Change your life! Become a SCUBA Instructor

Imagine this as your office

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Career Change?

Are you a scuba diver looking to become a professional? Have you just returned from a tropical vacation and decided you need to become a scuba instructor? Here's the path...

To become a Scuba Instructor, there are many steps along the path and many agencies to train through. As I'm a PADI Course Director and train within the PADI system, that is what I'll focus on. Other agencies have similar requirements. PADI is the Professional Association of Diving Instructors and has been around for more than 45 years now.

Scuba Instructors have some unique job opportunities. From working at a dive shop in the States to backpacking between resorts around the world, you are sure to find a Scuba Instructor lifestyle that fits you. Scuba Instructors do a lot of work, but the pay-off is immeasurable. We get to explore parts of the world most people will never see. We come face-to-face with aquatic life that non-divers only see on TV or in movies (like the bright orange garibaldi above, found off the California Channel Islands). Short of working for NASA or having millions of dollars to catch a ride on a rocket, we get to experience weightlessness. Divers enjoy life in all three dimensions, we fly through the water and stop within inches of a coral reef to take a photo. There are even astronauts that dream about diving while in space. That tells me that Scuba Instructors have the best job ever.

This is where it all starts--in confined water

Source: http://www.webscuba.net

The Path

Let's take a look at the steps along the path. In future articles, I'll expand on the various courses providing more detail on each of the steps. If you're already certified at the Open Water level or higher, just jump to where you're at in the list below and go from there.

Open Water Diver: Learn the basics of diving.
Advanced Open Water or Adventure Diver: Start sampling the things divers do for fun.
Rescue Diver: Learn how to prevent and respond to problems.
Specialty Courses (optional): Go into further depth (pardon the pun) in various specialty diving areas like Night Diving or using Enriched Air
Divemaster: Learn about group management and control, practical lessons in physiology, scuba equipment, dive planning and scuba-specific physics.
Instructor: Learn how to teach in the classroom, in a pool and in an open water setting. You'll also learn more about the business of diving and how the PADI system addresses learning and divers' interests.
Beyond Instructor: Just as there is continuing education beyond the Open Water Diver level, there is training beyond the Instructor level.

Now, if you're not a diver or have just become a diver, you might be wondering "Why do I need a certification?" The simple reason is safety. To ensure safety, before you can purchase or rent scuba equipment, you need some basic training on how to use it. That initial training comes in the Open Water Diver course. Beyond that, some specialized equipment, like a dry suit, also requires additional training to ensure you can dive with it safely.

Within the PADI System, Open Water Diver, Advanced Open Water, Rescue Diver and Divemaster can be conducted by an Open Water Scuba Instructor. Most of the Specialty Diver courses, require an Open Water Scuba Instructor that also has Specialty Instructor credentials. Instructor Development Courses, though, are conducted by a PADI Course Director. These are the Instructor Trainers in the system and have gone through extensive training beyond the Open Water Scuba Instructor level to be able to teach these programs.