From open water diver to instructor. Cost?

[zyntherius]

I've been travelling for 3 years now, doing casual jobs in between to support myself.
I have a masters degree but don't look forward to starting a stressful career with it. Society expects me to do that, but I don't care what most people think and I have no problem with moving to the other side of the planet on my own.

In Koh Tao, I did my open water course and met loads of dive intructors.
Maybe my perception of life as an instructor is a bit out of line, but I can't help thinking they have an amazing life that isn't very stressful.

A girl in the local hostel mentioned a diving school in central America, which I won't mention by name over here to respect their privacy.
I contacted them and asked how much time/ money it would take to go from open water diver to instructor.

Is this a good question to ask myself at this point or should I take it much slower and not even consider making diving a part of my life?
I have only 7 dives of experience so far and don't even know if I could handle diving every day. It's probably not realistic either to go from rookie to instructor in just a couple of months.

They gave me an extensive reply by email, stating that from open water diver to instructor would take aprox. 2 months of intensive training.
Course fees + gear rental + cost of living would be between $8000 and $10000

That is a serious part of my net worth, being a recent uni graduate/ backpacker without a proper working history.
Should I take classes at a slow pace with bits and pieces, or did other instructors here make a $10 000 decision as well?

How long did it take you to go from open water diver to instructor? How much money did you spend on it on the road?
And when did you realize that becoming an instructor is the career that brings joy to your life?

 

[chrisch]

You are about to join a large group of disappointed people IMHO. I don't know why you think teaching isn't stressful, but as to cost it will take you a long while to get back the investment. Plus there are already many, many people with OWSI or similar that work more or less for nothing. The real money in scuba training - in my experience - is in training instructors.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

I'm not an instructor, but have been diving since the 1970's, and have known several instructors and dive business owners.

Would I be comfortable sending a loved one to be trained by an instructor if I knew he/she had gone from Open Water --> Instructor in 2 months? No.

If you want to be an instructor, take that 8 - 10 thousand dollars and see if you can stretch it out over several years and several hundred dives. Learn to drive boats, repair boats, repair scuba gear, operate and service compressors... in other words, learn the dive business first. Affiliate with a shop, volunteer your time, learn all you can.

Then, once you really understand what it takes to succeed, and if you are still bitten by the bug, become an instructor.

Best wishes.

 

[DENLASCUBA]

The cost can vary depending where you want to complete your courses, here in Thailand I did my Instructor course + EFRI+ Nitrox and gas blender for around 2,000 USD, plus another 700 USD for the instructor exam, my dive master was around 1,200 USD. I know of some places that will take you from DM to Instructor for around 2,500 USD. You still need to do your AOW can be around 400, Rescue around another 400, EFR for rescue around another 200-300 USD. You can also find places to wrap it all up in a nice package. But you're looking at starting around 5,000 USD just for the courses. Most Course Directors like to see students with their own equipment and not rental equipment, you should already be familiar with your kit like the back of your hand. If you will be teaching you should have your own kit and not having to rent or borrow shop gear all the time. These costs will take a long time to recover, this is more of a lifestyle and an expensive one at that, you invest alot for what can be little return in cash but a huge return in happiness.

Now you don't need to know how to operate or repair boats this may not even be allowed depending where you would like to work per work regulations, also servicing dive equipment and compressors can come later, some shops have dedicated personnel who do this or have it sent out to larger facilities. Now this is not to say this wouldn't make you more valuable and knowledgeable but not needed for new instructors, some never even end up performing such tasks besides simple quick fixes on gear.

As for experience and the time you took to go from O/W to OWSI if your students found out they may not feel very comfortable knowing you were just in their shoes a few months ago. Then again the only way they should know is if your or someone you know tells them. Your dive master course is what prepares you for the final step to instructor, you learn what and how you should teach by watching other instructors while assisting them when needed, learning how to deal with different types of divers while teaching or guiding, learning the whole operation. If you are a DM in a busy shop then you will learn all this alot faster and have greater experience when you do your IDC especially when it comes to showing you know how to perform all the open water skills. The more dive experience the better and not just in one area it's best if you can experience conditions from all over, even if you only plan to work in one specific area where you may never experience some of those conditions again.

Don't be turned off this isn't to say don't become an instructor or you can't just go from O/W - Instructor but think about what you will be able to offer your students from your experiences to make them the best divers possible. First decide where you would like to potentially work, find out how easy it is to get a job as an instructor, or if places are offering internships and their costs and what is all included. Do your research, get some more dive experience and save especially if you will decide to work abroad.

 

[Dive Right In Scuba 2]

I'd take a serious look at your options here, teaching SCUBA full time isn't the vacation poster people think it is. I know personally I'm a high school science teacher by trade who moonlights in the dive industry, which suits me just fine. It seems like once one vocation becomes a "grind" it's about the time of the year to make the switch to the other one. With your level of education, you have similar options. I'd also gain some experience before going for a professional rating, you may save some money and headaches in the long run. Just some food for thought.

 

[Oldbear]

I took my DM at Utila Dive Center and loved the experience. UDC is one of those training centers where you can go from OW - OWSI; I saw several divers doing this. But this method was not for me. I consider my dive experience more valuable than any teaching model. I took my OW, AOW, Rescue, Master Diver Specialties, DM, AI and OWSI courses from different instructors in different locations around the world. I dove in many different environments, with several different equipment configurations, and sought out highly respected and recommended instructors & dive partners.

Where I instruct now, it is cheaper to take the instructor led theory OW course than to take an e-learning OW course. Without exception I can relate every question the students ask back to both the PADI answer and enhance it with my dive experience. IMHO this is want makes instructor led courses better than eLearning.

My suggestion is to utilize your formal Master's education and get a decent job in a great dive location and work on your diving until you reach a point where your experience will enhance your OSWI cert, not your OWSI rating enhance your dive experience.

---------- Post added September 24th, 2014 at 03:48 AM ----------

... I'm a high school science teacher by trade who moonlights in the dive industry, which suits me just fine...

I in project management on a U.S. Government contract who moonlights in the dive industry too.

 

[scoobydrew]

It is a lot of money you are talking about here. What if you get to OWSI and don't like it? 10 grand can go a long way for a backpacker or it can be wasted in 2 months.

I am a SCUBA instructor, have been full tiome for 7 years now. I love it and in that time I have worked in South Korea, Costa Rica, the UK, Philippines and now I live and work in the Caribbean. I still have a few years left in it at least and to be honest I hope to spend the rest of my life in the industry one way or another. In those 7 years I have lost track of the amount of flash in the pan divers I have met along the way. Working as an instructor is hard work, high commitment, possibly very stressfull, competitive and sometimes just downright unfair. If you are not fully commited to it then it is likely you will not enjoy the work and will then resent it for having drained your funds.

Good motivators to be a dive instructor are things like Do I love diving? Do I love the ocean? Do I love assisting people with their development?
Not so good motivator - have a life that is not very stressfull.

I am not trying to put you off but I will echo what people have said already, start off by getting some diving in. Why not go somewhere where diving is really cheap and see if you can spend a month diving everyday, maybe 4 times a day with a couple of days off in between. slow down and do it bit by bit then if it does look like it is not for you then you can bail any time having had some fun experiences.

When I started my training I researched my instructors, there is absolutely no way I would have signed up for one with a few months diving experience. Also someone already made a very good point about your competition once you are OWSI certified, you'll need a lot more than the OWSI cert to get your foot in the door if you are a zero to hero instructor.

 

[chrisch]

.... Also someone already made a very good point about your competition once you are OWSI certified, you'll need a lot more than the OWSI cert to get your foot in the door if you are a zero to hero instructor.

Quite a few of the zero to hero outfits offer an internship once OWSI certified. (I.E. work for nothing to get your first 25 OW certs then we sell you the MSDT package....)

 

[Lorenzoid]

I took my DM at Utila Dive Center and loved the experience. UDC is one of those training centers where you can go from OW - OWSI; I saw several divers doing this. But this method was not for me. . . .

I was out "traveling" for a while (though not three years like the OP) when I decided to stop off at Utila. I took the AOW and Rescue courses with UDC, and of course UDC encouraged me to keep moving up the ladder. Some of my classmates did. I decided I would enjoy using my time there just to dive for fun instead. It's Utila lore that travelers stop off there at Utila with the intention to stay a few weeks and end up staying for months or even years. I believe it.

It appeared to be a fun lifestyle for a 20-something year-old dive instructor who could live off a meager income on an island like Utila. I suspect many of them tire of it after a few years. The realities of instructing as a long-term career have been pointed out by others here.

 

[RJP]

That is a serious part of my net worth, being a recent uni graduate/ backpacker without a proper working history.
Should I take classes at a slow pace with bits and pieces, or did other instructors here make a $10 000 decision as well?

How long did it take you to go from open water diver to instructor? How much money did you spend on it on the road?
And when did you realize that becoming an instructor is the career that brings joy to your life?

Q: What's the difference between a scuba instructor and a large pizza?
A: A large pizza can feed a family of four.

Best regards,

Ray Purkis