Part time vs full time instructors

[Diving Dubai]

That's going to be the big difference. Commercial rate for diving around here would be expensive day trips ($350 for a 2 tank) or liveaboards. Maxing out your dives per trip would still require 5 liveaboard trips at $750, so $3700. Or at 2 dives/day at a local mud hole with a $20/day entry fee is $600. Do an international trip some place and you're looking at $4-5000 for maybe a dozen of those dives.

If you have access to beach diving, you are just looking at cost for fills.

Yes I get that. I've just re costed it, for my location, which would involve 2 tank boat dives (that's the diving here) and with my list above its an easy $15k from AoW to OWSI

My point being though is people rarely understand the full costs. Look at any Shop website and you'll see the IDC cost which doesn't seem that much, and looks tempting - unless you read the fine print.

Required training materials inc all instructor slates etc, is pretty much the same as the IDC cost - so we've doubled the price right there

You'll need a Dive medical, unless yoru DM one is still current. If your EFR is over 2 years, you'll need a refresh. Then there's the IE cost then Cert, insurance etc. plus plus plus

So the headline number is just the tip of the iceberg.

When people enquire about OWSI they come in and we chat over a coffee for an hour. (Same with DM's) I go over all the actual costs (as well as discussing the program). We (I) promote AI as a linked course, we offer a really great package deal on it so it's a negligible extra cost. It benefits the Student getting more teaching practice and obviously benefits Staff Instructors wanting to get to MI. 90% of people take it, some do AI+IDC back to back, others decide after AI to take some time before IDC

Some people coming in and finding out the true costs, defer while they save up a bit more money, I'd rather them do that than drop out because of costs.

At the end of the day it does cost a lot of money and people need to go into it eyes wide open. My CD's couldn't give a fig about Platinum Status, they want to turn out quality instructors.

Staff Instructor courses aren't advertised at my shop, you are selected when they think you're ready and it's zero cost to the candidate - everything inc PADI fees covered.

 

[oly5050user]

You told me a while back that your DMs can pull in some very decent tip money for say a weekend at Dutch Springs. Though I'd still prefer a straight salary, the amounts you mentioned seem quite good. I wonder how common a practice this is nation-wide?

Instructor should remind these people to do so. Very often the dm may set up a grill and cook up hot dogs burgers that they pay for out of their own pocket. Remind these people of that fact and to tip them. Choose not to tip then do not eat or drink anything.

 

[oly5050user]

It was nitrox--a course with no dives. It could be anywhere from 1-3 students. More would be theoretically possible, but pretty rare. It would come to anywhere from $3-$7 dollars per hour.

Ok. Here in LDS I teach out of if student comes in with completed online done I do not put in timesheet for class as I am already on clock for store hours while doing it. It’s basically answer any questions they may have, show how to analyze gas, log in procedure, administer quick review exam.

 

[kelemvor]

So.. It's incredibly expensive to be an instructor. It's a thankless job, and demeaning to work at most shops. It's so bad that many shops go the extra step of illegally calling you contractors etc.

It sounds pretty horrible.

Those of you who posted about how awful it is to be an instructor. Why do you do it?

 

[oly5050user]

So.. It's incredibly expensive to be an instructor. It's a thankless job, and demeaning to work at most shops. It's so bad that many shops go the extra step of illegally calling you contractors etc.

It sounds pretty horrible.

Those of you who posted about how awful it is to be an instructor. Why do you do it?

Not all facility owners are cheap sob’s . You need to find the ones who realize that you are making them $$$ and pay accordingly.

 

[Hartattack]

Repeating the math for my situation. When I was at a shop, it was $50 / student.

6 hours of pool time, plus let's say 2 hours for driving, setting up: 8 hours

2 days of open water, 6 hours each with driving, equipment cleaning etc: 12 hours

10 hours of classroom

30 hours total.

$50/30 is $1.67 per student per hour.

Trying to make minimum wage of $15/hour. That's 9 students.

Yup. That's why instructors pack them in. I've heard a number say "it just isn't worth my time." I preferred 4 students, but the shop didn't. I took the pay cut as I was developing my program.

But now that I'm independent, I take only 2 students. I have the costs in a spreadsheet to share with prospective students. They can decide if based on what I offer, and after my costs, is my hourly rate fair (basically minimum wage).

Well said. I do the same but I will go up to 4 students if it's a family or friend group—I like the unified team aspect.

 

[Diving Dubai]

So.. It's incredibly expensive to be an instructor. It's a thankless job, and demeaning to work at most shops. It's so bad that many shops go the extra step of illegally calling you contractors etc.

It sounds pretty horrible.

Those of you who posted about how awful it is to be an instructor. Why do you do it?

I don't find it awful. I couldn't do it full time as ignoring the wage, it's hard relentless work which can ruin or taint your view of diving. Right now in our neck of the woods, because of travel restrictions out of the country, all the dive centres are mega busy 7 days a week (despite the summer temps) there's a back log of students at all centres because not enough pool spaces, boat spaces or instructors 90% of us have day jobs). I currently could teach 6 days a week, and get 75% of each students course fees - No thanks though I like my A/C too much!!

The advantage of being part time is that I get to chose my courses. No DSD, No EFR and few OW. I prefer AoW, Specialities and DM, those courses where I can really make a difference.

I kinda fell into it, had no intention to be an instructor. I decided to take PADI DM , because it was a complimentary although different course to my BSAC DM (Dive Leader) Then I found I enjoyed teaching, so took IDC/IE

It can be really rewarding (as it can be frustrating) you do get to meet lots of interesting people, and in my area the divers you teach you often see again at the centres, or indeed bump into occasionally back over in Dubai. I'm more than happy to be a buddy for my ex students outside of a course, or given some mentoring post course. I want people to enjoy divign as much as I do, and I've had some really patient instructors during my time, so good to pass it forward.

 

[boulderjohn]

So.. It's incredibly expensive to be an instructor. It's a thankless job, and demeaning to work at most shops. It's so bad that many shops go the extra step of illegally calling you contractors etc.

It sounds pretty horrible.

Those of you who posted about how awful it is to be an instructor. Why do you do it?

I started doing it after retirement from my real work and found it an enjoyable hobby for which I got some money. Teaching gave me access to diving year round, which is not otherwise easy living where I do. I was a career educator who loved working with students--I got something of a high from seeing students go from struggling to succeeding.

With tech instruction, it came from necessity. I wanted to do tech diving year round. There is only one site in the Rocky Mountain region where you can do that, and it is on private property. You can only dive that site if you are under the supervision of an owner-approved instructor. I had nobody else certified to do those dives with me if I could get permission to go there, and there was nobody offering the infrastructure (trimix, nitrox, and oxygen fills) needed for the dives. So I became an owner-approved supervising instructor, I certified people to dive with me, and I bought the equipment we needed to fill our tanks. If I quit doing it now, a whole bunch of people, including me, would have to stop doing those kinds of dives.

 

[Foothills]

There is no way that teaching in my region is going to ever turn a profit, even with the LDS I associate with covering part of my insurance and taking into account "free compressed air". The drive to dive sites is an hour or more, one way, and to meet course standards and deliver a meaningful learning experience I have a 6 hour round trip. Fuel & wear and tear on my truck eats any excess cash. Add that to the fact I have never run a tech course with the "minimum" number of dives required by standard and

I get some personal satisfaction out of working with a few students over a duve season and seeing them set and achieve some training & experience acquisition goals, so that makes it "worth it". I teach with a long term goal of relocating and having a part-time when I retire; having more than a decade of teaching experience under my belt should provide some of the credibility necessary to re-establish in a new region. I don't expect to make much money, but I do expect/hope it keeps me active and sane.

 

[Scraps]

I started doing it after retirement from my real work and found it an enjoyable hobby for which I got some money.

I'm in the same boat. Not an instructor yet--going to take a couple tech courses and sharpen skills first.

I'll never net any money from diving. The best diving will do for me financially is make something I enjoy doing a less expensive hobby than it otherwise would be.

And it doesn't bother me if the LDS owner makes more from my courses than I do because I won't have the 24/7 headaches of owning a shop. I can do the fun part (and for me, seeing the light bulb go on in someone's head is very fun) and go home.