NAUI or PADI

[clay357]

I am recently certified diver with plans to go all the way to instructor. I have always wanted to dive and LOVE it. I also have much experience as a teacher/trainer in other fields. My current cert. is with NAUI as will be my AOW and Rescue Diver certs. As for DM and Instructor, I do not know. It appears that there will be many more opportunities for me with PADI. Is this the case, or am I just not looking in the right places?

 

[superspeed]

I think it depends a lot on where you plan on teaching. PADI has something like 70% of the market share of certified divers....so most places you can find PADI, which is why i chose them. But a lot of people like NAUI and if you are gonna stay in one area and there is a NAUI shop near you then that could be the right choice for you. Go talk to a PADI Course Director, and a NAUI one. See who has a better sale for you because that will be a lot different than what sold me to PADI.

 

[BrianKon]

Find a good instructor!

That is way more important than the agency. You can always cross to another agency when the occassion arises.

good diving to you!

brian

 

[scubamarketing]

It depends on where you want to end up. If you want to work as a resort instructor, I can only speak for PADI, but there are a ton of job opportunities for the travelling instructor. On the other hand, if you want to work stateside for an established dive center, in my experience it can be hard to move to a new store in the PADI world, possibly in the NAUI world too. At least in my area, there's a lot of "good ol' boys club" that goes on, so despite an impressive professional resume, you may have a hard time getting in some places.

After talking with the guys from NASE/ScubaLife at a recent trade show, I'd take a look at them as well. The training standards are virtually identical, they have great materials available, but you actually can make a decent living as an independent instructor with their system.

 

[Walter]

You can teach anywhere with either of those or any of a host of others. You will need PADI if you want to work at a PADI 5 star facility, but other than that location isn't what I would consider to be all that an important a factor.

First, dive for quite a while and see if this is something you really want to teach. Being a teacher, you will likely have a pretty good idea much sooner than most, but you should have lots of experience before you start teaching folks about diving.

What is your philosophy about teaching? Do you like to be creative? or do you prefer a cookie cutter approach? Do you like to add requirements you think are important? or do you like to be required to pass someone who has crossed all the official Ts and dotted all the official Is? Do you like a more comprehensive approach (actually easier on both students and instructors, but takes longer)? or do you like skipping confidence building skills? Your philosophy on teaching and finding a good match is the most important factor in choosing which agency you'd like to certify through.

 

[DBailey]

If you are looking to teach for someone else (i.e. at an established shop or resort), then your best bet it to become an instructor of the same agency.

If you are looking to be an independent instructor or start your own shop, investigate which will give you the best market oppurtunities and that matches with your philosophy (see Walter's post).

Also, do some regional investigation. Some agencies around me (from my experiences and those of my collegues) do not turn out good divers.

 

[RU4SKUBA]

Its hard to ignore a statistic like 70% of the market share, although I hear there is some real value in NAUIs approach.

Some day I'd enjoy crossing over to NAUI in exchange for reciprocal certification in PADI just to see what differences and benefits there are to the other agencies, resources, procedures, etc.

 

[clay357]

Just an update,

I have spoken with both PADI and NAUI. My current instructor is also a NAUI course director. Given all the variables, I am going to proceed with NAUI at this time. My current instructor is going to be able to give me almost 1 on 1 instruction as I go into the DM and instructor training. I will at some point want to "cross over" and get my PADI certs. just for the travel opportunities but for now, NAUI seems to be the way to go.

Thanks to everyone for their input. Some great things were mentioned and gave me alot to think about.

 

[Bubble Junky]

You might want to check out the 'crossover' process. I'm not sure how it works with NAUI, but I beleive, for example, as a PADI instructor crossing over to SSI the process involves 1-2 days and $200ish. To go the other way tho', from SSI to PADI, requires the full PADI IDC course and IE with all it's fees...

Financially, it might be better to do the PADI IDC then cross over to NAUI....