Just keep in mind that the best way to make a million dollars in diving is to start with 2 million.
This is exactly what I've noticed. Diving seems to be just another of many hard ways to make an easy living. That's what struck me, is that like I said over half the staff turned over in 8 months, and the rest probably didn't have the money to leave except for a few on the very high end on the tech side who did seem to love it. This is also SE Asia, here in Canada it seems like it's more of a part time gig for people, but the diving and lifestyle isn't quite the same...
This is as much a 'what to do with my life' rant as anything else. After I got laid off from oil/gas I took almost 2 years off, traveled a ton, but as many others in the early retirement spheres have found, you need to do *something* with your days beyond sitting on the beach, some sort of mission. I got another job which sounded fun on paper, but was the same as before. A company eager to monopolize all your time in exchange for lots of money you don't need. Now I feel like an ass for moping about such problems...
This would be something purely for the experience and lifestyle, and a bit of a pursuit to better my diving. My tech instructor for Advance Nitrox/deco procedures had like 1000+ tech dives and she was spectacular. While that would be an ambitious point to reach, doing so privately would cost enough to buy a luxury car. Teaching would let me get those dives in. Conversely, even like guiding the whole being up every day at 7am, organizing/assembling/carrying gear for 4 divers x 3 dives a day, seems like more hassle and responsibility than it's worth, for what would amount to beer money.
The tech route also seemed more attractive as you can really make a name for yourself, it indirectly ties into my engineering background, and the clientele I think is considerably more serious about diving compared to doing DSD after DSD comprised of people who can barely swim but figured they'd give it a shot on vacation.