If you are planing to make the ocean your office, you shouldread on, my friend. Turning your avocation
into your vocation requires years of training.
Like other professionals, scuba diving instructors also used to be students. They began with easier courses on scuba diving and then slowly moved on to more advanced courses. Of course, through the process, they were able to see more to scuba diving than just having fun while diving. They were able to see a different side of scuba diving that encourages them to share the sport to others.
First, the basic open-water diver certification enables a diver to dive privately, with equipment, up to 60 ft. This one is achieved by almost all amator divers. Certifications then move through various levels like rescue diver, divemaster, assistant instructor and instructor. Instructors usualy begin with the open-water certification, but they can become certified in a specialty, such as deep-sea diving or night diving.
The highest-level divers can pursue a career in dive instructor training to become a master instructor or even a course director, the highest grade in this area. Only very few are selected for this certification program.
A diver can be hired for a lot of things. For starters, he can teach others how to dive. Another area would be science. Scientists themselves dive as well as hiring other divers to help use certain tools.
A scuba diving career can also mean in some way engineering. Companies usualy need divers to help them build / maintain underwater structures (bridge, dams, oil platforms).
Police seldom needs divers to search for evidence underwater and then help them to fish it out. Also, a scuba diving career in salvaging involves raising shipwrecks.
There are several things you have to look into in pursuing a career as a scuba diver instructor. Just like other careers, there's much marketing and hard work involved. You may have to learn a little on sales literature and product marketing. Also, you need to be always informed with the latest technology in the field. You don't have to buy everything they advertise but you need to understand the scuba diving business industry. The better the tools, the enjoyble the experience.