How to Establish a Scuba Diving Career

If you enjoy SCUBA, a career in recreational SCUBA diving can be a great way to make extra money doing something you love. It is possible to make an entire living in the field of SCUBA by Owning your own dive shop, or boat. The first step however is becoming a certified SCUBA professional. While there are other certification agencies, PADI is one of the most recognized and is the certification organization discussed in this article.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Ability to swim
• Access to a Dive School
• Basic SCUBA Equipment
• Good Physical Condition

1. First you must become a PADI certified "Open Water Diver". Then you are eligible to become an "Advanced Open Water Diver", and then you can be certified as a "Rescue Diver". These are the prerequisites to entering a career as a SCUBA Professional. You must be at least 18 years of age to become a certified dive professional.

2. The first professional rung in the PADI dive ladder is that of Divemaster. As a certified Divemaster, you are qualified to supervise dive activities such as serving as guide and organizing dives; and assist instructors in diver certification trainings. This is a prerequisite to all other professional certifications. You must have 20 dives under your belt to start a Divemaster course and complete 60 for certification. You must also have a current CPR or First Aid training course.

3. Once you have become a Divemaster with 60 completed dives and have been certified for 6 months you can become an Assistant Instructor. You must also keep your CPR or First Aid training current.
   
   This certification enables you to teach the Academic portion of dive training courses under the supervision of a PADI instructor. Teach skills to student divers under the direct supervision of a PADI instructor.

4. After being a PADI Divemaster or Assistant instructor for 6 months with 60 logged dives including night, deep, and navigation dives; you may start the PADI instructor development course. You will need 100 logged dives in order to be certified.
   
   This certification qualifies you to teach all PADI programs.

5. After having trained a minimum of 25 "open water divers", and becoming certified to teach 5 PADI specialty certifications you can become a "Master SCUBA Diver Trainer". This allows you to certify divers through the level of "Master SCUBA Diver"

6. If you choose, you can continue to become an IDC Staff Instructor, allowing you to train other dive instructors and finally a Master Instructor.

[paigeannecarter]

on 9/16/2009 This is really fascinating. I have always been in love with the under water world but never got to pursue it. Now, that I have kids, it seems like its really out of reach, I am also beginning to be afraid that diving hazards post...