Change your Life! Become a Scuba Instructor--What's next?

This is part 6 in a series of articles about becoming a scuba instructor.

So, you've taken many steps along the path to become a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor. Those steps were life-changing, to say the least. You've explored the underwater world and can now train new divers to share that adventure. You're top of the ladder, right? Yes and no.

Yes, you've achieved a lot and you've hit the top of the first ladder. You're a new Scuba Instructor. On the "no" side, though, you're the new guy/gal. You may not have a lot of experience and you have the basic training you need. Now, the question becomes "how do I stand out?" or "what makes me so special that people will train with me or a resort will hire me?"

Depending on your past experience, it might be just that. If you have a background in Hotel or Resort Management, combined with being a Scuba Instructor, you might be set to manage a dive operation at a resort. Or, maybe you were a mechanic before you took that giant stride into scuba. Excellent! Someone that can fix boat engines or compressors will always be in demand. Do you have experience with web site design and social media? Dive shops and resorts could always use a good virtual face for customers. Do you speak more than one language? Awesome! Resorts are always on the look out for multilingual instructors.

There are some other options that might also help...additional scuba credentials.

Additional diving credentials typically require additional training. I have to say I'm a bit of a safety & emergency response nut, so one of my passions is safety training. I really enjoy teaching divers diving first aid courses from DAN, Divers Alert Network. As an Instructor (from any agency) or dive leader (Divemaster, DiveCon, etc) you can become a DAN Instructor. DAN has a slew of courses that help divers recognize and respond to problems. Here's a partial list of the programs:

• Oxygen First Aid for Scuba Diving Injuries
• Advanced Oxygen First Aid for Scuba Diving Injuries
• AED(Automated External Defibrillators) for Scuba Diving
• First Aid for Hazardous Marine Life Injuries
• On-site Neurological Exam
• Basic Life Support/First Aid
• Dive Medicine for Divers (3 levels)
• and more

As a new Scuba Instructor, you can integrate these programs with your Rescue Diver Course. That gives the course much more value and helps make a better Rescue Diver. Every diver, though, can benefit from Basic Life Support/First Aid and Oxygen First Aid. After all, in an entry level course, like the PADI Open Water Diver course, we teach that oxygen is the standard of care for diving emergencies.

To become a DAN Instructor, you need to complete a DAN Instructor Qualification Course (IQC), conducted by a DAN Trainer. There is a core module (delivered online or in-person) and then a module for each of the individual courses. By completing the online module, you can become a DAN Instructor in one or two areas in a 2-4 hour session. In a weekend, you could be set to teach 5-10 new courses. Why is this so fast and the Instructor Development Course so long? Because the DAN courses build on your existing knowledge.

You can find a DAN Trainer easily by visiting the Divers Alert Network website and clicking on the Education link.

To support DAN Instructors, DAN also provides an online directory of Instructors. That helps drive interested divers to you.

As a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor, during your IDC you learned about teaching Specialty Diver courses. In order to understand the Specialties, it's worth a bit of history.

Way-back-when, Scuba Instructors had very little structure to what and how they taught. Some Instructors would load the equivalent of the current Open Water, Advanced Open Water and Rescue Diver into their entry level course. That was often overwhelming and didn't make for the happiest of students. To address that, PADI created their Open Water Diver course as a true entry-level program. Students learned basic diving skills and how to dive. This made it much more manageable for new divers. Then, additional training was available to fit the students' interests rather than what the Instructor thought "they should know."

Now, brand new PADI Open Water Scuba Instructors can teach three specialties right off: Peak Performance Buoyancy, Project AWARE Specialty and Project AWARE Coral Reef Conservation. As a diver, you know that buoyancy control is crucial to having a comfortable dive and to avoid negative impacts on the aquatic life. The Project AWARE specialties allow you to each divers and non-divers about aquatic ecology and aquatic conservation. Beyond that, you need to either have a good amount of experience or you need to continue your training. PADI has two routes to becoming a specialty instructor--either proof of experience or training with a PADI Course Director that is also a Specialty Instructor Trainer in that Specialty area. So, you say, I've logged a ton of boat dives. I should be able to apply directly to be a Boat Diving Specialty Instructor. Maybe. There are two distinct advantages to taking Specialty Instructor Training from a Course Director. First, you learn how to teach the Specialty and you gain the benefit of the Course Director's experience. Second, for the direct application you need to also document proof of teaching experience in the form of 25 diver certifications you've issued. When you train with a Course Director, you don't need that teaching experience.

Here's a list of some of the PADI Specialties you can train to teach:

• Altitude Diver (procedures for diving at altitudes 1000ft/300m above sea level)
• Boat Diver
• Deep Diver
• Dry Suit Diver
• Diver Propulsion Vehicle
• Enriched Air
• Digital Underwater Photography
• Emergency Oxygen Provider
• Fish Identification
• Underwater Naturalist
• Underwater Navigator
• Underwater Photographer/Videographer
• Ice Diver
• Wreck Diver
• etc, etc, etc

For almost any diving interest, there is probably a course for it. That gives us a lot of flexibility and allows us to accommodate our divers varied interests.

Beyond that, once you can teach five(5) specialties and have certified 25 divers you can apply to be a Master Scuba Diver Trainer (MSDT). Much like a Master Diver, this denotes a diverse training background and a depth of experience in teaching.

Now that you've taken your training to a new level and can teach Specialty Diver courses, is there anything left? You bet! The next step is towards training new instructors. Again, looking back on diving history we find that scuba instructors back in the early days just had to have been diving for a while to be allowed to train new divers. That's no longer the case. Along those lines, to train new instructors, you need additional training. That step is the PADI IDC Staff Instructor. Open to PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainers, this program teaches you the basics of training new instructors. IDC Staff Instructors are like Assistant Instructors for Course Directors.

IDC Staff Instructors develop their abilities to evaluate instructor candidates, give constructive critiques to instructor candidates and learn about the psychology of instructor development. Additionally, IDC Staff Instructor candidates need to demonstrate that they are top-of-their-game. They do that by taking the same written exams that new instructor candidates do, but the bar is set higher. Similarly, they have to give some teaching presentations--again to a higher level than new candidates. Upon completion of training, IDC Staff instructors are qualified to independently train Assistant Instructors and to teach all components of a PADI Instructor Development Course (under a Course Director's supervision/direction).

Once you're a PADI IDC Staff Instructor, your next step is Master Instructor. A PADI Master Instructor has issued at least 150 certifications to almost all levels (Open Water to Assistant Instructor plus Specialties). [Consult your PADI Instructor Manual for details.] This is truly an experienced and well-versed educator. The only step after Master Instructor is to become a PADI Course Director--and that requires special training by the gurus at PADI.

As you can see, there is a whole lot more after passing your Instructor Exam. I wish you the best of success in your new career as a scuba instructor.