Internship in Thailand

[surinboy]

IMO: no. The best route is enjoying yourself and gaining more experience while diving. Dive in different areas with different diving conditions, see what and where you like, and return there for your DM and/or IDC.

Completely agree. There is a tendency for new divers to suddenly jump into zero-hero porgrammes based upon just a few dives. Indeed you might love it so much that you KNOW it is what you want to do for a living for a while. A lot of Instructors who write on this board also probably felt that way too.

But why not just enjoy the experience first. Find out what it is about diving that you enjoy before embarking on your professional training.

Personally, I would try a few fun dives in places and at schools that you are thinking about training with. AND I wouldn't tell them that you are thinking about becoming a DM or Instructor, then you can get a feel of whether they treat general fun divers well rather than them pandering to you to get the big prize, ie sale of all the courses up to MSDT. Whoop Whoop!

Also dive schools are more inclined to take people they have trained back as Instructors. This would suggest that perhaps it makes sense to do your training in the region in which you would like to work ie if you want to work in Koh Tao then train in Koh Tao. This particularly makes sense in the current economic environment where a lot of instructors are struggling for work.

The downside of that route and the one often brought up by the Pattaya centres is that there is good reason to become an Instructor under more severe conditions. e.g. stronger currents and poor visibility as this will make you a safer better Instructor. I can't fault this line of reasoning either.

Enjoy your diving!

 

[Ringo]

Hi Jimmy
It would be interesting to know what time of year you are planning on coming to Thailand? The time of year could influence your choice of area especially if you are on a tight budget for accommodation etc.

 

[Paul Herygers]

Hi Jimmy,

I am an instructor at Big Blue Diving in Koh Tao. I've been here at Big Blue for about ten months, working for 9 months as a full-time DM and have recently moved on to be an instructor here. Big Blue is a great dive shop with a fun crew, great location and very friendly feel. We have recently started offering Internship programmes with loads of variety and options to suit your needs and your budget. Have a peek at the website and if you have any questions, email us at Big Blue or drop me a PM.

Big Blue Diving - Koh Tao - Thailand - Internship Programmes

 

[ayeshacantrell]

Hi ya Jimmy!

I live in Koh Tao but I'll try to be unbiased....someone earlier said just go and hang out and do a few dives...and why not ...I think thats good advice...and it really does depend on when you come as to where you choose to fun dive - as another poster said the diving isnt so significant when choosing where to do your instructor course - unless that is where you want to work ....another good point ....it is easier to get work in the area you have completed your instructor course in but not impossible to go elsewhere.

March-October see the best conditions on Koh Tao with whalesharks seen March-May and Sept and Oct....although a few do randomly pop up at other times. Happily the west coast season is completely opposite...if you time it right you could expereince the best of both coasts whilst training and fun diving. As an idea you could always complete your advanced course on the west coast and then pop off on a liveaboard. This will give you the opportunity to have a look around there. Then come over to Koh Tao, maybe do a speciality or your rescue course or just some fun dives and have a look around here too. Come and talk to the course directors here and see who you like. There are some very expereinced CDs here.

The only benefit of taking a package really is that usually all you diving is included but then it will be whenever you take a package....and really you do want to have some fun and expereince different places so you might as well do it at first while you are looking around.

To answer some of your other questions though....

You can get a multiple entry tourist visa - so multiples of 2 months or a multiple entry educational visa - multiples of 3 months. Your best place to apply for these is the consulate in Hull. If you want an educational visa though you will have to have a letter from a DC saying that you are coming there to study. Im not sure if a centre will supply you one without a deposit for a course though....that could be a snag but the tourist visa is fine....with this one every two months you simply pop to the border and come back with a new 2month stay - you can do this for as many times as you purhcased with the consulate. After that then you can visit a Thai consulate in Malaysia and buy another .....

MSDT is fine to be employable but why not ease up a bit....by doing some diving you will find out what particularly interests you...maybe you decide you'd like to learn video and work filming students and fun divers....keep your options open...

You will need a nitrox certification though regardless so this is a good speciality to do and arguably the only one that you need. Deep, taught well, is a good expereince too. You might want to have a dabble at some entry level technical diving to understand what its all about. It will broaden your learning, understanding and skills. Again - you might decide that wreck or cave diving interest you and choose to learn more about these aspects of diving.

Im not trying to be partonising but having just completed your open water - there is alot to learn and expereince and keeping yourself a little open will mean that you are flexible to decide what you want to do as you learn something new.

How long does it take ....?
Advanced - 2 days
Rescue - 4 days
DM - good to take your time with this one 6-8 weeks
Instuctor - 2 weeks

However please remember that you need to have been certified Open water 6 months before you can enter the instructor course and have 100 logged dives.

For MSDT you need to have certified 25 students before you can apply. Most dive centres here offer an internship that includes Course Director led instruction on teaching your 5 chosen specialities. Plus you get to work with the centres experienced instructors teaching courses - this is how you work towards getting your 25 certs - you wont get paid for teaching but in a good DC you should get developement and feedback from the instructors that you work with so that you can improve your techniques. You should get to work with a variety of instructors so the you can expereince different styles too. However you can apply for your MSDT by yourself once you have your 25 certs. Its good to get the expereince though.

Costs here on Koh Tao....everyone is roughly the same....

AOW - 8500B
Rescue and EFR 9800B
DM 30500B (inc materials)

Instructor Development Course (IDC) is 39,600THB with a further cost of 19,900THB for the required materials.

There is also a fee of AUS$695 for the Instructor Examination (IE), AUS$179 for the Instructor application and AUS$114 for the EFRI application all payable directly to PADI.

MSDT is 25,000THB with further application fees payable to PADI 0f AUS$67 per specialty and AUS$90 for the MSDT application.

Monthly accommodation will cost around 6000 baht .. A beer costs 50-90baht - cheap Thai food can be purchased for 60-80baht per meal - a pizza however is 150-250baht - the more western food you eat - the more expensive!

Phew - thats it I think ...if you have more questions ...message me and if you head to koh tao ...let me know - happy to show you around and give you more local info

 

[lord khram]

If you decide on Pattaya Real divers would be worth checking out looking at all the good feedback about them at the moment.
But yes as Devondiver rightly says the diving its self in the Pattaya area is not the best, but the city is a great place if you like that sort of thing. Too much to expect to have it all I suppose.
I would personally recomend going round some different places and actually do some diving with different shops in different resorts to find a place that suits your requirements.
Better to invest a little time and money researching rather than to commit yourself to a long spell with a shop and tie your time and money to something you are not happy with.
Again going back to real divers, it has been posted on here that they do pay as you go internships, this way you can agree to do part of your training there and then stay or move on to experience somewhere different. This seems to me like a great idea.

 

[JonBath]

I can recomend Ko Tao and where I did my DM, Ban's Diving Resort. The diving isn't amazing after diving the same 10 or so sites for a couple of months but then the islands set up teaching not challenging pro-tech divers. Simply put, the amount of learner divers coming through the island means that as a DM you'll never be short of courses to assist on or divers to lead. As an instructor you'll get such huge numbers of qualifications that they'll more than likely offset any lack of experience elsewhere, especially if you want to continue teaching elsewhere in the tropics. Don't go to Pattaya, it's sleaze hole, stick on Koh Tao with the backpackers and divers.

Regarding costs, it's going to be expensive, to break it down, accomodation costs about 5000-10,000 baht a month for a bungalow or about £100-£200, food perhaps 200-300bt (£4-£6) a day, more if you eat western food. Kit hire should should all be free with your courses but you'll probably want your own, so factor that in (expect to pay western prices for kit). Courses themselves start at around 7000 baht for AOW, slightly more for rescue and about 25,000 baht for Divemaster. IDC is where the big bucks are, coming in around 90,000bt but that figure is hugely variable depending on your school, luck and who you talk to. Basically it's going to be expensive.

What's more, chances are you won't be earning for a while. Once you get to divemaster if you're lucky you might get work, but with the number of DMT's doing it free it's unlikely. As an instructor expect to be working as an unpaid intern for a time, you won't get work straight away, you'll have to build a reputation first. (You will get plenty of certifications towards your MDST though) As result make sure you have enough funds before you go out.

Visa's shouldn't be a problem, with a letter from your chosen dive school, the thai consulate in Hull gives 3x 3 month education visa. That should last you awhile after which you'll just need to do the border run like everyone else.

So to sum up, don't listen to the naysayers, Ko Tao a wonderful place to learn to teach, you'll have a great time. It'll be busy, and hectic but also incredibly fun. Hope you enjoy enjoy yourself.

 

[stevenl]

What's more, chances are you won't be earning for a while. Once you get to divemaster if you're lucky you might get work, but with the number of DMT's doing it free it's unlikely. As an instructor expect to be working as an unpaid intern for a time, you won't get work straight away, you'll have to build a reputation first. (You will get plenty of certifications towards your MDST though) As result make sure you have enough funds before you go out.

So first you pay to do your courses, and after that you can not find work as a divemaster because non-qualified trainees are doing that work, and as an instructor you can find work but you won't be paid for that work?

Something does not sound right here.

 

[katdiver]

Now you know why the OW courses are so cheap there. All the Pros and wannabe Pros are paying to do the work!

 

[JonBath]

So first you pay to do your courses, and after that you can not find work as a divemaster because non-qualified trainees are doing that work, and as an instructor you can find work but you won't be paid for that work?

Something does not sound right here.

Yeah, it's kind of silly isn't it. The islands just so awash with DMTs, DMs and instructors the competition for jobs is ridiculous even with the absolutely stupid number of dive schools. People do walk into jobs after qualifying but it tends to be quite rare. Of course if you are the lucky ones, prepare to get as much work as you can handle and certifications coming out you ears!