How To Become A Vessel Captain: What It Is and Career Path

What is a vessel captain and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a vessel captain. For example, did you know that they make an average of $27.67 an hour? That's $57,545 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 1% and produce 500 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreVessel CaptainUS Average

Salary

4.5

Avg. Salary $57,545

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

9.5

Growth rate 1%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

8.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.09%

Asian 3.17%

Black or African American 7.05%

Hispanic or Latino 9.10%

Unknown 4.76%

White 74.83%

Gender

female 3.95%

male 96.05%

Age - 40.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 40.5

Stress level

9.5

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.7

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

2.6

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a vessel captain

Explore vessel captain education requirements

Most common vessel captain degrees

Bachelor's

55.6 %

Associate

22.2 %

Master's

11.1 %

Start to develop specific vessel captain skills

Skills	Percentages
USCG	24.99%
Research Vessels	22.91%
Vessel Maintenance	12.16%
Stcw	9.85%
Vessel Operations	8.57%

Complete relevant vessel captain training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New vessel captains learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a vessel captain based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real vessel captain resumes.

Research vessel captain duties and responsibilities

Lead a platoon that earn numerous awards for jamming opposition force artillery nets and conducting counterattacks on opposition electronic warfare platoons.
Gain leadership skills through years of experience and apply leadership skills when appoint as tower captain.
Direct the installation, operation and maintenance of military radio and telecommunications assets for combat infantry units and fix telephone facilities.
Schedule maintenance projects to ensure maximum boat availability.

Prepare your vessel captain resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your vessel captain resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a vessel captain resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable vessel captain resume templates

Build a professional vessel captain resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your vessel captain resume.