Divemaster / Instructor income $

[dgreenh]

Just take it one step at a time. Find a good instructor for AOW and discuss possibilities like Deep, Nitrox, or Drysuit certifications. Master your buoyancy control and learn the frog kick, and dive. Consult with your instructor about weaknesses you might have and become a sound diver.

Next year do EFR and Rescue. Master the frog kick and prepare yourself mentally for huge expenses at the next couple levels. Keep diving.

Year after consider Divemaster. Get yourself an Encyclopedia of Rec Diving and the Workbook and get busy. Master the dive tables, theory, physiology, physics sections, buy yourself a full set of gear. Develop demonstration-quality dive skills. Dive some more.

If you can take the beating in fees, materials, equipment, diving expense, accommodations, travel costs, and insurance... then hook up with an IDC. Most importantly, keep diving.

RU4SKUBA has some sound advice and a good plan of attack. You may discover at some point in the training process that you don't really like working with students or guiding tourists. Don't rush it, start saving your money.

If you worked as a Massage Therapist and a Scuba Instructor you could probably do OK... if you have enough time for both jobs.

 

[fezaljab]

Thank you for all of your responses. It's good to hear confimation on certain ideas I have had about the industry as well as new information that I hadn't considered. From what I understand, a living wage can be reached by building up a skill set and being adaptable/proactive. RU4SCUBA (haha) recommends taking courses one at a time. Would most in the industry agree that it is better to move slowly through the learning process and consider it more as a hobby/longterm goal than signing up for a 4 or 7 month intensive course? I think I would prefer to complete a fast-track course in Thailand or Bali as long as it really provided the foundation for entry level employement. Is it possible to split your time by working both in recreational diving and commercial/freelance diving (cleaning hulls) to earn a bit more per month? I totaly understand that one does not go into the industry for the money and should not expect to make a lot. The thought of being stuck and working paycheck to paycheck concerns me though. As an ESL teacher, I am able to save at least $1000 / month and have plenty of time for vacation. The problems is that I just don't like the work too much. I'd much rather have a less stressfull job in a healthier environment and would be willing to take a pay cut of $5oo / month. Thanks for the opportunity to share some thoughts. Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated before I start spend large portions of my savings on courses and dives. Peace...

 

[scoobydrew]

In terms of doing the courses one by one or doing a package there are as always advantages and disadvantages to both. There are now many dive centres around the world that will offer you deals that would take you from open water to divemaster, instructor, MSDT and beyond.

The rating of divemaster (DM) is the first professional level of certification, here you can asssist instructors and carry out some activities yourself such as guiding dives. In order to make money as a DM you really need to be in the right place, saturated places such as Thailand or bali would probably be tough and my understanding is that you would often be competing with people who offer their services for free, in an industry with such tight margins this is tough to compete with.

So this is where the bit about other skills comes in, if you can VIP tanks, repair regs, drive the boat, guide/teach in a foreign language thus increasing store marketability, develop the store website, generate business, bring an extra service to the store that it could not previously offer, repair boat/car/compressor engines etc etc then you will start standing out.

In terms of how to do your courses you could think about getting to DM in your vacation time by doing course by course or intensive whichever works for you then trying to get some experience and working at it a while before taking the next step as an instructor, this will give you an idea about what it is like before commiting to instruction and the costs involved.

Also I would recommend if you do go for instructor that you stick as a DM for a while at least a season, you can normally spot the difference in quality between someone who has worked the role before moving on to instructor. The next thing is where to go, this needs researching as some DMT's (dive master trainees) get exceptional work based training that really helps prepare them for the world of work as a dive professional, others get a card that might as well have come out of a packet of cornflakes for what it has taught them. I guess my advice on that score is to look at the centre in terms of what you will be doing outside of your course requirements, try to spend as much time as posssible on the course as opposed to banging it out in record time, there is so much to learn that is outside the syllabus that only comes from hands on experiences.

Comercial work depends again on where you are. My last work in Costa Rica was near a harbour so we were getting occassional work salvaging sunken fishing boats amongst other things, it was lots of fun and very educational but diddn't really get me any financial bonus.

You could think about using your English teaching skills too, if you are in an area where English is in demand then locals or dive crews that speak other languages could well want to increase their own ability to work in the tourism industry by learning or improving their English.

 

[ac777]

I also have the bug to dive for money too. In Greece but the pay scale is just not there we have a summer home in Andros 5min away from a port I would love to do all what they say is possible ,but the truth is you need to be very smart an have a great escape plan if it goes south.
Free is for me too but you need to be the large pizza!!!!!

 

[Herk_Man]

So, a couple of thoughts here:

1. 3 words. Underwater massage therapist! Guaranteed niche!

2. Is anyone else seeing that PADI's plethora of courses offered might not be so much a selfish venture as it is meant to generate business for the folks out there trying to scrape out a living as a DM or instructor?

Just thinking out loud.

 

[elmer fudd]

I think that like many other businesses, there is money there, but if you're just an employee you probably won't see much of it. Just check out the turnover to confirm this. Dive shop employees and DM's come and go all the time. If they were making good money this wouldn't be the case.

If you get into the commercial end of things or you have the knack for running a successful business, that's where you're going to find the money.