Newbie question

[Wannadive]

Hi again,

Thanks for the warm welcome yesterday, for my first posts!

Since being brand new to this sport, I have a couple questions:
- what career opps are there after completing some of the more advanced certs?
- Is there a normal progression from one cert to the other, or do you just go for the ones you want?

I just started researching dive shops in my neighborhood and will probably take a course in the next couple of months.

Having been a pilot for 10 years, I now am eager to explore the 'other' side of the earth.

 

[cmay]

Hello Wannadive,

Most agencies have a normal progression in the classes. PADI for example, there is Open Water, Advanced Open Water, and then Rescue Diver is the normal progression. Also, after a diver finishes Advanced Open Water, there are many specialty courses you can take like; deep diving, night diving, dry suit diving, etc. I recommend that every diver at least goes through to Rescue Diver. After you finish a Rescue course you can proceed on towards PADI's "professional" ratings of Divemaster, Assistant Instructor, and Instructor. Most paying jobs are had by instructors, although it is possible to find jobs as a divemaster.

 

[Liquid]

Hello Wannadive,

it's more or less the same in other agencys as in PADI, like cmay wrote.

Anyway, before becoming a professional you should now- the pay is usualy lousy

 

[cmay]

very lousy.

Don't count on quitting your day job for it. Almost all the instructors I know, aside for the ones that actually work as sales associates in dive stores, teach in their spare time.

A good example is that a friend of mine moved to the Virgin Islands to divemaster. After he got there he had to work construction in addition to diving to make ends meet. He has now opened up a restaurant and only works on the dive boats every once and a while.