Certed in 2004, DM in 2006 - 2007, Instructor 2008. Entry level Tech Instructor 2012. In between those - dived in Atlantic, Pacific, Great Lakes, Florida, Bonaire, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, St Lawrence River, under the ice in Ohio and Indiana. Before instructor got training in UW Nav, Deep, Deco, Night/Low Vis, Equipment Technician, Rescue, Helitrox, Drysuit, and attended a few other workshops. Got in 250 dives or so before starting instructor course. Instructor prep course was 8 months long and included some tech dives, actual teaching of students under instructor supervision, had to prepare, write, and present all lectures for the OW course, conduct pool sessions, prepare poolside lectures, and lead divers on checkouts. Assisted in the certification of about 120 divers from Jr OW though DM before taking my instructor exam that was 4 full days from 8am to 7pm with two of those days running til around 11pm. 1 week after was given my own OW class to teach unassisted and felt fully prepared and ready to do it.
Biggest advantage I had came from not rushing through the important courses and diving in between them just for fun. Worst period and one that caused me to almost give up the whole pro thing was DMing for course after course with no dives just for me. It was good experience in that I got to see a lot of problems and learn to deal with them. It also convinced me that selling class after class to new divers is most often a demonstration of greed, results in poor divers with lighter wallets, and was in serious conflict with my own personal ethics and morals.
I would seriously advise any new diver to slow down with the courses. Choose an entry level course that will fully prepare you to plan dives, execute them, and return safely from them with the need for ANY further training for your local conditions at the level you are certed. It should have real gas management in it. Not the be back with 500 psi crap. It should also have rescue skills beyond cramp removal and tired diver tows. Then dive. Dive some more.
Then take a Rescue Class. You do not need AOW to do that. Some agencies only require OW and ten dives. Then dive some more.
Work on basic skills and situational awareness. If possible do these with different instructors from different agencies from here on. Unless you find an instructor that is really good and knows what they are doing. Good ones will even send you to other places if you have an interest they are not passionate about. Not try to toss in a by the book class to keep your money with them.
I do not teach UW photo. I refer students to others for that. Including to people who are not scuba instructors. They are professional photographers. The student knows how to dive. They want to learn to take pictures. Two different animals many times.
Then sit down and decide what direction you want to go. If you want to teach focus on developing core skills in that area.
Buddy SKills and Buoyancy/Trim are number one before you do anything else. Screw AOW and take a B & T workshop that requires you to stay with your buddy no matter what. Then work on what you covered. Once that's down take a class that will reinforce those skills. I like Underwater Navigation for that. A good UW Nav course. Then dive.
Next maybe an AOW as long as it is not a by the book course with nothing but experience with an instructor and a "taste" of "advanced" dives. Take one that is an actual course requiring new skills, knowledge, and that will require you think. Really think. One where the instructor will look at where you are and ratchet up the requirements in some areas to challenge you. If you've taken and UW Nav class maybe he/she will add more complex requirements to the UW Nav dive in the AOW class to test and augment what you already have.
Then dive.
After that take a good deep course that really covers gas management, deco, and rescue of a diver from those depths. Then dive.
Then take a tech class or two. Like Intro to Tech and Adv Nitrox/Deco or an entry level TriMix like Helitrox. Do some dives in that area.
Then decide if you want to become a DM. If so start building your standards library. Research the different agencies and get copies of their standards. Easy enough to do.
Then see what programs mesh with your style, skills, interests, and most importantly - ethics and morals. The one I started with ended up not. So I crossed over to another agency that did. Then DM for awhile ( I like to see 1 yr minimum) with a place(s) that uses actual students not simulated ones. Only by working with actual new divers do you really get to see the boneheaded stuff that goes on because they really don't know any better.
Then after you've done this think about becoming an instructor.
