i.e. no spouse or children) expect to be continuously at sea with minimal relief and be reward for your efforts with terrible posting locations (why move a family to Darwin when they can dump single members there for their entire career).
Free medical and dental is not even worth it. With generally higher wages found in the civilian market you can easily afford base packages if you desire to have private medical insurance. The same applies for rental assistance.
Travel, if you have never travelled it can be a novel experience. However, expect to be treated like a child with the amount of restrictions they place upon you when berthed in a foreign port.

A Typical day at work would be a 6:30am wake-up all, starting the days work at 8 which would consist of ship maintenance and hydrographic surveying aswell as damage control or survival at sea training usually finishing at 4pm, with additional watchkeeping duties overnight.

There was a culture of 'can do' instilled in all the members of the Navy and often we would have to get work done with equipment malfunctioning or unavailable, which was usually met with good humour and the job completed.

The most enjoyable aspect of military life is the camaraderie shared with other members, always keen for drinks after hours and making the work hours themselves far more enjoyable when there occaisionally wasn't a great deal to keep us busy.

The hardest part of military life for me was the restricted personal freedom, for example having to request permission to go where you wish to go on your holidays among other things, but you do learn to deal with this.

Overall I would recommend a stint in the military to anybody especially young people unsure of their path in life, its a good time mostly and there are many valuable experiences to be had

An exciting and rewarding career with lots of learning and on the job training. No two days are ever the same.

You most likely will move jobs every 18 months to 2 years, so will always be put in new and challenging roles either on a base, or a ship.

Teamwork is a big part of the job and you learn to adapt to an ever changing environment quickly. It becomes easy to quickly build rapport with your supervisors and others you will work with.

Promotions are based on merit, so you will be rewarded for your hard work.

You will most likely get the opportunity to travel overseas every two years depending on what job you are doing.

Great benefits and conditions of service most of the time. Accommodation is old and outdated on bases, but there is a rental assistance scheme you can utilise as well.

Life on a ship means long and unpredictable days. You will most likely be working some form of shift work and not get much time off during the following day depending on the program. Every day is different. You will learn how to fight fires and rescue personnel who fall overboard or are in a toxic gas environment. Training will be done daily at sea.

Conduct morning meeting to assign tasks and highlight any issues relevant to the workplace. Maintain databases and update records accordingly. Accept or decline taskings to my section based on the scope of work. Look at procurement and update of plant and machinery to ensure best practice. Conduct walk around to ensure compliance of working instructions. Attend management meetings and audits as required.

I learned how to effectively manage a team of workers to achieve the desired outcomes in a timely manner.

With regular management meetings it was clear what was required and senior management let us get on with the maintenance with little or no interruption.

Being in separate sections co-workers would regularly speak so as to achieve the best outcome in a timely manner with limited re-work.

Being able to hold on to personnel you had qualified to operate the equipment was probably the biggest challenge in my workplace.

To have a smooth and effective team was very rewarding and the positive comments were always well received.

Navy is good for a short career. You get to travel the world. However, it may not be your cup of tea. The workplace can be quite toxic and full of people who have no idea how to do their job or respect their staff and may use stand over tactics. Many people end up discharging before their time is up (4-6 years) and there are many staff shortages. It’s all about working with what you have and within a budget, as money is always tight. 
If you do end up being broken, they will replace you. There are many issues within the ADF and if you have the misfortune of being one, you’ll be tossed to the side and disregarded. There are also many good things as well. Personally, I wouldn’t join until they fix the issues within the Service. Don’t take my word for it! Do your research before you join and remember, recruiting will lie to you just to get the numbers up. You can’t just change your job if you don’t like it. Despite what recruiting tell you!! All the best in your career!

A typical day at work is find out what maintenance is due and then to organise teams to carry out the work. Once teams are allocated to their tasks it is then my job to supervise their work to make sure correct procedures are followed, Correct PPE is used and that all documentation requirements are carried out. I also have to inspect the work to make sure that it is up to standards.

In this job I have learned how to lead a team to complete tasks making deadlines and to manage tasks in order of priority always making deadlines.

My co-workers are all professional technicians that carry out there work in a safe and professional manner. I get along with all members of my team and am always there to help them if they have trouble on a task.

The hardest part of my job would be shuffling my team around, as we could be doing multiple tasks at one time.

The most enjoyable part of the job would be completing a task before the deadline to a high professional standard.

The Royal Australian Navy has all the jobs in civilian life and more. They have great training to provide you everything you need in your chosen career from engineering, IT, cyber, nursing, aviation, diving, Project Management, administration and support services.

The opportunity to travel is fantastic to experience different places and cultures around the world, but it's not a cruise. You will be doing drills and workups before going on operations such as fire fighting and damage control but if you have a sense of adventure then this is the lifestyle for you. 

We are one of the best paid defence forces in the world and the benefits are fantastic for you and your family but expect extended and lengthy time away from them if you want to deploy, up to 6 months of the year, but it's a rotation so you move from seagoing to shore positions often and you do have a say in where and what you want to do. 

Most days in the navy are cut and thrust, different nearly all the time with varying levels of effort from days of paperwork and briefings to days of intensity refitting machinery and equipment in a shift pattern.

You need to be tolerant of other people in stressful environments whilst away for protracted periods and that includes with your own line managers.

The hardest part is extended time away from family which never gets easier, when you enlist it is easy for those who are single.  

Life becomes a balancing act where important family issues have to be handled concurrently with a full intensive day in the navy.

It's not all doom and gloom as there are chances to travel and see parts of the world, this is definitely a good pull factor and get paid for the pleasure of it too.

If a desk job isn't your thing, this should be on your shortlist for your next career.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Electronics engineer 5 salaries reported	$70,000 per year
Mechanical engineer 17 salaries reported	$87,353 per year
Physician 1 salary reported	$140,000 per year
Learning and development officer 11 salaries reported	$103,063 per year
Electronics technician 1 salary reported	$115,000 per year

Working at Royal Australian Navy: Company Overview and Reviews

Royal Australian Navy

Royal Australian Navy Ratings

Popular jobs at Royal Australian Navy

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected