Becoming a Divemaster/ Getting foot in the door in professional diving

[Druid]

The trouble with working in diving is that so many people are willing to do it for nothing, so finding a job that will pay enough to live is very difficult, unless you live somewhere that's cheap to live in.

Professional people working for nothing really irks me. That's another can of worms. If no DMs worked for nothing SOME would get paid a decent wage. ...

You really have to enjoy the personal teaching (assisting) satisfaction aspect of DMing, then consider the money.

The LDS that I trained at in the UK didn't pay DMs or instructors, not even expenses. I got free air fills and a staff discount in the shop

When I was in Egypt I did some work as a dive guide, it paid $12 a dive which was enough to live on and considerably more than the average Egyptian's wage.

I'm now back in the UK and an instructor in a dive club. I still don't get paid but I get free air fills, (like every other club member) I only teach club members and nobody is making a profit out of my labours, so the situation is different from working in a shop. I still get a buzz out of seeing "students so thrilled to be in 20 feet of ice cold water in wet suites looking at sand, rocks and seaweed and having their minds blown" too, although we teach them in drysuits

 

[Beowulfe]

My LDS pays instructors but not the Divecons. If a divecon is needed for a trip, the LDS pays the trip cost. If not, the divecon can go at cost.