“I want to take the next step and work on advancing my career, but my captain won’t give me any helm time. What should I do?”
Great question! First, have you asked for helm time? And I mean, ask over and over, every time you see an opportunity. You are ultimately in charge of your career advancement and the “squeaky wheel gets the grease,” so you better be squeaking! I got tons of helm time coming up as a captain and it’s because I asked — a lot. There were times that I was told no and I was fine with that as that situation may not been a time to have class, but I asked at the next opportunity. There are a few reasons that captains don’t offer helm time. 1) That’s the little bit of our job that is fun, so captains might not readily want to give it up. 2) The captain is not comfortable with his or her own ability and hesitant to teach. 3) He or she just hasn’t thought of it because they are busy. This is again why you must ask for helm time. If you have asked and done your part and you are still not given helm time, then you need to move on. Helm time is an integral part of becoming a captain. So if you are not being supported by your captain to advance your career, then you must move on to a program and captain that does. I have an agreement with myself and deck crew that we split the maneuvers 50/50. I still need the reward of driving the boat, but they need to learn (and I love to teach) so this agreement has worked well for us. Suggest that and you might be pleasantly surprised. Always remember you are responsible for your future. Surround yourself with those who want to teach and share their knowledge with you, and with those who want to see everyone around them win — I do!