Definitely not too old. Instructing is a hobby for most people. You have to have other strings to your bow to earn a living.
How old is too old to start a career in diving?
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During my idc I had the privilege of being joined by a 79 year old ready for a career change. He was a professor and wanted to teach something more active to keep his health up. So he chose his lifetime love, diving. Having a good pension and a loving wife and family already he had different concerns, but he didn't question if he was too old.
And he wasn't.
Enjoy the journey!
Cameron
And he wasn't.
Enjoy the journey!
Cameron
I think most have summarised it quite nicely here. I too had the dream 5-6 years ago, and figured it was all I would do for the rest of my life. I then took a position somewhere, sadly it wasn't great and put me off. Now 5-6 years later I am picking it up again, having taught the odd course here or there over the years.
Now I do it for fun, and it is actually really great. I mostly teach when I want to teach. If I don't feel up to it, I don't. I am not stressed about getting money in from teaching to survive, but if I make some bucks I am happy.
Needless to say I still stress about money on other departments and in wanting to do more in diving like tec
..but that's a whole other story.
On the other end, I have in my time met a bunch of people who have literally done their IE for the sake of it...not sure I 100% agree. If you plan to teach atleast great, as that is what IDC and IE is about. Yes you gain knowledge, but primarily about teaching and then things like sales and dive business. It's a different story when someone says they want to do tec 40 for the sake of the knowledge, that I can 100% agree with, as it is a lot more stuff to learn and gain, even if you don't end up doing tec. But for the IE/IDC its a lot of money to just have that card and not use it. Not that this is your case, but another type and viewpoint.
I think you have to be really passionate about it and be content with a super simple life for the rest of your life if you plan to do it full time. But for some, it really works out well like that.
Best of luck and let us know what happens!!
Now I do it for fun, and it is actually really great. I mostly teach when I want to teach. If I don't feel up to it, I don't. I am not stressed about getting money in from teaching to survive, but if I make some bucks I am happy.
Needless to say I still stress about money on other departments and in wanting to do more in diving like tec
..but that's a whole other story.On the other end, I have in my time met a bunch of people who have literally done their IE for the sake of it...not sure I 100% agree. If you plan to teach atleast great, as that is what IDC and IE is about. Yes you gain knowledge, but primarily about teaching and then things like sales and dive business. It's a different story when someone says they want to do tec 40 for the sake of the knowledge, that I can 100% agree with, as it is a lot more stuff to learn and gain, even if you don't end up doing tec. But for the IE/IDC its a lot of money to just have that card and not use it. Not that this is your case, but another type and viewpoint.
I think you have to be really passionate about it and be content with a super simple life for the rest of your life if you plan to do it full time. But for some, it really works out well like that.
Best of luck and let us know what happens!!
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I haven't read most posts due to in the process of moving, but probably agree with all of them. From What I've heard and read on SB, with rare exceptions in certain locales, it seems a career on the educational side of diving means you may make enough to just get buy, and not at the same time as raising a family. And probably no pension, benefits, etc.
Eventually owning a dive shop may be a goal, but that's a very iffy business too.
Commercial diving is another story. I've heard the money can be good, but it is advisable to start in your 20s because it's not advisable to do it more than 10 years or so. Just throwing that out.
Most in Canada and U.S. teach scuba as a side job for extra income.
As I said, I've heard from some that it is possible to make a very good living-like $50K?--but you have to work your way up to being very accomplished and in demand. And then teaching a lot of advanced courses (not AOW) and charging a lot. Again, a rarity.
At our shop none of the 16 or so instructors or like 10 DMs did it for a living. Instructors made maybe $500 CAD and DMs $300 for a 2 weekend OW course. At least enough to pay for the pizza and beer. Well, I'm in Canada, so not the beer.
Eventually owning a dive shop may be a goal, but that's a very iffy business too.
Commercial diving is another story. I've heard the money can be good, but it is advisable to start in your 20s because it's not advisable to do it more than 10 years or so. Just throwing that out.
Most in Canada and U.S. teach scuba as a side job for extra income.
As I said, I've heard from some that it is possible to make a very good living-like $50K?--but you have to work your way up to being very accomplished and in demand. And then teaching a lot of advanced courses (not AOW) and charging a lot. Again, a rarity.
At our shop none of the 16 or so instructors or like 10 DMs did it for a living. Instructors made maybe $500 CAD and DMs $300 for a 2 weekend OW course. At least enough to pay for the pizza and beer. Well, I'm in Canada, so not the beer.
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Getting happy customers recommend you to their friends and family to grow a loyal base is certainly applicable to the US. But the COL in developed nations is too high and the customer flow too limited to make dive instruction a practical full-time occupation.
In tropical vacation destinations, things are different. Most customers are on your island for the first and the last time in their life. Diving is another vacation activity to them, as important as kayaking. Customers sign up with a shop for a course, the shop gets them an instructor. It still takes good interpersonal skills to keep getting the gigs, but it's very rare that students would be looking for a specific instructor. Even if they recommend you to their friends, their friends won't change their vacation plans just to be taught by you.
Financially, it's not as bad as in the West; the money actually beats a min-wage job. But it's still very different from one. Works more like driving a taxi - take a short course, pick an agency of your choice (Uber, Gett, GASP...), pay it a tithe and serve your customers. Doing a great job will make them happy and better divers, but most of the time no one but you and them will know.
There's not much of a career to be made; shop management is separate from instruction, and the industry needs far fewer instructor-trainers, maybe one per hundred instructors at most. Some still rise to the top, but while in a typical corp about 30% will have some career growth and probably 5% will achieve social mobility, in diving the numbers are an order of magnitude less. Initial resources and circumstance can also be a roadblock; developing as a tec diver or opening your own shop is difficult on a rec instructor's pay.
More than the earnings, what limits one's lifestyle as a tropical dive instructor is forced mobility. Instructors normally aren't employees, they come on temporary visas, sometimes work illegally as work permits can be hard to get, and the high season doesn't always last year round. So the instructors go to where the customers are, and manage that with their visa stay limits. Nor are there any employee perks like medical or any kind of retirement plan.
Travel, visas, permits, fees, insurance, unforeseen expenses all eat into the income. Not that you can make much use of it - hard to own a lot of things when you have to pack your life into airlines' 20-40 kg luggage and carry-on, which includes your work gear.
It's a lifestyle for people who love to dive and love to teach, to the extent that this is all they need from life. Well, it's not that bad, you can have relationships and post on Scubaboard too, of course!
In tropical vacation destinations, things are different. Most customers are on your island for the first and the last time in their life. Diving is another vacation activity to them, as important as kayaking. Customers sign up with a shop for a course, the shop gets them an instructor. It still takes good interpersonal skills to keep getting the gigs, but it's very rare that students would be looking for a specific instructor. Even if they recommend you to their friends, their friends won't change their vacation plans just to be taught by you.
Financially, it's not as bad as in the West; the money actually beats a min-wage job. But it's still very different from one. Works more like driving a taxi - take a short course, pick an agency of your choice (Uber, Gett, GASP...), pay it a tithe and serve your customers. Doing a great job will make them happy and better divers, but most of the time no one but you and them will know.
There's not much of a career to be made; shop management is separate from instruction, and the industry needs far fewer instructor-trainers, maybe one per hundred instructors at most. Some still rise to the top, but while in a typical corp about 30% will have some career growth and probably 5% will achieve social mobility, in diving the numbers are an order of magnitude less. Initial resources and circumstance can also be a roadblock; developing as a tec diver or opening your own shop is difficult on a rec instructor's pay.
More than the earnings, what limits one's lifestyle as a tropical dive instructor is forced mobility. Instructors normally aren't employees, they come on temporary visas, sometimes work illegally as work permits can be hard to get, and the high season doesn't always last year round. So the instructors go to where the customers are, and manage that with their visa stay limits. Nor are there any employee perks like medical or any kind of retirement plan.
Travel, visas, permits, fees, insurance, unforeseen expenses all eat into the income. Not that you can make much use of it - hard to own a lot of things when you have to pack your life into airlines' 20-40 kg luggage and carry-on, which includes your work gear.
It's a lifestyle for people who love to dive and love to teach, to the extent that this is all they need from life. Well, it's not that bad, you can have relationships and post on Scubaboard too, of course!
Just noticed your post and agree... the dive scene here in Melbourne is noticeably much quieter than when I moved here 15 years ago. Couple of high profile closures recently, club nights quiet, LOTS of barely-used dive gear on Gumtree and eBay... particularly side mount setups, twin tanks and rebreathers.
Not sure whether this is a reflection of the level of indebtedness people are now experiencing in Australia with astronomical electricity, gas and mortgage payments leaving little left over for 'luxuries' like diving or some other factor?
31 taint too old. However, the other items you toss into the desired results of the outcome of this equation do pose challenges. The dive shop owners often have family. But, I’ve seen a lot of dive shops come and go. Most instructors get a day job unless they also own a small shop, quarry, successful dive boat operation.....
So, give it a go. If it doesn’t work out, think of the great times, memories.... nothing learned is ever wasted.
So, give it a go. If it doesn’t work out, think of the great times, memories.... nothing learned is ever wasted.
My version of more of the same:
If you can afford to, then do it!
As long as you are doing it for yourself and don't have unrealistic expectations about the income. You can always work into it slowly once an instructor, or go back to another profession if you keep your options open.
Think about what other skills you can add to your toolbox, too. The more you can do, the more valuable/employable you are to a dive operation. Boat caption? Compressor repair? Equipment service? If at a resort, you will be working like a dog. Instruction and guiding dives will be just a fraction of what is expected of you. Hope you like slinging tanks!
I suspect a common pattern is to become an instructor early on, move around and see the world working various places for a year or two at a time, and then at some point you settle down or burn out. But a great life while it lasts! So you're a few years behind, so what if that's what you want to do?
If you can afford to, then do it!
As long as you are doing it for yourself and don't have unrealistic expectations about the income. You can always work into it slowly once an instructor, or go back to another profession if you keep your options open.
Think about what other skills you can add to your toolbox, too. The more you can do, the more valuable/employable you are to a dive operation. Boat caption? Compressor repair? Equipment service? If at a resort, you will be working like a dog. Instruction and guiding dives will be just a fraction of what is expected of you. Hope you like slinging tanks!
I suspect a common pattern is to become an instructor early on, move around and see the world working various places for a year or two at a time, and then at some point you settle down or burn out. But a great life while it lasts! So you're a few years behind, so what if that's what you want to do?
CT-Rich
Contributor
Sound like a great way to turn a small amount of cash into a mountain of debt. I think this is something people do when they are young and broke. Get it out of your system so you can say you did it.
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