Scuba Instructor?

[SailNaked]

I am curious about the reasons people become scuba instructors and how many continue to be after a few years. and maybe why they stop teaching.

 

[Kingpatzer]

I became an instructor because I love teaching. I've been diving for coming up on 5 years, and I've been doing DM work for 2. I completed my IE this spring. I have yet to teach an independent class, and don't plan on doing so (at least for OW) for at least another year (I firmly believe that quality matters and spending time in a solid apprenticeship is essential).

I can say that the hours can be rough, and the work can get harder than someone might first expect. And I can see a lot of people leaving for that reason. But the complaint I hear about the instructors who aren't teaching anymore around me is really a combination of the time commitment and their own frustration at the quality of divers they are turning out. I think some people don't ever really get a high level of satisfaction for their efforts and that leads them to stop wanting to do it.

 

[Blackwood]

' I do not plan to be an instructor at this time.'

Teaching just isn't my thing. I'm not good at it, and I get frustrated too easily when people don't get what I already know. That's not fair to would-be students.

I'm more than happy to act as a mentor where appropriate.

 

[Saucy Sailoress]

I love diving, and dived for what I felt was a long time (5 years, I think) before I became an instructor in 2001. I became an instructor primarily for the prestige! But also, because we had a Dive Centre and it made sense for me to take some of the glory, since I was doing loads of the work!

I gave up my PADI ratings a few years back, because most of our certs are through SDI & TDI, commission on PADI courses wasn't covering membership fees, and it simply wasn't worth keeping PADI membership just for the status!

We always make sure we are happy with the divers we turn out. We take our time, and if they don't come up to scratch we don't turn them out, we spend more time with them - usually by letting them sit in on the next course's pool training! We are lucky, though - we are not a resort, our dive students have time and so do we.

As long as teaching can pay for my diving, and is enjoyable, I see no reason to quit!

 

[DCBC]

I have been an instructor for 39 years. I continue to teach because diving has given me so much and I want to pass along some of the training that seems to be "no longer required" in today's world of instant gratification.

Recreational diving certainly isn't the only area of our Society that's seems to be affected in this way. Perhaps it's called progress; but I fear it to be the same type of progress that has polluted our skies and oceans. Sometimes it feels like pushing a wet noodle up an incline. LOL

 

[muddiver]

Hey DCBC, you could always come help me "herd cats" Construction is so much more rewarding, or so I'm told.

Back to OP, who wants to bother with paying a yearly certification fee and liability insurance? Plus here in the land of "you know my cusin is a diver" there is just too much competition to bother.

 

[DCBC]

Hey DCBC, you could always come help me "herd cats" Construction is so much more rewarding, or so I'm told.

Being an engineer and all, do you even get wet? :shocked2: Herding cats? Is that like working on a MSV with around 60 asians and indians who can't speak English? LOL

 

[muddiver]

The District can't afford to put me in the water. I also doubt that they would ever see the benifit of having an engineer actually inspect something like CalTrans and the Navy do. I missed to boat on those jobs, but I'm pulling down some pretty good figures anyway.

Naw, we have Latinos that act like they don't speak english.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I am curious about the reasons people become scuba instructors and how many continue to be after a few years. and maybe why they stop teaching.

I became a NAUI instructor in 2004, because I discovered how much I enjoyed working with new divers helping them become better divers. I then quickly discovered how much I didn't enjoy shop politics and the pressure to teach the bare minimums in the interest of getting people through class as quickly and cheaply as possible ... and so took the independent instructor route. After five years of teaching I found myself burning out, and decided to take a year off from teaching. I got back into it in July, and in the past 2-1/2 months have already taught five classes. I'm going to need another break soon, I think ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[TSandM]

I love to teach, and have taught almost everything I've ever learned to do, from mathematics to horseback riding. But for the foreseeable future, I don't plan to become a scuba instructor. My initial reluctance was due to feeling I really didn't have the skills to be a good instructor, but that's no longer an issue. Now, it has more to do with what I have seen of what instructors do. I really don't have much desire to teach diving to someone who only wants to do a couple of dives in the tropics on a special trip (although, to be honest, that's pretty much what I intended, before I took my OW class!) I do really enjoy working with people who have decided that they want to dive in our local waters, and helping them improve their skills -- but if I do it as mentoring, I can pick and choose who I want to work with, and walk away if it isn't working or I don't feel as though the person I'm helping is putting the energy into it.

Teaching is an incredible commitment of time, energy and patience; at present, I prefer to pick and choose how much of each I want to spend. I satisfy a lot of my desire to help by writing long, tedious dissertations on ScubaBoard