Why isnt there Any Money for Divemasters

[mrstein]

I am a bit confused.....

Scuba diving is becoming so popular these last few years,Why dont Divemasters who teach scuba MAKE ANY Good money at all ?????

I would think someone who is trained correctly and Has good people skills and is in good shape should be able to score a OK job in many places throughout the world.

I always hear of Divemasters that Dont make Any money at all why so ?????

Why is there so many divemaster schools Esp in Thailand and etc where they claim they can place you Fast into a job.

I mean a fulltime divemaster working the Rounds cant make 30 grand a year at least ?????

Someone on this board has to have Worldwide EXP in dive shops and making money overall.

I would think working overseas you could make OK money I mean your living is a lot cheaper then the USA so what you loose in salary you make up in living conditions.

I would think living in Thailand or the phillippines for a Single guy Would not be a BAD deal at all ?????

Lets hear the Truth on What can be made and WHAT is B.S. ???????

Tks

Mrstein

 

[theskull]

I am a bit confused.....

Scuba diving is becoming so popular these last few years,Why dont Divemasters who teach scuba MAKE ANY Good money at all ?????

I would think someone who is trained correctly and Has good people skills and is in good shape should be able to score a OK job in many places throughout the world.

I always hear of Divemasters that Dont make Any money at all why so ?????

Why is there so many divemaster schools Esp in Thailand and etc where they claim they can place you Fast into a job.

I mean a fulltime divemaster working the Rounds cant make 30 grand a year at least ?????

Someone on this board has to have Worldwide EXP in dive shops and making money overall.

I would think working overseas you could make OK money I mean your living is a lot cheaper then the USA so what you loose in salary you make up in living conditions.

I would think living in Thailand or the phillippines for a Single guy Would not be a BAD deal at all ?????

Lets hear the Truth on What can be made and WHAT is B.S. ???????

Tks

Mrstein

As SCUBA gets more popular, more people want to be Divemasters, thus supply is chasing demand.

Divemasters don't teach SCUBA, have to become an Instructor to do that, thus increasing your costs both for certifications and insurance, further reducing profit margin.

You can be placed into a job quickly because they pay so little for so much physical work that people leave those jobs rather quickly.

Living in Thailand or the Phillippines does sound attractive for a single guy--thus why they have to pay so little to get enough people to do it.

Jobs that SEEM very attractive and require very little in terms of entry level skills and training always pay poorly. Probably always will.

Now, if you are doing what you love to do -- and STILL love doing it every day every week every month for long hours and little pay because this is the life you want -- then SCUBA can be a great job for you. And you can move on after a few years, or possibly move up to running an operation of your own and then make a good living by assuming more of the responsibility and more of the financial risk and hiring others for low pay to do the Divemastering.

theskull

 

[iduno]

I'm making a bit of an assumption here but I would say:
1. PADI or whatever dive agency you are with like a decent share because they need to pay their CEO's.
2. People are too sue happy so you need extensive insurance.
3. The dive shop needs to take out money for themselves as well.

 

[Dive-aholic]

DMs don't make much because they're not in as much demand as instructors. As was pointed out by theskull, DMs don't teach. So why hire someone who is liimited in what he/she can do? There are so many DM schools because it's required to become an instructor. BTW, instructors don't make much either.

 

[jonnythan]

Because there are enough instructors out there that demand is low? Cost of entry is the biggest barrier for scuba divers, so shops seem to do anything they can to lower the cost of certification... and if you can possibly get away with shaving a little more off the instructor's pay and the dive master's pay to help shave off the cost of the OW class, shops will do it. There seem to be enough DM's and instructors around for them to get away with it.

 

[archman]

Divemasters get paid?!

 

[gehadoski]

Being a DM is just the beginning of the professional level. They are just warming up for there future. You can say that this phase mainly for experience and not for money. Take for example any employee must take first a training phase in the company. During that phase people get high experience and low money. But once they enter the field of instructing, the more they improve themselves from OWI to AOWI and so on. this will give them more the oppertunities of getting paid well, also experience is very important is issue. The same like any other business, or if you work in any field you will find the same sitiuation. begin as anyone else, and by working hard and improving yourself you can be something unique in diving, who knows?

If anyone find what I am saying is wrong please correct me. I am still rescue diver and I am working on my DM now. So I am saying this not from my previous experience as DM or instructor, but as a person dealing with many diver.

 

[mweitz]

Where I live a lot of the incentives are:
1. Free meals and lodging during the dives. They get to do their own fun dives after "class".
2. Meet more divers.
3. GEAR DISCOUNT.
4. Did I mention GEAR DISCOUNT?
5. Paid to dive instead of pay to dive. Though the difference is small, if you dive a lot it can add up.

 

[Diver0001]

They are just warming up for there future.

Not always. I choose to be a DM instead of an instructor because it puts me in a better position to work on the things with students that I find important, such as buoyancy control, buddy contact and swimming technique.

Instructors are accountable for these things but where I assist the instructors are busy teaching the skills and evaluating the skills and the DM's (CA´s) have better chances for drilling skills to proficiency. And not being accountable doesn't make me (personally) feel any less responsible for the result.

Because of my roll I'm also handed off some of the difficult cases who don't learn well and need extra help. I particularly enjoy that. Last year, for example, I helped a student with really bad swimming technique. His own instructor didn't have the time to sort it out and an hour of remedial teaching with another instructor failed to produce a result. I joined the class and I was lucky enough to see what worked for him and he came out of OW looking good. That´s what I do it for.

I don't feel as if I'm just warming up for anything. In fact I even helped to train at least one of the instructors I now work for. I assisted with his Rescue course and may have assisted with his AOW too but I can't remember anymore. It's just a matter of time before someone I had in OW becomes an instructor and I'll get to help them again with overcoming their "new instructor syndrome". I'm getting pretty good at that too....

Personally I think I'm good enough at this to become an instructor but I don't feel that would be a move for the better right now. I really enjoy teaching/assisting but I also enjoy the more advanced diving too and from what I've seen many instructors get sucked into teaching too much and diving too little and that would make me very unhappy. Maybe if I were working in a resort environment I think I'd need to become an instructor because they have a very different way of working (namely, very rushed) and a DM is too limited in his/her options to be of much use.

All of this is to say that what you will get out of DMing depends a lot on what you put into it.

R..

 

[CON8IV]

Divemasters get paid?!

If they do then I've been missing something. Good thing I have a "real" job, too! I start the IDC this April and probably won't get paid after that either.

BUT, I don't do it for the money. Most others don't either. We do it to share our sport and love for SCUBA.