What made you go pro?

[Minion_Diver]

I am working on a couple year plan for diving and I keep coming back to this crossroad of whether or not to go down the professional side and become and instructor. I like learning new skills, techniques, etc. that go along with diving and like helping out divers/people in general where I can.

Just wanting to hear from people what made them want to go become a dive professional. Was it something that you experienced in your training? Always wanted to be a dive instructor?

Thanks.

 

[tbone1004]

here's the most useless post you'll get in here, or at least I hope so

I went pro because NC State needed me to do be a better volunteer for them. I give ~2-3 weeks back per year of my vacation time to help conduct OW checkout dives and with NAUI's change in SoP several years ago we had to be active status instructors to continue conducting OWT the way we want to. I want to give back to the program that helped make me a great diver, so it was worth the hassle. Thankfully it was free outside of the costs to NAUI directly, but still a nuisance to check off all of those boxes

 

[northernone]

I "went pro" after a severe illness left me unable to continue my previous career in the way I did it. I now have introduced diving as trauma therapy for youth at risk. Originally I became an instructor so I could better understand what it took to be a good diver when recruiting professionals to help in the adaptive diving program.

Even before I was certified, I love sharing what I've learned about diving and passing that on is satisfying.

Becoming a dive instructor is one of the easiest "professional" ratings I know of. To be any good, it takes way more than the certification progression. The market is flooded with cheap 0-hero type instructors. Recreational diving is a saturated industry. I don't ever see myself teaching tourists though I have respect for the skilled instructors who do so with integrity.

Well, that's why I went pro.
Cameron

 

[Saniflush]

As a freshly minted DM (a couple of months) I wanted to go further because of the relationship that I had with a couple of the DMs when I was beginning. My eyes were truly opened to the world that I have mostly been missing throughout my life and I wanted to help bring that experience to others in whatever small way I can. I am not sure that I will go any further. Plan on diving a while before I even contemplate that.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I've had several former students become instructors. And when they asked my opinion I'd always begin with the same question ... "why do you want to become an instructor?" The response was usually something along the lines of how much they loved diving, or wanted to "give back" to the community. And that's all well and good, but to my concern it's the wrong answer. You should want to get into teaching because you love teaching ... diving just happens to be the subject matter. If you do it because you love diving, then what happens when you are faced with the reality that you're diving for work now, instead of for fun ... and the circumstances for making the call to go diving or not are driven by someone other than yourself. So consider carefully, because once you become a pro, diving becomes your job rather than something you do for recreation... and that accounts for the high turnover rate among those who achieve professional status. Many of those I know who went into teaching only taught for a year or less ... and some not at all ... because the reality of the program didn't match their expectations going into it.

And there are many ways you can "give back" to the diving community without gaining a professional certification. Volunteer programs abound, and many of them will help you improve your personal skills in ways that a dive professional program will not.

As for what made me go pro ... suffice it to say a dive shop owner who recognized my affinity for teaching and made me an offer I couldn't refuse. The course cost me very little, and the money I saved on the purchase of my first drysuit as a pro more than made it back. Effectively, it was an economic decision that just worked out well in other ways ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Divin'Papaw]

... a moment of insanity.

More truthfully, I really enjoyed the two instructors I did my Rescue Course with. I had the opportunity to do my DM with them at a reasonable cost and I took it. I thoroughly enjoyed the course and I enjoyed DMing for them. However, when they both retired I stopped DMing. I found it not enjoyable DMing for any of the other instructors in the shop. Those two guys had a special thing going and it ended when they retired.

I've contemplated being an Instructor but just cannot get over the hump. It's crazy expensive these days and I cannot make the economics work. What it costs to become an instructor and remain an active, insured instructor vs. what you can make doing it just don't add up. At least not for me.

So I am a "retired" DM. I put that in quotes because I never once made a profit at it. It was always at a loss. I did it for fun on the side. It was never an occupation. You'd make more money washing dishes. Honestly.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I was very happy with my OW card. That was all I ever wanted. After a few hundred dives I wanted to make a dive in Hawaii that required an AOW card. An instructor who was affiliated at the dive shop I worked at said he would take my wife and I from AOW through Assistant Instructor for just the cost of materials. I later learned that the costs also included helping him move twice and house sitting with his sock-eating dogs, plus helping out with OW classes for a couple years.

I worked for free as a DM for a year but missed the enjoyment I got from simply diving. I didn't renew my card and have been happy ever since.

 

[TMHeimer]

I've had several former students become instructors. And when they asked my opinion I'd always begin with the same question ... "why do you want to become an instructor?" The response was usually something along the lines of how much they loved diving, or wanted to "give back" to the community. And that's all well and good, but to my concern it's the wrong answer. You should want to get into teaching because you love teaching ... diving just happens to be the subject matter. If you do it because you love diving, then what happens when you are faced with the reality that you're diving for work now, instead of for fun ... and the circumstances for making the call to go diving or not are driven by someone other than yourself. So consider carefully, because once you become a pro, diving becomes your job rather than something you do for recreation... and that accounts for the high turnover rate among those who achieve professional status. Many of those I know who went into teaching only taught for a year or less ... and some not at all ... because the reality of the program didn't match their expectations going into it.

And there are many ways you can "give back" to the diving community without gaining a professional certification. Volunteer programs abound, and many of them will help you improve your personal skills in ways that a dive professional program will not.

As for what made me go pro ... suffice it to say a dive shop owner who recognized my affinity for teaching and made me an offer I couldn't refuse. The course cost me very little, and the money I saved on the purchase of my first drysuit as a pro more than made it back. Effectively, it was an economic decision that just worked out well in other ways ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I agree. I took the DM course for four reasons. Main one was to get a foot back into teaching without being an instructor (ie., the buck didn't always stop with me). My career was Band Teacher where every single bit of instruction came from me. I enjoyed working with the students, though almost never ran into them later on due to my location quite far from the shop.
Another reason was it was a physical and mental challenge to pass the DM course and wanted to see if I could do it at my then age of 56.
A third was I thought it would be nice to get paid for doing something I wanted to do (like music).
And lastly, I figured it would improve my diving. This has been discussed a lot and many advise taking other courses or being mentored as a better route, which I don't disagree with. But the DM course and subsequent assisting with OW courses certainly did improve my skills--by skills I don't mean it helped my buoyancy, I mean I could whip my kit off & on and do an air share ascent like clockwork--something I am sure would not be the case if it weren't drilled into me.
All of these 4 reasons came true for me.

WVUdiver1, Thanks for posting--I thought the Going Pro forum was about to die......

 

[Landau]

Very similar to THHeimer above - I like to teach, like to learn and hope to improve my diving and I'm also starting in my mid 50's

About halfway through my DM now and have learned lots. Highlights so far:

• Helping students to improve. Very rewarding to see nervous expressions turn to big grins.
• Setting a 25lb weight belt at 20 feet and launching a DSMB from it for a reference line. lots of challenges swimming it out from shore at an unfamiliar site. Very easy to swim in circles carrying the weight off center and first time I'd launched a DSMB underwater
• When a student lost a weight pocket at depth got the pocket and grabbed the student to prevent a fast ascent. Failed miserably at getting the pocket back n underwater though.
• Having two students misinterpret my "Don't flail your arms around" signs as "Hold Hands" which instantly stopped flailing, improved buoyancy and trim

 

[TMHeimer]

Funny story--One student lost a weight pocket. I THINK it was me and his buddy who went down the 15 feet to look for it. Right when we found it, another wt. pocket came down and almost konked us.