I need some guidance

[Shadz]

Shadz, you may need to think about alternative diving proffessions instead other than instructor. For example, if you like photography you could get a camera and housing and start working on building a portfolio so you could get a job doing that at resorts. I know that, at least in New England, nobody makes anything close to a living as an instructor. In fact, the amounts instructors are paid around here sometimes dont even fully cover the cost of their car gas, breathing gas, equipment maintenance, etc. They just do it because they love teaching.

I did some research and it seems like the salaries for instructors vary quite a bit, but average out to be 35-40,000 a year. I definitely don't plan on instructing in the northern areas like New England (I like warmth!). But is my research way off or bloated?

Eventually I'd like to start my own business as a diver with a shop/boat where I can take people out diving at vacation spots, and teach a couple days a week. Is it simply not possible to make a living doing this? I don't want my fiancee to carry our financial burden by herself.

Just because you put your $$$ in (PADI or otherwise) and took a class and have a care saying your are a diving professional doesn't make you a professional at anything.

Put yourself in the fins of a diver who just enrolled in a scuba class to find out his instructor just learned to dive him/her self. The only way you become a good instructor is through experience and over time and diving in a variety of conditions with a variety of people.

Instructors dont make much $$$ anyway and shops dont usually hire to often anyway.

take an open water class, then take advanced open water, rescue diver, and then go take DIR fundies so you learn some other skills not taught in most beginner courses. then see where you want to go.

Thanks, this is helpful. What are DIR fundies though?

 

[MichiganScott]

Well I'm pretty much done with college, and the American dream is uninteresting to me.

Let's assume I love diving when I go next month in the Turks, for arguments sake. I need to go get a job and live my life fairly soon. What realistic steps should I take to make this a career after certification and a few dives? And what should it realistically cost me?

Shadz;

Love the enthusiasm, don't EVER let anyone talk you out of it (being enthusiastic).
You say you are pretty much done with college, so we can guess you are probably fairly young yet, and haven't really experienced "life" yet. I do not say this condescendingly, just that, try to expect a few curve balls out of life.

We rarely if ever actually get out of life on the down hill side (of our lives), what we expected we would get when we were on the up hill side of life.

You say you want to be a SCUBA instructor. Awesome! Go for it like the others have suggested, obviously by taking it one step at a time; 1st/ OW certification, 2nd/ a LOT of dives next...

But my concern is your statement "American dream is uninteresting to me"; please realize what you've stated you want to do IS THE AMERICAN DREAM, or at least your version of it.

The American dream is not a finite thing, nor dare I say is it only "American" (by this we usually mean USA; people tend not to realize that Canadians are American, as are Mexicans- we are all North" American, and then there is Central and South Americans as well); my belief is that free people the world over aspire to what we term the "American" dream, that is the dream to live in relative peace and harmony, with the chance to live and die in a manner of our own choice, of our own accord.

Please don't start life with cliche thoughts about "The American Dream" or ANYTHING ELSE. To those of us who have experienced a fair amount of "life" and some on this board a "LOT" of said life, it sounds as if you've learned catch phrases at school and haven't really thought about it yourself. As you get older you will come to realize most of the stuff you were taught by your proffessors is B.S. to a certain dregree and not really applicable IRL, (obviously not 2+2=4, but "life" matters, thought processes, human interaction, etc.; text books and theme papers just don't quite make it).

All I'm trying to say (long windily) is; live life, experience life, without pre-concieved notions. Take everything one step at a time. You will get out of life what you put into it so don't limit your thought processes, or your expectations, just get out there and do what it is that makes you happy (as long as it doesn't tick me off)

 

[Shadz]

Shadz;

Love the enthusiasm, don't EVER let anyone talk you out of it (being enthusiastic).
You say you are pretty much done with college, so we can guess you are probably fairly young yet, and haven't really experienced "life" yet. I do not say this condescendingly, just that, try to expect a few curve balls out of life.

We rarely if ever actually get out of life on the down hill side (of our lives), what we expected we would get when we were on the up hill side of life.

You say you want to be a SCUBA instructor. Awesome! Go for it like the others have suggested, obviously by taking it one step at a time; 1st/ OW certification, 2nd/ a LOT of dives next...

But my concern is your statement "American dream is uninteresting to me"; please realize what you've stated you want to do IS THE AMERICAN DREAM, or at least your version of it.

The American dream is not a finite thing, nor dare I say is it only "American" (by this we usually mean USA; people tend not to realize that Canadians are American, as are Mexicans- we are all North" American, and then there is Central and South Americans as well); my belief is that free people the world over aspire to what we term the "American" dream, that is the dream to live in relative peace and harmony, with the chance to live and die in a manner of our own choice, of our own accord.

Please don't start life with cliche thoughts about "The American Dream" or ANYTHING ELSE. To those of us who have experienced a fair amount of "life" and some on this board a "LOT" of said life, it sounds as if you've learned catch phrases at school and haven't really thought about it yourself. As you get older you will come to realize most of the stuff you were taught by your proffessors is B.S. to a certain dregree and not really applicable IRL, (obviously not 2+2=4, but "life" matters, thought processes, human interaction, etc.; text books and theme papers just don't quite make it).

All I'm trying to say (long windily) is; live life, experience life, without pre-concieved notions. Take everything one step at a time. You will get out of life what you put into it so don't limit your thought processes, or your expectations, just get out there and do what it is that makes you happy (as long as it doesn't tick me off)

Thanks for the encouragement and advice. Are you from Michigan, as your name would indicate? I live in Ann Arbor and go to UofM

I guess I pushed the wrong button on this forum with my American Dream line. I only meant that I've been so pushed to conform to what society thinks I should do that I lost site of anything I was passionate about. A whole lot of people in Western Society are zombies through life--conforming to social norms, getting a safe job, retiring, and then dying. That's not to say a good job and retirement are bad things, but again, I can't chase my life's passions in that model of life (or at least that's what I've gathered thus far). I'm just at a crossroads where I am both young and able to pursue my heart's desires and I want to explore them. I see so many people who don't! Believe me, I've thought about this a whole lot, even though my wisdom is limited.

 

[MichiganScott]

Great response; sorry about the speech, yeah I guess you did hit a button. It's just that now at 42, I wish someone would have cared enough to give me better advice when I was making some unfortunate decisions in my youth. I blame no one but myself (we are after all responsible for our own decisions). However, if I had a chance for a do-over, I’d do many things differently.

I agree with your last paragraph, and admit it’s refreshing to hear or rather “read” your thoughts, we could use a lot more people with your attitude.

Yes, I live up in the Flint area.

 

[Jayde323]

When I completed my OW checkout dives in June 2007, I looked at my husband and told him "We're in trouble...I love this! I want to become an instructor!" So we started our scuba-class marathon! AOW came right after OW. Lots of fun! Our first year of diving we logged about 75 dives. I was having a blast! It took a while for our LDS to schedule the Rescue Class, in the end it was just the 2 of us. Great class, LOTS of hard work, not much diving. I have never looked at diving the same again and I am a MUCH better diver. We tested out of Master Diver and went on to Dive Master. The classroom portion is pretty easy, the pool work is super fun! The boat work, well...I'm not too fond of it. What was the most exciting? Helping out with OW classes. Last summer, almost every weekend we were either at the pool or beach. We saw students come and go. Helped them with the issues I remember having in my OW. Then came my wake-up call. I was injured on the diveboat last August when I was the DM, pretty much ending my diving for the season. It forced me to stop and look at myself and future diving career. I realized diving had stopped being fun for me. It became a chore, and I had been certified just over a year. We had very little time to do any "fun" dives. Both my husband and I realized, we were not ready to teach. We needed to become better divers for ourselves and each other. So the plan now is to finish Dive Master, then have fun. I guess the moral of my story is, take your time and make sure it's really what you want to do. If it stops being fun, something is wrong. When I first started diving, my priority was to become an instructor. Now, it's totally changed. Yes, I still want to become an instructor, someday. If it takes 5 years before I feel ready, so be it. I still get to dive.