Dickinson commenced refereeing at the age of 12 while also playing fly-half and fullback for Epping Boys' High School.
Prior to 1996, he worked as a site manager for Linfox, a transport company as well as with the New South Wales Police Force.
O'Brien stated that Dickinson had got it "completely wrong", believing the Italian tight-head prop, Martin Castrogiovanni was boring in on his opposite.
This led to outrage by the Australian Rugby Union, who issued a formal complaint to the IRB against Paddy O'Brien.
In 2010 despite being rated in the Top 3 SANZAR Referees (after being appointed to the Super Rugby semi-final in Soweto) he was overlooked for the 6 Nations tournament for the first time since 2000.