Hi, I've been a divemaster for a number of years, have recently retired from the military, and am considering becoming an instructor for a (part-time) second career. The VA might be willing to pay for my training and equipment but, as with most things government, I have a few hoops to jump through first.
My counselor gave me a list of items I must accomplish prior to approving me for the program. One of these is to interview people in the profession to see what they consider the biggest "Pros" and "Cons" of the industry/profession are. I was also told that I could not use the instructors/DMs in my LDS because that is where I plan to get my training, they are friends of mine, and their viewpoint might be biased.
Specifically, what I'm asking for is for dive professionals on this board to respond with their opinion of the best and the worst parts. If you don't mind, please add your first name and last initial and roughly (state/country) where you are located. Silly, I know, but, that's what she is asking for. Thanks for your help.
Rob T. -- The Netherlands. Diver since 1984, DM since 2003. Instructor since 2007. Technical diver since 2002. Highly addicted to scuba diving and unashamed to admit it.
To me the pro's basically boil down to two things.
1) you get to teach, which is a valuable skill to learn for now and any future endeavor you might be interested in. The training PADI gives will provide you with a good starting point to learn how to teach well but obviously like any skill, you will need to search for mentors and colleagues who can help make you better (if you are open to that). this board is a good resource for that.
In my particular case, "paying forward" to the next generation of divers (and upcoming instructors, even if they don't know it yet) was very rewarding. In fact, in my case one of my technical instructors was a former student, which gave me a unique sense of pride.
2) The fact that you're training basic skills on a regular basis means that your basic skills become as close to second nature as they can be. You grow a HUGE radar for problems and your attention starts to "snap in" to the smallest of details that could potentially escalate into something more dangerous. Developing this "radar" for problems has added an element if safety to my diving that I can't easily qualify. I'm willing to say that if I were not an instructor that I may never have developed these important skills.
To me the cons are also basically two fold
3) Some instructors stop diving. What I mean to say is that if you are an instructor who is humping his/her butt over the same 200m stretch of reef day in and day out with students in tow then you have basically stopped diving. I try to put a lot of effort into making at least as many dives of my own in a year as I do training dives. This takes time.... a LOT of time. It takes having good (and understanding) buddies around you and it takes having a VERY understanding spouse. In the end, I'm about to stop teaching (or at least take an extended hiatus) because I was starting to make too many sacrifices in other areas of my life in order to be an instructor. Scuba training is a time intensive activity if you need to combine it with other things and finding a "balance" can sometimes be difficult.
4) As a vocation, a passion, a hobby, or a unique and interesting way of life, there are few things on this planet that compare to scuba diving unless you are also an astronaut. However, and this point is about the down side.... don't let anyone tell you it's a "career" if the word "career" in your experience has anything remotely to do with making money. Almost every diving instructor I've ever met (and I know a great many) would make more money working for minimum wage at McDonald's shaking oil out of french fries than they ever made as an instructor. The most successful and active instructors I know are the ones who are rich enough to afford to be successful and active. As a way of making money it scores a big fat zero on the scale of "zero = sucks" to "-10 = abysmal". There is nothing above zero on this scale unless you are willing to stop diving (see #3).
To me the pro's outweighed the cons enough to do this work and to get a LOT of pleasure from doing doing it for 15 years. The skills, the friendships, the experiences and the pride I have from doing that makes every day of being an instructor worth every moment I put into it.
R..
