How old is too old to start a career in diving?

[Marie13]

Don't. Or make it a weekend thing, along side whatever you're doing full-time.

I was part of a women's only group on FB for a while. The number of people who want to become a full-time instructor is just staggering. Many said they had less than 100 dives. They'd do some zero to hero DM/instructor program in some foreign tropical destination. I can't imagine the quality of the zero to hero program grads is very high, what with so many of the divers being relatively inexperienced.

To expect to get a full-time living, a decent living, out of scuba is frankly, unrealistic and impractical. At my dive shop in the Midwest, a very well-known and highly rated shop (with a large online presence), none of the instructors are full-time. I've known a couple of people who worked in the shop full-time as well as being instructors, but the remainder of the instructors have good full-time jobs doing something else. They taught on evenings and weekends (depending on the schedule).

 

[ams511]

@lisagreen01 Years ago I purchased a bunch of diving books from someone who was moving. In the lot was either a NAUI or PADI Divemaster manual. The very last chapter of the book talked about employment, I got the impression that the employer could care less about your diving skills but was more impressed with other skills. For example, one person was hired because they were able to repair diesel engines. If someone wants to repair diesel engines they can make much more money being a mechanic. Another person was hired because they had sales training. If you want to sell something sell houses or cars, you will make more. I forget what the third person was able to do. Maybe foreign language skills. My takeaway is that in general a career in diving is a dead end.

 

[RockiesFan]

Step 1. Pick a different career Step 2. See step 1

 

[ChuckP]

I thought I heard a guide in the Bahamas say 10 bucks a hour........ And I wonder how many people are freebie working at local dive shops while learning.

 

[Diving Dubai]

@lisagreen01 My easy answer is no. 32 isn't too late to start as an instructor. I started at an older age.

Yes, there are lots of older instructors around.

While you'll never have a great income and not have lots of material possessions as a dive instructor, you'll offset that with great experiences and a huge network of friends

For obvious reasons the instructor network in Asia is transient. Could you raise a family, well some do - however by that time they're in more or a management position - i.e. running a centre.

Don't get caught in the MSDT trap. Most shops offer MSDT prep where you get the 5 speciality instructor certs - that s fine and normal. The "trap" is where you pay extra for the 25 certs to get to MSDT. In this way you basically team teach, almost shadow another instructor and get given the cert.

The point with MSDT that you gain experience from teaching, and by the time you get to MSDT you have teaching courses pretty much mastered.

I'f you're going to stay in Thailand for instance then you'll want to have the speciality certs which are popular with divers, it helps to have other skills too to get a foot hold in the door. They'll be literally 100's of newly qualified instructors all looking for a permanent position post qualification. Centres can't employ every candidate they teach

All that said, is I'd say go for it. Even if you don't like the life, you'll at least have tried it and had a year or two of great experiences and amount of fun

Feel free to PM me for more info.

Good Luck

 

[Diving Dubai]

Don't. Or make it a weekend thing, along side whatever you're doing full-time.

I was part of a women's only group on FB for a while. The number of people who want to become a full-time instructor is just staggering. Many said they had less than 100 dives. They'd do some zero to hero DM/instructor program in some foreign tropical destination. I can't imagine the quality of the zero to hero program grads is very high, what with so many of the divers being relatively inexperienced.

To expect to get a full-time living, a decent living, out of scuba is frankly, unrealistic and impractical. At my dive shop in the Midwest, a very well-known and highly rated shop (with a large online presence), none of the instructors are full-time. I've known a couple of people who worked in the shop full-time as well as being instructors, but the remainder of the instructors have good full-time jobs doing something else. They taught on evenings and weekends (depending on the schedule).

While I agree that people do get through IE without having great foundational skills such as buoyancy and trim (although that is changing) You have to separate dive count from teaching ability

When I took my IE my dive count was higher than one of my instructors, I was also Tec qualified and they were not. That didn't matter one bit because it's their ability to teach which was important. Their pool and dive skills were above excellent and they could communicate the information both in and out of the water. Being able to do a skill is one thing actually being able to teach it is something different.

Your example of a Midwest shop isn't representative of an SE Asia destination, in Thailand they have a tremendous foot fall with holiday makers arriving and departing each week. It's just a different dynamic.

I only get to teach part time - obviously I have more freedoms as I work for myself, but there just isn't the course through put here to require lots of instructors at each shop every weekend.

As to a living. We all have different requirements. Some people prefer to live a more nomadic lifestyle with fewer material possessions - actually when you get away from the rat race it can be quite refreshing. Whether it's sustainable long term is a different question. And of course location is all important.

The majority will drop out and return to "normal life" others won't and will be successful in the industry. No-one knows unless they've tried.

When I upped sticks and came to Dubai it was a huge risk - but it worked out. Hard work and a little luck prevailed

Better to try and fail than not to try and have a lifetime of regret I say.

 

[lisagreen01]

Hopefully you have solid employable skills already developed and a work ethic which will make you valuable to a business.

The dive industry is flooded with barely trained "professionals" who can barely feed themselves on minimal wages for their minimal skills.

It's rare for someone to feed a family fulltime working in this hobby.

Can't speak about the trend of age in the industry.

Hopefully that's useful.
Cameron

Thanks for the feedback! I have travelled on off for 10 years and also built a solid career in recruitment/strategy/HR, along with hospitality while overseas. I definitely believe sales, customer service and strategy skills can be transferred across to the dive industry.

I have a full understanding of how low the salaries are in the dive industry but I do believe there are different avenues that can be taken and it's not all doom and gloom, some more profitable then others and hard work and determination will also go a long way.

I'll report back in a couple of years and we'll see if I still feel this way! at the end of the day, there is no harm in trying. The greatest mistake is to spend my life behind a desk in a job I gain no satisfaction from.

 

[clownfishsydney]

The dive industry in Australia is dying, if not already dead. Shops are closing down left, right and centre. In Sydney there are about half the shops that there were 10 years ago and a third of what there was 30 years ago. The South Pacific is not much better. If you do it for a short term break from your real job, then do it. If you expect to make a living for the rest of your life, or even for a few years, then you will want to live a very frugal life.

Best bet is to get a decent paying job and dive on weekends and holidays.

 

[aquacat8]

The people I’ve known that loved it had other good jobs so money was not an issue, they loved teaching, were “people people” and enjoyed the process. Some actually took a loss financially to do it. On the other hand, one of my dive instructors would sleep in her car in her dry suit garments on Open Water weekend because she couldn’t afford a cheap hotel room. No kids... doubt she could have afforded a weekend babysitter. She eventually quit and moved to the mountains.

 

[aquacat8]

Another girl I knew who did it lived on her funky sailboat, and having enough money for car gas to get to the dive shop seemed to be a chronic issue. She eventually got bent rescuing a student, quit teaching diving, got her captain’s license and became a professional seaman and never looked back. Occasionally I see her Facebook photos, laughing with a group of sailors on a huge vessel, usually the only woman, and as she is very attractive, no doubt with her pick of boyfriends. Again, no kids.