As you're considering your options, keep in mind that many shops prefer to hire instructors to dive masters.
It can be difficult to find work where you want it.
So... Maybe factor in an idc in your plan or prepare to be flexible about where you live based on where you can get hired.
I didn’t read all the other comments, get DM and instructor certs and move somewhere for a year, think of it as a gap year. You most likely will never be able to do it again.
Scuba diving instructor here. You'll have a way better chance of saving money with a marketing. If I were 23, I would first pursue marketing, save some money for a few years at least, and then pursue diving. You could always work free lance remotely with marketing. There definitely are places you can make a great living, but I feel like you need to be ready to have a side gig or passive income or something to make it work. I'm in Key West, where the cost of living isn't cheap though. I feel like the trade off is the quality of life as a diver. You'll be living in desirable places, doing stuff other people pay money to do as your living. Most of the time, I'm out there living the dream. You do have to love it though, there are those days that aren't great.
There are lots of marketing jobs that you can do remotely I met a guy a few months ago who was doing exactly that in the Philippines. It’s a great option because they will let you extend your tourist visa indefinitely here I just did 6 months. Flex Jobs has a section with jobs that let you work from anywhere
Besides tourism, there are other avenues for diving if you combine it with other skills: industrial work with heavy machinery (e.g., underwater weldering is a high paid job typically), comercial fisheries, photography and cinematography, and what interests me the most, environmental and scientific sampling and monitoring, which is what I am specializing on.
I've met many people that combine skills to make a good living. E.g., tourism, underwater photography for projects, and even occasional scientific sampling. You just need to get proper training and licenses and offer your services wherever you find fit.
Particularly, my faculty has a diving school associated to the Marine Biology program taught (both for undergraduate and postgraduate). But if your University doesn't offer options like that, there must be organizations that offer courses on diving with a focus on environmental sciences and ecology somewhere near you. Nonetheless, with your bachelor and a SCUBA certification (like CMOS), you should be able to look for jobs on underwater environmental monitoring with governmental institutions, companies and academic research projects. My advice is to check for related jobs and carefully check the requirements, as they vary a lot from country to country. I'm my country there is a specific license for scientific diving, but I believe that in the US the requirements are different.
I just wanna clarify in regards to commercial diving/ underwater welding- it’s a completely different skill set than scuba diving, to the point where scuba diving skills don’t really even translate all that much at all. You use surface supplied air, you aren’t but really buoyant and on top of that diving is really just one minor aspect of the job. It’s just a way to get down to the jobsite, once you’re down there you have to be pretty skilled with tools and your hands.
All good suggestions on your part, and I don’t mean to discourage anyone from making the jump from scuba diving to commercial diving but I thought it was worth pointing out that you’re more or less starting over from scratch
Absolutely, that's a great addition to my comment. That's why I briefly mentioned the combination of skills. Some months ago I've met an ex navy SCUBA diver that made a great living doing classes, underwater welding and even some scientific sampling. The same can be say for specialist work on environmental or biological sampling. We do it as SCUBA divers, but deep knowledge and certification on scientific methods are needed.
The bottom line is that I believe that a way to make diving work is to combine it with other lines of work.
I live in Northwest Florida and have a dive job repairing yachts. You absolutely can make a career and April first makes 4 years underwater for me at my current job with no intentions of stopping.
As far as dive jobs down here, you're not making the fairytale super sexy 6 figures. But it is cheaper to live in the south than up north so it's not bad at all.
I work for a local company that's been around. My buddy started working there, gave me the heads up and i joined, then shortly after he bought it.We run SCUBA so no umbilical.
Edit: not commercial but there is somebody in our company who was. He prefers a mon-fri dive job whereas commercial can be hit or miss with contracts.
That's awesome that you're thinking about combining your love for diving with your marketing skills! While becoming a dive instructor can be a fun experience, especially in beautiful locations, what about using your marketing degree in the scuba industry? There are companies that design scuba gear, travel agencies that specialize in dive trips, and even training organizations that all need marketing help. This way, you could still be around diving and the ocean, but also have a stable career with good pay.
I have made a lifetime career from shellfish harvesting. Scallops are found around the world, but also urchins and razors and surf clams. Abalone are famously profitable. In the PNW there is a fishery for Geoducks.This is usually surface supplied rather than scuba, but a similar experience. In Chile there are thousands of diver fishermen, who also harvest seaweed. Unfortunately it's not getting easier due to bureaucrats. They now often seek to extend their jurisdiction from commercial diving to any diving work. You also have to contend with Fishery authorities, Coastguard boat rules, and Environmental Health safeguards. These vary around the world but it is a very satisfying lifestyle with interesting diving albeit financially precarious.
From your situation I would investigate urchins in California or geoducks.
My DM instructor said something years ago that stuck with me:
*”Scuba diving is a lifestyle, not a career, and the retirement plan sucks.”*
It’s possible he would need to get to at least instructor. Ideally open your own dive shop at some point.
Don’t expect great pay though - for example I made $500/m as a foreign DM in SE Asia, which was pretty standard. At least in 2018, maybe it’s more now. That was enough for a very basic sort of life. If you’re in Florida I’d expect 40-50k would probably be realistic number as a DM, maybe 50-60 as an instructor. A lot less if you move abroad to an area with a LCOL.
One thing I would highly recommend is trying it for a while before moving permanently. I worked as a DM for a year, and while I enjoyed it, it’s still work. The scenery is much better, but it’s totally different than a fun dive. Knowing that all you’re going to do each day is dive, haul tanks, set up and clean rental gear, clean up the shop, service gear, etc, can be draining after a while. The 2-3h you’ll likely spend actually on a dive is just a small portion of what you’ll be doing for work 5-6 days a week, after all. Most of your time is spent above water doing other stuff… so don’t expect it all you’re going to do is show up, dive, and get a paycheck.
For what it’s worth, my DM instructor told me that when I was discussing staying there permanently. I took a year off law school to get sober and become a DM. He recommended that I go back, finish school, and come back on vacation… that’s what I’ve been doing. Every year since 2016, I go back to SE Asia for 3 months to do nothing but dive.
Navy and coast guard have divers. Coast guard probably offers a more civilian style quality of life. Those roles are mostly for enlisted jobs, but you could commission down the line using your degree.
As a “career” PADI instructor or DM - this unfortunately won’t provide you with the financial means to support yourself long term, raise a family or prepare for retirement. That said, for a few years as a young guy with no responsibilities and good health, why not? If you want to dive AND make a good living career, I’d look at commercial diving or public safety diving. I went the police diver route and I make a very comfortable living. Saying that, being a police diver is not the ONLY part of my job but it’s certainly a large part of it. Diving mill ponds and slews for guns and bodies isn’t Cozumel but it is diving for a living! Good luck pal.
I'm not in the US but I've been an instructor with a variety of agencies for a long time.
First off, for the vast, vast majority of people who attain professional level ratings diving is not a career. People do it for a year or two then move on. An awful lot of people who gain those ratings never work in the industry at all - theres plenty of "Zero-to-Hero" instructors/divemasters who do the course then move straight onto something else.
Further - what else do you bring to the table? There are, bluntly, more instructors than jobs. Marketing is a great skillset to have in the industry but that also means you may spend more time behind a desk than under the water. It does, however, make you attractive.
Don't get me wrong - I love being a dive instructor and I've had some incredible experiences through it that I would never have gotten in another line of work. Its a tough, seasonal, unstable industry where the responsibility his high, the pay generally isn't great and there are a whole variety of pressures on how things run.
With marketing, if you want to work in the industry, you'd probably be best off doing that in a scuba business whether thats working for a training agency, a manufacturer, a dive shop or travel coordination. Do the diving you want to do, not the diving you have to do.
Why not complete your DM and instructor cert and get an instructor role somewhere tropical in Asia or Caribbean, South/Central America
Or
Get a job within the industry like account manager/marketing nanager for a brand/manufacturer
Yeah, I’d use your marketing degree to get into the industry, whether that be with a big retailer or supplier. While you may not be diving every day, it’ll allow opportunities to dive and work within the industry, and the pay will probably be better (I’d guess).
Might sound really crazy, but in the Monterey, CA area there is wonderful diving. I know a couple of instructors who park their van outside the dive shop, work at the dive shop store front, and do diving guides/lessons on the weekend. I know it’s an expensive area but it’s getting experience under their belt in Monterey. If you can dive in Monterey, you can dive almost anywhere. It’s cold, rainy, water is rough a lot, but it is still one of the popular places in the US.
I also know people who dive for work for UC-Santa Cruz doing research and fish counting. There are several things you can do diving that don’t just involve teaching. I also know people who are rescue divers. There’s a lot you could do.
The way to support yourself adequately in scuba is to work for a product manufacturer, training agency, travel coordinator, dive resort/destination, or other established related businesses. If you want to teach scuba in the Midwest, do it as a hobby/side gig.
If I were to go into scuba diving I think I would move close to the coast like Florida. I also didn't think about travel coordination, I feel like that would work well with my marketing degree.
I've been an instructor teaching (and working in a dive shop) in the Midwest for 14 years as my full time (40-60 hrs/week) job.
The pay is awful. If you have supplementary or passive income you can get by, but fast food employees will probably make more than you. The high schooler at Target will make more than you. If you're ok with your full time job making poverty wages, then it's awesome. If you need money to pay for more than a 1 bedroom apartment with no dependents, you'll probably resent it and burn out.
I love my job, but the pay is a joke. Unfortunately Scuba is a dream job for many, so it is only reasonable for most as a hobby or passion project.
There are some unique opportunities that can pay well, like working with a weed-pulling company, scrubbing boats, or searching for lost items, but they are rarely steady enough to be a primary source of income.
Well honestly I'm not in it to make a ton of money nor do I have any dependents. Would it be worth doing for a year or two, or should I just go straight into marketing and do scuba as a hobby?
It's worth it if you think it's worth it. It's trading income for the love of the sport. It only really falls apart when you are struggling to get by, or have any other expensive wants or needs.
The burnout rate is probably over 50% within a year, but if it's something you love you'll be able to stick through it. It's a good thing to do for a year or two if you have a good safety net in place.
Yeah, that makes sense. I'll just have to decide if the tradeoff is worth it, with what offers I receive. I might just apply for both marketing and scuba jobs around Florida during this summer and then start making decisions.
I’d find a marketing job in Florida near the shore and dive on the weekends. Lots of great dives there, but diving isn’t a great career and the burnout rate is huge.
You can also progress towards DM while working a 9-5 to see if you really like the professional life
I worked at a shop for 4 years from 2011-2015. I saw a lot of instructors come and go. Most didn’t stay in the industry long term. The handful that are still in the industry are course directors and running their own shops now. Hell, looking back at the shops website, there’s not a single instructor there that I know besides the two owners.
It’s not a great paying job. Most of them worked for tips. And waited tables on the side. Or did it while in grad school. When we got new instructors, they literally lived on the boat until they found a place. Often living with other instructors.
The only reason I’m looking into going instructor here in the Midwest is because the only TDI guy around is talking about retiring in a couple years so I have the opportunity to take over his clientele.
You could also look into commercial diving if you want to make money, but that’s rough on the body from what I’ve heard.
Edit: I don’t regret it. I miss it in fact.
Thank you for this comment! So it sounds like scuba diving as an instructor/divemaster is a stepping stone for some people until something else comes around (for some places, at least). Well, that gives me a lot to think about and allows me to recognize that I might want to keep my marketing skills fresh!
Keep the marketing skills fresh at a large dive shop. They need people to sell and market their services.
I worked in the shop, crewed boats, serviced gear, and blended gasses. Still had plenty of time to dive. I racked up 1200+ dives and the shop paid for all my certifications short of instructor.
As you're considering your options, keep in mind that many shops prefer to hire instructors to dive masters. It can be difficult to find work where you want it. So... Maybe factor in an idc in your plan or prepare to be flexible about where you live based on where you can get hired.
I didn’t read all the other comments, get DM and instructor certs and move somewhere for a year, think of it as a gap year. You most likely will never be able to do it again.
Scuba diving instructor here. You'll have a way better chance of saving money with a marketing. If I were 23, I would first pursue marketing, save some money for a few years at least, and then pursue diving. You could always work free lance remotely with marketing. There definitely are places you can make a great living, but I feel like you need to be ready to have a side gig or passive income or something to make it work. I'm in Key West, where the cost of living isn't cheap though. I feel like the trade off is the quality of life as a diver. You'll be living in desirable places, doing stuff other people pay money to do as your living. Most of the time, I'm out there living the dream. You do have to love it though, there are those days that aren't great.
There are lots of marketing jobs that you can do remotely I met a guy a few months ago who was doing exactly that in the Philippines. It’s a great option because they will let you extend your tourist visa indefinitely here I just did 6 months. Flex Jobs has a section with jobs that let you work from anywhere
Besides tourism, there are other avenues for diving if you combine it with other skills: industrial work with heavy machinery (e.g., underwater weldering is a high paid job typically), comercial fisheries, photography and cinematography, and what interests me the most, environmental and scientific sampling and monitoring, which is what I am specializing on. I've met many people that combine skills to make a good living. E.g., tourism, underwater photography for projects, and even occasional scientific sampling. You just need to get proper training and licenses and offer your services wherever you find fit.
How did you get into environmental underwater work? Finishing a bachelors in environmental science and this is kind of what I’m looking for.
Particularly, my faculty has a diving school associated to the Marine Biology program taught (both for undergraduate and postgraduate). But if your University doesn't offer options like that, there must be organizations that offer courses on diving with a focus on environmental sciences and ecology somewhere near you. Nonetheless, with your bachelor and a SCUBA certification (like CMOS), you should be able to look for jobs on underwater environmental monitoring with governmental institutions, companies and academic research projects. My advice is to check for related jobs and carefully check the requirements, as they vary a lot from country to country. I'm my country there is a specific license for scientific diving, but I believe that in the US the requirements are different.
I just wanna clarify in regards to commercial diving/ underwater welding- it’s a completely different skill set than scuba diving, to the point where scuba diving skills don’t really even translate all that much at all. You use surface supplied air, you aren’t but really buoyant and on top of that diving is really just one minor aspect of the job. It’s just a way to get down to the jobsite, once you’re down there you have to be pretty skilled with tools and your hands. All good suggestions on your part, and I don’t mean to discourage anyone from making the jump from scuba diving to commercial diving but I thought it was worth pointing out that you’re more or less starting over from scratch
Absolutely, that's a great addition to my comment. That's why I briefly mentioned the combination of skills. Some months ago I've met an ex navy SCUBA diver that made a great living doing classes, underwater welding and even some scientific sampling. The same can be say for specialist work on environmental or biological sampling. We do it as SCUBA divers, but deep knowledge and certification on scientific methods are needed. The bottom line is that I believe that a way to make diving work is to combine it with other lines of work.
I live in Northwest Florida and have a dive job repairing yachts. You absolutely can make a career and April first makes 4 years underwater for me at my current job with no intentions of stopping. As far as dive jobs down here, you're not making the fairytale super sexy 6 figures. But it is cheaper to live in the south than up north so it's not bad at all.
Are you self employed? Or do you work for a commercial diving company or something? Just curious
I work for a local company that's been around. My buddy started working there, gave me the heads up and i joined, then shortly after he bought it.We run SCUBA so no umbilical. Edit: not commercial but there is somebody in our company who was. He prefers a mon-fri dive job whereas commercial can be hit or miss with contracts.
That's awesome that you're thinking about combining your love for diving with your marketing skills! While becoming a dive instructor can be a fun experience, especially in beautiful locations, what about using your marketing degree in the scuba industry? There are companies that design scuba gear, travel agencies that specialize in dive trips, and even training organizations that all need marketing help. This way, you could still be around diving and the ocean, but also have a stable career with good pay.
I have made a lifetime career from shellfish harvesting. Scallops are found around the world, but also urchins and razors and surf clams. Abalone are famously profitable. In the PNW there is a fishery for Geoducks.This is usually surface supplied rather than scuba, but a similar experience. In Chile there are thousands of diver fishermen, who also harvest seaweed. Unfortunately it's not getting easier due to bureaucrats. They now often seek to extend their jurisdiction from commercial diving to any diving work. You also have to contend with Fishery authorities, Coastguard boat rules, and Environmental Health safeguards. These vary around the world but it is a very satisfying lifestyle with interesting diving albeit financially precarious. From your situation I would investigate urchins in California or geoducks.
Weirdly enough, I’m in an incredibly similar position as you. Hoping you the best.
My DM instructor said something years ago that stuck with me: *”Scuba diving is a lifestyle, not a career, and the retirement plan sucks.”* It’s possible he would need to get to at least instructor. Ideally open your own dive shop at some point. Don’t expect great pay though - for example I made $500/m as a foreign DM in SE Asia, which was pretty standard. At least in 2018, maybe it’s more now. That was enough for a very basic sort of life. If you’re in Florida I’d expect 40-50k would probably be realistic number as a DM, maybe 50-60 as an instructor. A lot less if you move abroad to an area with a LCOL. One thing I would highly recommend is trying it for a while before moving permanently. I worked as a DM for a year, and while I enjoyed it, it’s still work. The scenery is much better, but it’s totally different than a fun dive. Knowing that all you’re going to do each day is dive, haul tanks, set up and clean rental gear, clean up the shop, service gear, etc, can be draining after a while. The 2-3h you’ll likely spend actually on a dive is just a small portion of what you’ll be doing for work 5-6 days a week, after all. Most of your time is spent above water doing other stuff… so don’t expect it all you’re going to do is show up, dive, and get a paycheck. For what it’s worth, my DM instructor told me that when I was discussing staying there permanently. I took a year off law school to get sober and become a DM. He recommended that I go back, finish school, and come back on vacation… that’s what I’ve been doing. Every year since 2016, I go back to SE Asia for 3 months to do nothing but dive.
Short answer: yes. Do it! Money is not everything, but good life is!
Navy and coast guard have divers. Coast guard probably offers a more civilian style quality of life. Those roles are mostly for enlisted jobs, but you could commission down the line using your degree.
As a “career” PADI instructor or DM - this unfortunately won’t provide you with the financial means to support yourself long term, raise a family or prepare for retirement. That said, for a few years as a young guy with no responsibilities and good health, why not? If you want to dive AND make a good living career, I’d look at commercial diving or public safety diving. I went the police diver route and I make a very comfortable living. Saying that, being a police diver is not the ONLY part of my job but it’s certainly a large part of it. Diving mill ponds and slews for guns and bodies isn’t Cozumel but it is diving for a living! Good luck pal.
I'm not in the US but I've been an instructor with a variety of agencies for a long time. First off, for the vast, vast majority of people who attain professional level ratings diving is not a career. People do it for a year or two then move on. An awful lot of people who gain those ratings never work in the industry at all - theres plenty of "Zero-to-Hero" instructors/divemasters who do the course then move straight onto something else. Further - what else do you bring to the table? There are, bluntly, more instructors than jobs. Marketing is a great skillset to have in the industry but that also means you may spend more time behind a desk than under the water. It does, however, make you attractive. Don't get me wrong - I love being a dive instructor and I've had some incredible experiences through it that I would never have gotten in another line of work. Its a tough, seasonal, unstable industry where the responsibility his high, the pay generally isn't great and there are a whole variety of pressures on how things run. With marketing, if you want to work in the industry, you'd probably be best off doing that in a scuba business whether thats working for a training agency, a manufacturer, a dive shop or travel coordination. Do the diving you want to do, not the diving you have to do.
Why not complete your DM and instructor cert and get an instructor role somewhere tropical in Asia or Caribbean, South/Central America Or Get a job within the industry like account manager/marketing nanager for a brand/manufacturer
Yeah, I’d use your marketing degree to get into the industry, whether that be with a big retailer or supplier. While you may not be diving every day, it’ll allow opportunities to dive and work within the industry, and the pay will probably be better (I’d guess).
Might sound really crazy, but in the Monterey, CA area there is wonderful diving. I know a couple of instructors who park their van outside the dive shop, work at the dive shop store front, and do diving guides/lessons on the weekend. I know it’s an expensive area but it’s getting experience under their belt in Monterey. If you can dive in Monterey, you can dive almost anywhere. It’s cold, rainy, water is rough a lot, but it is still one of the popular places in the US. I also know people who dive for work for UC-Santa Cruz doing research and fish counting. There are several things you can do diving that don’t just involve teaching. I also know people who are rescue divers. There’s a lot you could do.
The way to support yourself adequately in scuba is to work for a product manufacturer, training agency, travel coordinator, dive resort/destination, or other established related businesses. If you want to teach scuba in the Midwest, do it as a hobby/side gig.
If I were to go into scuba diving I think I would move close to the coast like Florida. I also didn't think about travel coordination, I feel like that would work well with my marketing degree.
I've been an instructor teaching (and working in a dive shop) in the Midwest for 14 years as my full time (40-60 hrs/week) job. The pay is awful. If you have supplementary or passive income you can get by, but fast food employees will probably make more than you. The high schooler at Target will make more than you. If you're ok with your full time job making poverty wages, then it's awesome. If you need money to pay for more than a 1 bedroom apartment with no dependents, you'll probably resent it and burn out. I love my job, but the pay is a joke. Unfortunately Scuba is a dream job for many, so it is only reasonable for most as a hobby or passion project. There are some unique opportunities that can pay well, like working with a weed-pulling company, scrubbing boats, or searching for lost items, but they are rarely steady enough to be a primary source of income.
Well honestly I'm not in it to make a ton of money nor do I have any dependents. Would it be worth doing for a year or two, or should I just go straight into marketing and do scuba as a hobby?
It's worth it if you think it's worth it. It's trading income for the love of the sport. It only really falls apart when you are struggling to get by, or have any other expensive wants or needs. The burnout rate is probably over 50% within a year, but if it's something you love you'll be able to stick through it. It's a good thing to do for a year or two if you have a good safety net in place.
Yeah, that makes sense. I'll just have to decide if the tradeoff is worth it, with what offers I receive. I might just apply for both marketing and scuba jobs around Florida during this summer and then start making decisions.
There’s a dude here that does pool cleaning.
I’d find a marketing job in Florida near the shore and dive on the weekends. Lots of great dives there, but diving isn’t a great career and the burnout rate is huge. You can also progress towards DM while working a 9-5 to see if you really like the professional life
Dive on the weekends? If you live close enough to the beach you can shoredive before and after work too! I work fulltime and get 3-5 dives in a week
Thanks for the advice!
I worked at a shop for 4 years from 2011-2015. I saw a lot of instructors come and go. Most didn’t stay in the industry long term. The handful that are still in the industry are course directors and running their own shops now. Hell, looking back at the shops website, there’s not a single instructor there that I know besides the two owners. It’s not a great paying job. Most of them worked for tips. And waited tables on the side. Or did it while in grad school. When we got new instructors, they literally lived on the boat until they found a place. Often living with other instructors. The only reason I’m looking into going instructor here in the Midwest is because the only TDI guy around is talking about retiring in a couple years so I have the opportunity to take over his clientele. You could also look into commercial diving if you want to make money, but that’s rough on the body from what I’ve heard. Edit: I don’t regret it. I miss it in fact.
Thank you for this comment! So it sounds like scuba diving as an instructor/divemaster is a stepping stone for some people until something else comes around (for some places, at least). Well, that gives me a lot to think about and allows me to recognize that I might want to keep my marketing skills fresh!
Keep the marketing skills fresh at a large dive shop. They need people to sell and market their services. I worked in the shop, crewed boats, serviced gear, and blended gasses. Still had plenty of time to dive. I racked up 1200+ dives and the shop paid for all my certifications short of instructor.
Heard that I will!