Why isnt there Any Money for Divemasters

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archman:
Divemasters get paid?!

When I was DMing, I got 15% off the top, free regulator maintenance and Keyman prices. All dives were free.

DMs work for free because the shop tells them DMs work for free.
Screw that.
 
Hank49:
Here's another way of looking at it. How much time does it take to become a divemaster vs getting a bachelor's degree, masters or PhD? Or to become a skilled carpenter or electrician? Most jobs pay based on the amount of time and money spent to gain the skills required to do the job. Not to belittle any professional in the dive business but that is pretty much the way it is.

Just ran a quick calculation on this, so lets see.

OW cost 500 time 5 days
AOW cost 300 time 3 days
Rescue cost 300 time 5 days
EFR cost 100 time 1 day
50 by 2 tank dives cost 3250 time 50 days (50 times $65)
DM cost 2000 time 14 days
IDC cost 3500 time 21 days
Accomodation and food for 100 days say 10,000
Gear/books etc. purchase say 5000

Total,
Time 100 days - so say 4 to 6 months.
Cost around $25,000.00

This is an approximation only.

For comparison, to become a Cisco CCIE it would cost about the same and take about the same ammount of time, but the expected starting salary is in the $120,000 to $140,000 range.

I prefer to be a scuba instructor.

:11ztongue
Paul.
 
Scubakevdm:
Hey, I'm a full time DM... I'm not exactly rolling in dough, but I make enough to be alive, and that's cool with me. It's one of the sacrifices you have to be willing to make. I love my job, and that counts for alot, at least to me.

Yep Loving your job counts for a lot. Most people notice before too long (whether they admit it or not) money by itself doesn't make you happy.

Around here though no one gets any money for DMing.
 
Aquawookie:
Cost around $25,000.00


Paul.

This was the same figure that was presented to us in the ITC. For me, just the ITC,when the smoke cleared and the dust settled, cost me $4200.
 
jbd:
This was the same figure that was presented to us in the ITC. For me, just the ITC,when the smoke cleared and the dust settled, cost me $4200.

JBD, the scariest thing is I don't remember spending this much money on my diving!
I ran this calculation 3 times and it came out the same :11:
What's worse is I think this is on the low side.

Still, its better than working in I.T.

Paul.
 
Aquawookie:
JBD, the scariest thing is I don't remember spending this much money on my diving!
I ran this calculation 3 times and it came out the same :11:
What's worse is I think this is on the low side.

Still, its better than working in I.T.

Paul.

But in I.T. you aren't expected to give it away :wink:

or we can't function as a global society without IT but we can certainly do just fine without diving. I guess the demand or need just isn't there.
 
Aquawookie:
Just ran a quick calculation on this, so lets see.

OW cost 500 time 5 day
AOW cost 300 time 3 da
Rescue cost 300 time 5 days
EFR cost 100 time 1 day
50 by 2 tank dives cost 3250 time 50 days (50 times $65)
DM cost 2000 time 14 days
IDC cost 3500 time 21 days
Accomodation and food for 100 days say 10,000
Gear/books etc. purchase say 5000

Total,
Time 100 days - so say 4 to 6 months.
Cost around $25,000.00


I prefer to be a scuba instructor.

:11ztongue
Paul.

Food and accommodations? You would eat and live somewhere no matter what you are doing so you can't really apply that. And your course costs are pretty steep.
Someone saw you coming. OW 300
AOW 190
Res. 300
EFR 100
DM 800 STOP! We only said Divemaster, not IDC
courses US$1,690
50 dives at $25/= $ 1,250
Gear $1,800
total $4,740

Don't get me wrong. I wish divemasters made good money. Many work their butts off doing it. But the time and money required to get to that level (signed off Divemaster beginner) is less than one year of college. And you can do it without a high school diploma.
 
Hank49 But the time and money required to get to that level (signed off Divemaster beginner) is less than one year of college. And you can do it without a high school diploma.[/QUOTE:
So, you're saying that anyone who doesn't have a college degree shouldn't be paid for work they do?
The cost to get a DM card doesn't mean squat. If you have skills, and you use those skills, you should be paid. Either in cash or in kind, depending on your wishes.
 
[/QUOTE]

So, you're saying that anyone who doesn't have a college degree shouldn't be paid for work they do?
The cost to get a DM card doesn't mean squat. If you have skills, and you use those skills, you should be paid. Either in cash or in kind, depending on your wishes.[/QUOTE]

Nope, not saying that at all. What I am saying is that generally, the more time and money you put into training and or education (masters degree is 6 years college and $60K, PhD 8 years college, $80K) the more money earning potential you have on the job market.
Becoming a divemaster doesn't take much time or money relative to higher paying professions. To take it to the next level with 20 years experience and knowledge of the ocean etc, unfortunately doesn't necessarily earn more money due to industry benchmark payscales for divemasters. Like a union carpenter with 20 years under his belt doesn't make much more than a 21 year old carpenter. Hank
 
Aquawookie:
Just ran a quick calculation on this, so lets see.

OW cost 500 time 5 days
AOW cost 300 time 3 days
Rescue cost 300 time 5 days
EFR cost 100 time 1 day
50 by 2 tank dives cost 3250 time 50 days (50 times $65)
DM cost 2000 time 14 days
IDC cost 3500 time 21 days
Accomodation and food for 100 days say 10,000
Gear/books etc. purchase say 5000

Total,
Time 100 days - so say 4 to 6 months.
Cost around $25,000.00

This is an approximation only.

For comparison, to become a Cisco CCIE it would cost about the same and take about the same ammount of time, but the expected starting salary is in the $120,000 to $140,000 range.

I prefer to be a scuba instructor.

:11ztongue
Paul.

Uh, CCIE? 6 months? There are only like 7,000 of them in the world. Some countries have ONE. If it was that easy and it paid that well there would be more CCIE's as there are MCSE's (couple 100K?, LOTS)

If you knew nothing and decided to be a CCIE I would expect it to take at least 3 years and 30 to 80K depending on how you did it. I self studied for CCNA not knowing much anything about routers and it took about 4 months and my lab cost (off Ebay) about 4K.

Mark
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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