Becoming a Dive Master and beyond...

[hsinhai]

Dan,

Rather than diving straight in (pun intended), being in Taiwan you can likely make more money teaching English than as a DM. Keep doing that as your part time job, and use your free time to get qualified and gain more experience. What could be better than teaching English in say green island or pingtung, and spending the rest of your time diving.. or work out of a shop, and build contacts.

 

[Scuba Scott]

... how you see your self in 20 or 30 years from now, do you want to have a family or live the gigolo DM / INST life ( nothing wrong with that, but you may get bored after some years )...
I understand what you mean now with lifestyle, you want and relaxed and easy live with no luxuries, nothing wrong with that way of living.

Q: What's the difference between a large pizza and a family of 4?

A: A 20 something DM would love to have a large pizza.

If you are young and want to do it I say go for it.

Show of hands... how many of you have the same job you had in your 20's? Not me. Planning on a 20 or 30 year career as a DM or Instructor may not be realistic for most people but most people don't have a career like that in any field these days.

There is a good chance you will regret what you didn't do a lot more than what you did do when you are older so live the lifestyle now that you won't want to live later. If you maintain your membership fee at least every other year (if you take a break) you will always be an instructor and can go back to it as a side job later. When you return after many years of experience you will amaze yourself at how much better you are.

Go for it and try to move on to something else before you burn out and still love diving. There are far worse things than to hit the job market with above average experience in training and customer service.

 

[CarcharodonCarcharias]

Sorry to stray... what's the word on Koh Tao for the uninitiated?

The general consensus here in the region is that DM and instructor coming out of Koh Tao are poorly trained and inadequately equipped to handle the job functions. Because it is a DM and instructor factory and they will pump out as many DM and instructors as long as money is flowing in.

It is an unfair generalization and I am sure there are plenty of qualified diving professionals coming out of Koh Tao.

But the word on the street in the region is that they will think twice before hiring someone certified from Koh Tao. Again, I am just the telling it as it is.

 

[CarcharodonCarcharias]

Q: What's the difference between a large pizza and a family of 4?

A: A 20 something DM would love to have a large pizza.

If you are young and want to do it I say go for it.

Show of hands... how many of you have the same job you had in your 20's? Not me. Planning on a 20 or 30 year career as a DM or Instructor may not be realistic for most people but most people don't have a career like that in any field these days.

There is a good chance you will regret what you didn't do a lot more than what you did do when you are older so live the lifestyle now that you won't want to live later. If you maintain your membership fee at least every other year (if you take a break) you will always be an instructor and can go back to it as a side job later. When you return after many years of experience you will amaze yourself at how much better you are.

Go for it and try to move on to something else before you burn out and still love diving. There are far worse things than to hit the job market with above average experience in training and customer service.

I don't disagree with your sentiment and to be fair, I agree with you to a certain extent.

But I think that what everyone here is trying to express is the realistic aspect of becoming a dive profession and trying to remove the rosy colored lenses and the romanticism of it.

Not to mention the financial situation of being a dive professional.

I don't think the intention here is trying to discourage someone to follow a dream, but rather trying to present the true nature of going down the path.

I am sure the OP will do and follow his heart on the path to take. But it will be a remission on our part as a community on the forum to not to present the both sides of the coin.

 

[Pengelam]

Cheers Carcharodon

 

[Scuba Scott]

Hindsight being 20/20 all I can say is I understand the reality of how hard it would be, how little money I would make, and I know it would be something that I could only be able to do for a short time.
I know I would give up teaching full time for a while and do something else to earn a living but I would keep diving and keep my credentials active even though it costs more than I would ever earn.
At some point I would be older with over 20 years of diving experience and hundreds of dives like the majority of posters on scubaboard and would be at a point where I could be a truly great instructor and would start teaching again. I would probably teach my own children to dive, secure in knowing I am not handing them over to a "zero to hero" instructor and enjoy some fun family SCUBA vacations. I would try not to look down my nose at the instructor who has all of his certs starting with OW issued in the same year but it would be very hard to do.

That's what I would do if I could go back in time but that's just me. A lot of people would do things differently. You just need to decide if what I would do would work for you.

 

[Daniel Ball Diving]

Dan,

Rather than diving straight in (pun intended), being in Taiwan you can likely make more money teaching English than as a DM. Keep doing that as your part time job, and use your free time to get qualified and gain more experience. What could be better than teaching English in say green island or pingtung, and spending the rest of your time diving.. or work out of a shop, and build contacts.

That would be perfect but im already on an English teaching contract in Taipei for the next 9 months. Wish i had a placement in a more southern part of Taiwan but gotta roll with the punches. That would have been a dream situation though!

 

[Daniel Ball Diving]

Q: What's the difference between a large pizza and a family of 4?

A: A 20 something DM would love to have a large pizza.

If you are young and want to do it I say go for it.

Show of hands... how many of you have the same job you had in your 20's? Not me. Planning on a 20 or 30 year career as a DM or Instructor may not be realistic for most people but most people don't have a career like that in any field these days.

There is a good chance you will regret what you didn't do a lot more than what you did do when you are older so live the lifestyle now that you won't want to live later. If you maintain your membership fee at least every other year (if you take a break) you will always be an instructor and can go back to it as a side job later. When you return after many years of experience you will amaze yourself at how much better you are.

Go for it and try to move on to something else before you burn out and still love diving. There are far worse things than to hit the job market with above average experience in training and customer service.

I agree with you, its something i have had my mind set on for so long now i have to make it happen while i can. I don't know how long i will be a DM and on from there and instructor for. But i do know i am gonna make it work for me as best as possible while i can. Thank you for your understanding and belief!

 

[Daniel Ball Diving]

Hindsight being 20/20 all I can say is I understand the reality of how hard it would be, how little money I would make, and I know it would be something that I could only be able to do for a short time.
I know I would give up teaching full time for a while and do something else to earn a living but I would keep diving and keep my credentials active even though it costs more than I would ever earn.
At some point I would be older with over 20 years of diving experience and hundreds of dives like the majority of posters on scubaboard and would be at a point where I could be a truly great instructor and would start teaching again. I would probably teach my own children to dive, secure in knowing I am not handing them over to a "zero to hero" instructor and enjoy some fun family SCUBA vacations. I would try not to look down my nose at the instructor who has all of his certs starting with OW issued in the same year but it would be very hard to do.

That's what I would do if I could go back in time but that's just me. A lot of people would do things differently. You just need to decide if what I would do would work for you.

Thank you for your advice. I do not know how long I will work as a DM or instructor for or where that part of my life will take me, but i have to start somewhere and then build up from there. Thank you for your guidance I appreciate it.

 

[Daniel Ball Diving]

I don't disagree with your sentiment and to be fair, I agree with you to a certain extent.

But I think that what everyone here is trying to express is the realistic aspect of becoming a dive profession and trying to remove the rosy colored lenses and the romanticism of it.

Not to mention the financial situation of being a dive professional.

I don't think the intention here is trying to discourage someone to follow a dream, but rather trying to present the true nature of going down the path.

I am sure the OP will do and follow his heart on the path to take. But it will be a remission on our part as a community on the forum to not to present the both sides of the coin.

Thank you for your honesty and realistic approach. I am glad to hear that it will not be an easy ride, but i hope that will make it all the more rewarding as an experience. I can really see now that it will be a train financially and maybe i could look to continuing teaching English while i get qualified (hopefully some dive resorts will have fast wi fi so i can get some extra cash tutoring English on the side). Thanks Again, and if anyone has any further thoughts on how and where to make this journey a little smoother please let me know.