Hi Rhys...
I've posted a number of similar replies to questions such as yours but am always happy to help when it comes to advice on a career in diving. I sold my car, my motorcycle, my TV and - er - my house - to become a dive instructor and I do not regret it for a single second. As I always say, there are some serious downsides to making career out of being a dive professional, but for me and for many others, they are far outweighed by what we actually get to do.
Firstly, make sure you really understand what you are letting yourself in for. Unless you work full-time in a popular diving destination, you are not going to make enough money to earn a living, but fortunately, many of those popular diving destinations are in tropical "developing" countries where living expenses are pocket change to the cost of existing in Europe or America. You're Australian and therefore live in a popular diving destination and I also lived in Cairns for 6 months in 2008 so I know it is possible to earn a living there, but not if you want to live in a big house and support a family.
I actually recommend finding an internship at a busy Career Development Centre. I went through an internship at such a place in Thailand and eventually ended up working at the same centre teaching DMs and Instructors. Yes, it was a "zero to hero" program, but it was 6 months of daily diving, guiding less experienced interns, assisting with courses, staffing boats when qualified to do so, and then starting a career in teaching by conducting courses from OW - to DM in the presence of an experienced instructor who is "teaching" your MSDT certification (all of our interns were required to team teach at least one of the courses and each of the 5 specialty ratings they needed in the presence of one of our own experienced staff instructors).
I've been doing this for 6.5 years now, full time, around the world, and the experience you get working at a busy centre, often with different instructors, is invaluable. I consider large DM and IDC classes a benefit, because you learn from your peers, and there is a competitive aspect to multiple-person courses which drives many candidates to perform better. I have direct experience of both large classes and personal 1-on-1 training, and I am not alone in believing that the big classes are better for the professional courses. When it comes to OW training, small class sizes are preferable, but for the professional courses, having other people around you gives you more experience by default.
Consider the length of time you want to do this. If you wish to make a career of it then you need to head towards Course Director, or look towards eventual management, assuming you want to live in a proper house and drive a car without holes in the floor (like my little Suzuki Jeep thing in Curaçao). It is possible to earn a comfortable living in tropical locations; I know it is, because that's what I do, but you're not going to be rich unless you get into ownership, and this is not an easy thing in established locations.
Location is important - where do you want to work and what do you want to do? I am an experienced instructor but my main function in my current job is as a dive guide and I actually prefer this to teaching. Some people prefer teaching to guiding. Do you want to work in the tropics and meet interesting people and cultures, or prefer to stay in Oz and base yourself there? Languages are very important for dive jobs worldwide. If you work in Australia and can speak Japanese, you can earn a fortune, and in general it's the most important thing you can have on your CV/resume.
The more you can do, the more valuable you become, so I recommend minimum instructor rating if you want to earn money. There are DM jobs available but often they are unpaid in return for training and experience - but can DM and Teach and do Office work? In multiple languages? Yes please!
Apart from the technical skills you need and the knowledge you need to acquire, you need to have a modicum of charisma, a decent sense of humour, and a whole eternity of patience if you want to work full time in the dive industry. You're an entertainer. People need to know they can respect you and rely on you for your wisdom and experience, and even the bare minimum of 100 dives to become a PADI instructor is 100 more than a new OW student, but they also want to have a good time and be entertained on their holiday, so you need to come across with both humour and authority as well as the ability to provide competent and trustworthy instruction.
Ultimately, as a dive professional, you hold the lives of other people in your hands. In the worst case scenario, if you screw up badly enough, somebody will die. It's happened. Practically speaking, it's a very rare occurrence, but it's a responsibility you have to accept and therefore a training environment that exposes you to that responsibility under the direct supervision of a more experienced instructor is, in my experience and opinion, very valuable. I appreciate the fact that others will disagree, but it worked for me and it worked for a lot of the interns that I subsequently taught.
No apologies for the rambling post - it's an important and life-changing decision, and above all you need to be passionate about what you do.
Hope that helps - any questions along the way please feel free to ask.
Cheers
C.
