How to Become a Scuba Diving Instructor
Do you love scuba diving more than anything? Then consider becoming a scuba diving instructor! Scuba instructors are there for people as they take their first breaths underwater and on their journey to becoming scuba divers.
To be a successful dive instructor, you need patience, a hard-working attitude, and a keen eye for safety. The job isn’t easy, and it will never make you rich, but you’re sure to have a lot more fun than sitting in an office all day!
Become a Scuba Diving Instructor: Qualifications and Prerequisites
Before you embark on your dive instructor training journey, it’s important to note a few basic requirements. You must:
- Be at least 18 years old
- Have a valid first aid and CPR certification completed within 24 months of starting
- Have medical clearance to dive
- Be a certified divemaster
- Be certified as a diver for at least six months
- Have 60 logged dives, including experience with night, deep, and navigation diving
If you’re interested in becoming a scuba dive instructor and are not yet a divemaster, not to worry. Just be sure to check out the complete guide to getting your divemaster certification.
PADI Dive Instructor vs. SSI Dive Instructor
There are many training agencies with which you can become a scuba diving instructor. The two most popular are the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) and Scuba Schools International (SSI). While both will prepare you to teach scuba diving, you will only be able to teach courses offered by your agency.
Up until this point in your scuba dive training, the agency hasn’t mattered. If you’re an open water diver, you’re able to dive with any shop regardless of their agency affiliation. This is the point where your choice of agency matters. Since you will represent your agency and teach to their standards, you must complete their instructor course.
Ideally, you should have a dive shop you would like to work for in mind before you start your dive instructor training, but knowing which region you will be working in is usually enough to make an educated decision. For example, if you’re looking to teach in the United States, there is more demand for PADI instructors.
To determine which agency is more prevalent in your area, research your local dive shops to see which agencies they’re affiliated with. This should give you a good starting point for evaluating job opportunities.
It’s also important to note that SSI instructors must be affiliated with an SSI dive shop to teach and certify students. With PADI, you can independently teach after you pass your instructor exam. For most instructors, this doesn’t matter. However, if you intend to teach outside a dive shop environment, PADI may be the way to go.
Dive Instructor Training
Your instructor training really begins with your open water course as you develop your skills as a diver and your love of the ocean. However, scuba instructor training typically refers to the required course you must complete for taking an instructor exam. These courses are challenging, and rightfully so, as they turn divers into dive instructors.
Scuba Diving Instructor Courses
Each scuba dive agency offers its own unique instructor courses. These instructor courses are usually around two to three weeks long and focus on creating scuba instructors out of scuba divers. So while you will practice dive skills you learned in your open water, the focus will be on demonstrating them to students rather than perfecting them for yourself.
PADI IDC
The PADI Instructor Development Course (IDC) consists of two sections, the Assistant Instructor (AI) course, and the Open Water Scuba Instructor (OWSI) program. While most people complete the entire IDC at once, some choose to complete the AI course and work as an assistant instructor for some time before moving on to the OWSI program.
SSI ITC
The SSI Instructor Training Course (ITC) prepares you to not only pass your instructor exam (IE) but to work as an SSI Open Water Scuba Instructor (OWSI). Unlike PADI, the SSI course is taught as one unit. The Assistant instructor portion is usually included in your instructor course as people rarely take just the AI.
Scuba Instructor Course Cost
Becoming a scuba instructor isn’t cheap. Even the prerequisite courses, open water, advanced open water, rescue, and divemaster, as well as the 100 dives you need to get certified as an instructor, add up fast, but these costs are usually spread out over time.
Assuming you already have your prerequisites covered, it can cost anywhere from $2,500 to $5,000 to become a dive instructor. Instructor courses typically run between $1,000 to $2,500, with agency fees and materials between $800 to $1,500 and instructor exams around $700 to $800.
For specific SSI or PADI instructor course costs, it’s best to compare shops within the same region rather than worldwide, as prices vary widely.
What You Will Learn in Your IDC or ITC
In your divemaster course, you learn how to be a better diver by refining your skills and taking responsibility for yourself and other divers in the water. In your instructor course, it’s assumed you have already perfected your own dive skills. Instead, you learn how to teach these skills according to standards.
For reference, in a PADI IDC, you will have the following practice and assessments:
- Confined water presentations – 4
- Knowledge development presentations – 3
- Open water presentations integrating two skills – 2
- Course workshops – 3
- Open Water training sessions – 3
- Dive theory exams – 5
- Standards exam
- PADI instructor swim test – 800m swim
If that sounds like a lot of work for two weeks, it is! Your IDC or ITC will practically consume your life, but the hard work and long hours will pay off soon enough. Before beginning, you can reduce some of the stress by reviewing materials from your divemaster course, especially dive theory.
While teaching is the main focus, it’s not the only aspect of your IDC or ITC. You will also learn more about the dive industry as a whole, how to represent your agency, and how to sell courses, dive packages, and equipment.
Dive Instructor Internships
Internships are an excellent way for new dive instructors to gain experience and confidence in their teaching skills. Various dive instructor internships are available depending on your specific goals and needs.
In some cases, a dive shop will pay for your instructor course in exchange for divemaster work. For these types of internships, be sure the arrangement is mutually beneficial by doing your due diligence in choosing a shop and ensuring expectations are in writing.
Other dive instructor internships are more focused on instructor development. These you may even have to pay for but can be an excellent way to get your foot in the door in the dive industry. In these internships, you would co-teach with a more experienced instructor, gradually increasing your student involvement until you’re comfortable teaching independently.
Scuba Instructor Certification
After completing your IDC or ITC, you will have to pass an instructor exam (IE) to become a dive instructor officially. Most dive instructor courses are scheduled just before the area IE, so prospective instructors are freshly prepared for exams. However, your IE will have a different evaluator than your instructor and may be held at a different location.
The IE takes place over two days and consists of a written examination and in-water evaluations. Although you may start your IDC or ITC with 60 dives, you need 100 logged dives to take instructor exams. PADI, SSI, and other scuba organizations all have their own IE with evaluations based on the agency’s standards and teaching practices.
Passing the IE or Instructor Evaluation
Prior proper planning prevents poor performance! Paying attention during your instructor course and studying help you immensely when exam time comes. There will be written exams in both dive theory and standards, so be sure to review these topics closely so you can pass on the first try.
After your written exams, you will be tested on teaching in confined water. You will prepare and teach a skill and demonstrate a few others, typically in a swimming pool.
Next, there’s the open water component of your IE. Like the confined skills, you will prepare and conduct two skills, but in an open water environment. Then, you will have to demonstrate your rescue skills, specifically unresponsive diver on the surface.
While you can retake portions of the written exams and confined portion of the IE, you cannot fail the open water assessment. So if you fail this part or the IE altogether, you don’t have to retake your IDC or ITC, but you will have to redo your IE.
Throughout your entire IE, you will be evaluated on professionalism, and dive ability, so have a good attitude and try your best throughout. The IE is supposed to be challenging, but so long as you remember the first rule of diving, keep breathing, you will be ok!
Maintaining Active Status
Once you’re certified as a dive instructor, you need to maintain active status to work legally. To do so, you must pay yearly membership fees to your dive agency and maintain a valid first aid, CPR, and oxygen provider certification.
Membership fees are around $150 to $200 per year, depending on your agency and region. Also, plan to take an EFR course every year or teach one to fulfill this safety requirement.
Working as a Dive Instructor
Once you’ve passed your instructor exam, you can now officially work as a scuba instructor! A career as a dive instructor is incredibly rewarding. You get to share your passion every day and introduce new people to scuba diving.
While teaching courses is a large part of what dive instructors do in their jobs, they also have a lot of other responsibilities around the shop and on the boat. These include:
- Setting up equipment
- Assisting customers
- Upholding safety standards
- Cleaning and maintaining the boat
- Conducting dive briefings and boat briefings
- Filing paperwork and certifying divers
- Selling dive packages and courses
- Helping customers with rental gear
- Advising customers on purchasing gear
- Aiding divers getting back on the bats safely
- Preparing refreshments during surface intervals
- Apply first aid when necessary
- Maintaining and repairing equipment
Most instructors will also work as divemasters, guiding certified divers. The mentality is it’s better to hire an instructor that can do both than a divemaster that is limited to just diving! It’s also important to note that foreigners can only be employed as instructors in some countries, not divemasters, as these jobs are reserved for local people.
Depending on where you work, the ratio of teaching to guiding can vary widely, but as a general rule, the more difficult the water conditions, the more guiding you will do as divers are more likely to be already certified.
Scuba Diving Instructor Salary
Dive instructors have arguably the best job in the world. You get paid to scuba dive and share your passion with people from all over the world! But let’s be honest, you didn’t decide to become a scuba instructor to get rich. If you did, then you will be sorely disappointed.
While dive instructor salaries are typically competitive with local wages, this can be pretty low in developing regions. Working in destinations such as the Florida Keys or the Great Barrier Reef in Australia will have you earning more, but the cost of living is much higher.
Many dive instructors earn a set monthly salary, but there are a couple of other ways instructors are typically paid. Some shops will pay you a flat rate for each course you teach or activity you lead. Similarly, some shops will pay a set amount for each student you’re responsible for. These payment options are similar in that you do not have a set salary.
Alternative pay agreements can be great in busy times since the more you work, the more you make; but there are no guarantees. For example, if your shop pays per course, you get paid the same amount whether you have a large group or one person. And if they pay per guest and you’re on a three-day course with one student, it limits your earnings for the week.
Some dive shops will also offer commission pay based on equipment sales or continued education, and tips are common in many regions.
Since dive instructor salary seems to be so commonly asked, I interviewed professionals from around the world to write a comprehensive guide to scuba diving instructor salary. Take a look!
Getting Your First Job as a Dive Instructor
The scuba dive industry is at its core customer service. In most cases, the best way to find a job is to grow your scuba network and build relationships with your local dive shops.
However, you can use some online resources to start your job search. The Facebook group Dive Jobs Worldwide has over 80,000 members with new posts every day. There is an excellent employment section on ScubaBoard, the largest online scuba community.
Advancing Your Career as a Dive Instructor
While holding a dive instructor certification is mandatory for working as a scuba instructor, there are a few things dive shops worldwide always look for when hiring staff. To increase your chances of landing the dive instructor job of your dreams, consider boosting your resume with these extra qualifications.
Languages
Simply put, the more languages you can speak fluently, the more job opportunities you will have in the dive industry. Of course, depending on where you choose to work, some languages are more in demand than others but speaking a second or third language will always help you get a dive instructor job.
People love to dive in new locations making dive vacations incredibly popular. Dive shops need staff that can meet the language needs of all these travelers, so they tend to hire a multicultural mix of instructors that can teach in different languages to meet this need.
Boat Licenses
Having a valid speedboat, coxswain, or boat captain license helps immensely. If you can legally drive a boat for your company, you instantly become more valuable. On a similar note, be sure to mention on your resume if you have a driver’s license as some shops may desire you to transport students or equipment.
Servicing Gear
Being able to service gear or fill tanks also is a skill many dive shops look for in their instructors. Official dealer certifications for servicing the brand of regulators used in the shop are beneficial.
Sales and Social Media
If you have any previous customer service, sales, marketing, or social media experience, be sure to highlight this on your dive resume. Even though your primary role as a dive instructor will be to teach students and guide certified divers, these “shop skills” will often set you apart.
Teaching Specialties
It makes sense that the more courses you can teach, the more employable you are. So consider becoming an SSI or PADI specialty instructor. The best specialties to start with are the most popular courses: nitrox, deep, and rescue.
Luckily, some of the most popular specialties are commonly included in your instructor training! Therefore, when choosing a school for your IDC or ITC, ask if any specialties are included or offered at a reduced price.
Advancing Your Teaching Status
Besides teaching specialties, dive instructors may choose to advance within their organization to achieve higher teaching status.
For PADI instructors, the progression is:
- Assistant Instructor
- Open Water Scuba Instructor
- Specialty Instructor
- Master Scuba Diver Trainer (MSDT): Instructors that have certified at least 25 divers and have earned at last five PADI Specialty Instructor Certifications can become MSDTs
- IDC Staff Instructor: Can assist a course director with instructor training and certify assistant instructors
For SSI instructors, the progression is:
- Open Water Scuba Instructor
- Specialty Instructor
- Advanced Open Water Instructor: Instructors certified to teach at least four specialty courses, including Stress & Rescue, and have issued at least 15 certifications
- Divemaster Instructor: Advanced Open Water Instructors that are certified to teach Science of Diving and have issued at least 30 certifications
- Master Instructor: Dive Control Specialist Instructors with 250 dives and at least 150 certifications
Scuba Instructor Agency Crossovers
If you are already a scuba instructor but find yourself wanting to work for a shop operating with another agency or multiple agencies, you can do a crossover course! Rather than redoing your entire course, a crossover allows you to learn to teach to the standards of another agency.
PADI to SSI Crossover
If you are a PADI OWSI, or an instructor from another recognized agency, wishing to work as an SSI instructor, you’re in luck. SSI offers a quick two-day course to familiarize instructors with SSI teaching methods and evaluation. The SSI crossover course typically costs around $500-$600.
SSI to PADI Crossover
If you are an SSI instructor, or an instructor from another recognized agency, looking to become a PADI instructor, the process is a bit more complicated and expensive. PADI will only count your previous training as the equivalent of their Assistant Instructor certification. This means you will need to complete the OWSI portion of the IDC and take the PADI IE.
Are You Ready to Become a Dive Instructor?
When it comes to cool jobs, scuba instructor takes the cake. You get to spend every day out on a boat and in the water sharing your passion with others. And there’s nothing better than watching the sunset with a cold beer and your dive team at the end of a hard day’s work.
FAQs of Dive Instructors
How long does it take to become a dive instructor?
Dive instructor courses typically take around two weeks to complete. However, taking your divemaster training is a prerequisite and usually takes between four to six weeks.
How much does it cost to become a dive instructor?
For people already holding a divemaster certification, it costs between $2,500 to $5,000 to become a dive instructor.
What do you need to become a scuba diving instructor?
To become a dive instructor, you first and foremost need an excellent customer service attitude and a love of the underwater world. You also need valid dive instructor and first responder certifications.
About the Author Alex Dryjowicz
Alex Dryjowicz is an avid writer, blogger, and professional scuba divemaster. A nomad at heart, she spends her time bouncing between the world’s best diving destinations while calling a ridiculously oversized backpack home. She is thrilled to be here at Watercraft Watch, sharing her insights into all things scuba diving.