Career in scuba diving

[Hally]

I've been scuba diving several times on holiday and I'm thinking about giving up my 9 to 5 office job in the UK to do to a Scuba diving training intership at Mermaids scuba diving center in Pattaya Thailand. its a 6 month course which at the end you hopefully become a fully trained diving instructor! Its a huge decision to make does anyone have any advice or do you know anyone who has done similar? Cheers Craig

[Adrian Kelland]

Welcome to YD Craig.

There are those here who instruct part time for fun, for money and some full timers as a job.

Yet I suspect most of us have non diving jobs as it is an easier way to earn a living.

However if you have a dream, who knows how you would feel in the future if you did not give it a go. "If only" etc. Although, from reputation, I hear that Pattaya is not the nicest place in Thailand. You may also find that locals are willing to work for less than you. I have seen European/American dive guides in Thailand struggling to save enough money for the flight home.

So, potentially a few downsides to it, but what do I know. I've never wanted to do it, so haven't.

Good luck if you give it a go.

Adrian

[Bogwoppit]

Things to ask yourself.

1. How much will you earn?
2. Will you teach in the UK?
3. Have you ever dived in the UK?
4. How much experience have you? Would you learn to dive with you in the future if you knew your level of experience?
5. Are you prepared to loose your hobby and gain a job?
6. How long are you going to keep to this career?
7. Are you good with people?
8. Do you mind being a lowely paid dive guide?
9. Can you afford to loose the income whilst you train?
10. What will you do if you fail?

N.B I am not a instructor and never will be because I love my Hobby and I know I a not patient enough with people and I know that it won't keep me in beer.

If you choose to go for it then good luck as its one of lifes dreams for a lot of people.

[jph6969]

Originally Posted by Hally

I've been scuba diving several times on holiday and I'm thinking about giving up my 9 to 5 office job in the UK to do to a Scuba diving training intership at Mermaids scuba diving center in Pattaya Thailand. its a 6 month course which at the end you hopefully become a fully trained diving instructor! Its a huge decision to make does anyone have any advice or do you know anyone who has done similar? Cheers Craig

Don't go to Pattaya!!!!! Believe me. 6 months is far to long. If you are set on this course then go to Koh Tao of the east coast of Thailand. you can do your dive master in 4-6 weeks and that can be streched into months if you want to. Once your a DM you can get work that will sustain living costs and allow you to get expierience. Once you feel you have enough you can do the IDC IE and if you are lucky you might even get taken on.

Don't do an internship, you are effectively paying to work for someone esle. Doh.

The DM course will cost around £300 and depending on your current level of certification you should budget £100 for the AOW and another £100 for the Rescue not forgetting the EFRat £50. Add that lot to the flight to Bangkok and about £300-£400 per month and over lets say 3 months it'll cost you around £2000 to get to DM which it is then possible to live off the money you'll earn.

I have sh1t loads more info if you want it, including when to go etc and can even get you a cheap flight.

PM me if you want to.

Jason

[duncan1958]

I am serving an internship for the divemaster qualification,this is lasting sometime around 4 to 6 months.I personally dont have a problem with that.
I am in the fortunate position to be able to support myself ,well the Spanish dole office really are doing that for me.Anyway in order for you to appeal to a perspective dive centre employer you are going to need experiance and how can you attain this ,do as you were advised and do the course in 4 weeks lovely ok fine but what chance do you have of work realistically,slim is what I would expect the answer to be to that,look at it from an employers point of view.
Also serving an internship is a very good way of actually finding out what the job entails,sure enough it is frustraighting at times and belive me I have felt like throwing the towel in at times this of course you can do at any time.
Duncan

[izzyimset]

Hi.

I don't know about Thailand but reading the Pattaya feedback, even I'd be encouraged to be careful.

But yes, I went through a similar if not identical experience of "packing and changing" towards the diving industry some 9 years ago (but in the UK). I was already a diver of many years so the instructing element was an addon to the experience and one that gradually expanded and grew into different fields parallel to my diving interests. I took it on as it 'financed' my then primary hobby.

But unless guaranteed some form of employment immediately afterwards, my personal advice would be to be careful in ditching everything in and approaching these "six month and instructor" options as most seem quite temporary abroad due to local competition and new qualified labour (the courses and employments being a constant stream).

Primarily if you will be seeking immediate employment back in the UK you'd probably be looking realistically at more experience after the licence anyway. Definitely not six months. Like in all sectors, experience counts a lot in the industry and reflects also on distribution of income here. But even there, in parts of the world where western interests generally regulate the environment, I would assume the same goes.

*Diving Instructing* is great and rewarding but many will find their 'additional abilities' are the actual employment scores in real life when applying for full time employment. From shop running to management, designing to publicity, contact and communication etc. even accounts, bookkeeping etc. abilities.

So any current qualifications you have at the moment thru your job would definitely build up on an employment change and chance but could also be the crucial part of a longer term (fulfilling) employment.

Any extra qualifications and experiences you can gain wherever you train, from boating to servicing etc. will just add on eventually to real life employment where the *job* could then become your primary through multiple responsibilities.

BTW I am an active instructor, (past IANDT) currently PADI and TDI, and I do work in the industry still. Do I regret the change after all I said? -- following 16 years of investigative journalism -- No. I still think its great ;-)

Safe diving
Izzy

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[jph6969]

Originally Posted by duncan1958

I am serving an internship for the divemaster qualification,this is lasting sometime around 4 to 6 months.I personally dont have a problem with that.
I am in the fortunate position to be able to support myself ,well the Spanish dole office really are doing that for me.Anyway in order for you to appeal to a perspective dive centre employer you are going to need experiance and how can you attain this ,do as you were advised and do the course in 4 weeks lovely ok fine but what chance do you have of work realistically,slim is what I would expect the answer to be to that,look at it from an employers point of view.
Also serving an internship is a very good way of actually finding out what the job entails,sure enough it is frustraighting at times and belive me I have felt like throwing the towel in at times this of course you can do at any time.
Duncan

You're quite right each to their own, short course or long.

I choose short because of a time limit I had, others at the same dive centre took 3 months to do the DM course. The course included and encouraged unlimited diving, invaluable IMO. Whilst being a DM trainee you gain experience taking other divers around sites that you have become very familiar with. So that when you complete the course and are a bona fide DM then any employer will know what they are taking on, and believe me there are the jobs in the far east for even relatively novice DMs.

As for the IDC and IE, the course and exam are relatively short and when you qualify, you are a qualified instructor. IMHO at this point you are better off working for a school for nothing to gain experience, than you are paying to gain that same experience through an internship.

I will pm you with more info, but any search for Koh Tao will give plenty of results. With over 30 dive schools and many IDC centres it realy is the hub of Thailands dive industry and it is a beautiful island to boot, with great night life if you want it or realy quite places if that suits.

Jason

[chrisch]

It amazes me, even after all these years, how many people after a few dives want to be an instructor. Maybe I'm too old and cynical or, being an engineer's kid, too pragmatic.

First to instruct in the UK is dire you need HSE and stuff. My friend owns a shop and is an instructor and has given up with the UK and old takes trainees to Egypt.

Almost all the other instructors I know are part-time and have other jobs. (My mate is part-time too being semi-retired).

From what I have read the best instructor jobs are to be had by training wealthy clients on a one-to-one basis for which you need the contacts.

It does however, seem to be a reasonably cheap way to get to dive exotic locations and see a bit of the world. I stress though cheap, not self-supporting.

I have read many horror stories about these zero-to-hero internships and would take James up on his offer and avoid any of the "we will make you an instructor in X months" outfits. This "business idea" is designed to take advantage of the newbie OW with romantic notions of being the dive hero.

Please remember that you will be self-employed and when you're ill you will not get paid. You need to save for your own pension and have loads of insurances and so on.

If I were 20 again I would do it for the fun. Then come home to a proper job and earn some money!

I wish you all the best if you do decide to go for it and hope you take up the kind offers from here on YD. I am glad you had the wit to look here first!!!

Chris

[NotDeadYet]

I'd agree Koh Tao is a much nicer place, very laid back but with loads going on. And, er, if you can't pull in Koh Tao then you're probably cut out for a career as a circus freak One of my favourite places, funnilyt enough!!! I went for four days and ended up staying for a month. You keep seeing people at the bars who told you 3 weeks ago they were getting the ferry next day, it's an easy place to stay. You can also turn up on spec without booking anything, all the dive centres have reps hassling you on the ferry. It's dirt cheap to stay if you can get a monthly deal somewhere. A word of warning, it's not easy to get around so you'll need to budget on hiring a moped, it's only a couple of quid a day but it all mounts up.

However, just because it's a nicer place it doesn't make working there any easier, you'll effectively be an unpaid volunteer bottle monkey and far worse if you do one of those internship thingies. Most of the divemasters I knew there were effectively working in exchange for free diving and weren't getting paid. They were also working feckin' long hours and being worked like dogs. Looking back, I think I was having a better lifestyle not working and paying for dives than they were working, probably didn't cost that much more. Full instructors seemed to make a bit of money but they seemed to be in a little closed cartel.

And if you do go to Koh Tao, the freediving courses that Monica Ganame runs are well worth the money (about £150). You'll learn more than divemastering! And don't miss the 80's nights in the Dragon Bar.

There are a few places in Florida that do some very good OW to OWSI deals and will arrange work placements on qualifying as an instructor that might be a better choice.

Cheers,

Stuart

[dave archer]

Some very sound advice / words of warning above - if I were you I'd do a lot of research before burning any bridges, and you could do a lot worse than talk to some of the folks on here who've been there and got the t-shirt.

All I will add is, having been to both Koh Tao and Pattaya, if you choose between these two do not choose Pattaya. Not unless groups of westerners buying young Thai girls at night and bragging about it all day on the boat is your thing Sordid place, and the diving is not a patch on Koh Tao either. Only went there cos it's nearest diving to Bangkok AFAICS, and after 4 days I'm not in a big hurry to go back. 6 months doesn't bear comtemplation. Koh Tao on the other had is one place I might jet to if I suddenly find myself with 6 months free.

Good luck with whatever path you choose to follow.

Dave.