INACTIVE DM now - is it worth becoming an instructor to work 3 months only per year?

[Angelo Farina]

Hi All

INACTIVE DM, 500+ dives, 15 years wet and all my own gear.

I have a job teaching in the School of Business at University and have lots of holidays per year.

Is it worth becoming an Instructor to ONLY work from Nov to Feb?

I know there are PADI fees of god knows how much......

It was the same for me at the beginning of my academic career.
I decided to became a professional instructor, and spent 5 fabolous summers and two short winter periods working in luxury resorts in small islands.
The 5 best years of my life!
I did not earn a penny from this, but it was really a great time.

 

[Zef]

If you are just looking to dive more, then just go dive more...there is no reason to renew/retrain at the DM level or bump up to instructor.

Consider that there are agency fees, insurance fees, you need your own gear, plus gear for your students unless you are working through a shop or a dive operation that provides gear for your students. You do not want students using your personal gear that is not dedicated to your business of teaching...that adds risk/liability.

I can't speak for the land down under, but here in the USA it highly recommended that one establish/register themself as a LLC if they are going to teach or DM, this makes it so ones personal assets are severed from the teaching business aspect and you would only be personally liable in a lawsuit if your personal actions were found to be negligent....registering as an LLC is not particularly expensive, but it is an additional expense.

My recommendation is to put your old DM certification card in a scrap book, present yourself as an AOW diver (perhaps with a nitrox cert), and go out and enjoy diving with whomever/whenever.

There was recent discussion on SB, perhaps it was in one of the private groups, that indicated some folks were planning to let their teaching cert lapse at next renewal due to the ever upwardsly spiraling cost of agency fees + professional liability insurance fees, among other additional reasons.

There is very little benefit to being an instructor/DM....as others have pointed out, the pay is barely enough to cover one's expenses, and at best one MIGHT get "key man" pricing if you are working for a shop and the owner decides he/she wants to extend that discount to you.

Compare that to being certified as a instructor under the Professional Ski Instructors of America / American Association of Snowboard Instructors (PSIA/AASI), where the certifying/training organization is partnered with about 70 different companies that offer deep discounts to certified instructors who maintain their membership status. In addition to that and even more important are the abundance of continuing training oportunities as an instructor under the PSIA/AASI wholeheardetly geared towards making one a better instructor. Continuing education is requirement to maitain credentials, and the training seminars and clinics are by far worth the expense.

Unfortunately there is nothing comparable in the recreational diving world for dive pros....which is sad and a bit confusing given the high risk and potential liabilities that teaching folks dive presents.

This past year will probably be the last time I renew my PADI membership as a DM...its just not worth the cost.

I am greatful that there are folks that want to be instructors, but I would never recommend it.

-Z

 

[JonnieB]

This is purely to dive more, maybe I am better off just paying for dives as a tourist and not even bothering with the instructor aspect.

Especially if I need to keep paying insurance after my last teaching day.

You won't be diving...you'll be teaching people who don't know how to dive to dive in swimming pools and shallow ocean water

 

[JonnieB]

My recommendation is to put your old DM certification card in a scrap book, present yourself as an AOW diver (perhaps with a nitrox cert), and go out and enjoy diving with whomever/whenever.


There is very little benefit to being an instructor/DM....as others have pointed out, the pay is barely enough to cover one's expenses, and at best one MIGHT get "key man" pricing if you are working for a shop and the owner decides he/she wants to extend that discount to you.

This past year will probably be the last time I renew my PADI membership as a DM...its just not worth the cost.

An interesting perspective...but for me here in Thailand, even my inactive PADI Divemaster status gets me some decent benefits. The main benefit is discounts on gear and diving. As a reference, PADI SE Asia dues are about $150 annually and when I was active I didn't have professional insurance (not required). The main dive shops here in Phuket give DMs and instructors 10-15% off retain for purchases (not a lot but it's something). In addition, the dive shop I associate with gives me the shop's wholesale price on any gear I buy from them (either in stock or ordered). That's some nice savings. Also, if I do day dives or local Thailand liveaboards I get 30-40 percent off published rates. For local shore dives,, I've found a shop that gives me 50% off daily tank rentals. And just recently, I got a late cancelation special rate on a liveaboard and when the operator found out I was a Divemaster, they gave me an additional 20% off the already low price.. Also when I travel around Thailand and other countries like the Philippines and Indonesia I often find dive shops that will give me 25-30 percent off the cost of their published rates because I'm a "professional." All in all some pretty good discounts just for flashing my inactive Divemaster card