Will I be wasting my time and my money?

[Curtis Dawson]

I am 54 and in good health and will be taking my open water certification next month. I have wanting to do this ever since my dad got his cert in 1964. I am looking to start a new life/new career. Would pursuing a career as a commercial/tech diver be a waste of my time and hard earned money? Between the costs of time commitment and money for classes and equipment it comes to approx. 18 months and 12k+( ball park figures)

 

[616fun]

Bottom line. Yes. Most people jumping into commercial diving spend the first few years as a tender and not making much money.

Now, there's plenty of time to get your technical certifications and do these dives for fun.

 

[Superlyte27]

I hate to say this... I really do, because I believe that you should be able to do anything you want given hard work and determination.

No one is going to hire a new 54 year commercial diver.

Now, if I've misunderstood and you want to be a recreational or technical diving instructor to teach other people how to scuba dive.... that's completely doable. But you'll probably go broke doing it. It doesn't pay much.

 

[Doubler]

Many people do not understand the commercial diving industry. If you complete the school you are not a commercial diver. That must be earned through months or years of performing dive tender duties. You earn water time by being a good tender, you need so many hours of underwater time to get your ticket punched. At 54 I don't see that happening.

 

[FalseMaria]

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but I essentially have the same question, but I am 34, and not 54.

I was certified NAUI when I was 15-16, but life got in the way, and I never really kept up with diving. Right now I would like to go back into it and get certified again. This would be mostly for fun/hobby, but I would be interested in the potential of becoming a professional diver as well. I would be OK with this taking up to 10+ years. It would be a long term goal.

Is there any info about how one goes about getting "dive tender" duties? Is it like, volunteering to go dive and help people out, build a reputation, and go from there?

 

[Doppler]

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but I essentially have the same question, but I am 34, and not 54.

I was certified NAUI when I was 15-16, but life got in the way, and I never really kept up with diving. Right now I would like to go back into it and get certified again. This would be mostly for fun/hobby, but I would be interested in the potential of becoming a professional diver as well. I would be OK with this taking up to 10+ years. It would be a long term goal.

Is there any info about how one goes about getting "dive tender" duties? Is it like, volunteering to go dive and help people out, build a reputation, and go from there?

Even at 34, you are on the north side of the age bracket for commercial work... and NO a tender is not volunteering. A line tender is a bona fide job description which requires training, certification and occasionally membership to an accredited professional organization (read union).

To both you and the OP, but especially the OP, even if you decide to teach scuba, what additional skills do you bring with you to the table. There are literally thousands of OW instructors who work intermittently or not at all, and similar numbers who work for peanuts. Technical instruction is different... especially cave, trimix and ccr training... but to have much cred. in that field, you need experience.

Forget about being a pro for the time being at least and just get out and dive... who knows, you may not even like it!

 

[Doubler]

You get dive tender duty by completion of a certified commercial dive school and then get hired by a commercial diving company. Then it's years of mostly part time on call work tending divers surface supplied hoses, helping divers doff and don gear, cleaning gear, toilets and decks. If you listen and follow all instructions given by the master diver you may get thirty minutes in the water every now and then. You need a good rep as a tender if you ever want to be a full fledged diver. It is a young man's game and short lived (usually).

 

[FalseMaria]

Thanks Doppler/Doubler, good info.

I didn't mean any insult by comparing it to volunteering btw, this is my second post on the board, and have been out of diving scene for many years, so I was just guessing at the lingo.

Really, it came down to the fact that I just thought about diving again as a good hobby/sport to get back into, as the sport really appealed to me when I did it back in the day. As for the career, I've been on the lookout for a switch in recent years, and I thought maybe there'd be good opportunities in professional diving if things really 'took off' for me. Obviously there are, but with many caveats, as you've pointed out.

No matter what, I am going to go get certified, and have some fun.

 

[Tortuga68]

I'm guessing the OP may have been using 'commercial' in place of 'professional' aka instructor? Anyway, replies covered both I think

 

[beaverdivers]

I am 54 and in good health and will be taking my open water certification next month. I have wanting to do this ever since my dad got his cert in 1964. I am looking to start a new life/new career. Would pursuing a career as a commercial/tech diver be a waste of my time and hard earned money? Between the costs of time commitment and money for classes and equipment it comes to approx. 18 months and 12k+( ball park figures)

I believe you maybe able to find a new life/ new career doing something related to recreational diving. It sounds like you are headed in the right direction whether diving becomes a Fun activity or a career!