Not really sure how anyone can do an entry-level course and then make a snap decision that they would love to work at a professional level in that field. Becoming a dive instructor requires a considerable effort in time, money and resources. Working as a dive instructor is very different from enjoying a fun dive as a customer.
The overwhelming majority of newly qualified dive instructors rarely last more than 2 years in the industry. There are reasons for that....
You can become a dive instructor easily. However, you cannot become a 'good' diving instructor easily or quickly. Some of the agencies make a fortune from qualifying instructors - and actively push the 'dream' of instructor training from the very earliest levels of diver training. Virtually anyone can become a dive instructor, if they pay enough money and do a few courses. It can take as little as 6 months and 100 logged dives. You'll have the right pieces of plastic.... but you won't have very much to offer to your students.
Sustaining a career as a dive instructor requires solid foundations. The job can wear you down swiftly and often make you question why you bother. The only factor that gets you through that questioning is a deep-rooted love of diving. It has to be an addiction. It has to call you into the water on the bad days; when you are sick, tired, sad, cold, distracted and demotivated. It has to make you happy, when you are so sure you could make far more money working in a bar or fast-food restaurant... let alone a 'proper' job in a comfortable air-conditioned office..
To be a good instructor, you also have to
love teaching. You have to love spending time in the water with students who cause you stress and generally 'ruin
your dives. You have to get your kicks from working at maximum capacity to produce qualified divers that you are
proud of... when you know the financial incentives for doing so are non-existent. You have to have the courage of your convictions, not to sacrifice quality because of other pressures. There are a lot of pressures! I've quit jobs because operations are totally focused on profit, rather than safety and/or quality. I've worked extra, for no money, to get students up to my standards... often with no thanks. Enjoying diving had nothing to do with this... because teaching dives are often personnally unenjoyable, boring or stressful.
Back-to-back open water courses can be mind-deadening and frustrating to the extreme. The reality is very different from the expectation. You aren't diving for yourself. You aren't diving for the money. ... so you need some other strong motivation to love the job and stay in the game. Personally, I am not sure how any diver with less than several hundred dives and a natural inclination towards leadership can say with any confidence that "they want to be an instructor".
I just got my ow cert .... "zero to hero" programs ... don't want that label.... I would like to be an instructor.... any suggestions on location or a particular school?
The only way to
not be a "zero-to-hero" is to
not seek to advance from entry-level to pro level in a short timescale and with the minimum of experience.
A newly qualified open-water diver looking for recommendations on instructor training is definitely heading down that path...