Dreaming of getting paid to dive every day in tropical waters? Becoming a scuba instructor is a very exciting career path for anyone who loves diving, but it’s not always as simple (or as glamorous) as it looks on Instagram.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through exactly how to become a scuba instructor, how much it costs, how long it takes, and whether it’s actually worth it.
Required Courses
The path to becoming a scuba instructor is very simple. Every certifying agency has a very rigid set of courses you need to complete until you reach your instructor course. Their names vary depending on the certifying agency, but they all more or less cover the same things.
Open Water Course (OWC)
This is your starting point. You learn the basics of scuba diving and complete your first dives in open water.
Advanced Open Water Course (AOW)
Builds your confidence by introducing you to diving in different environments. Most agencies require you to complete a deep dive and a navigation dive.
Rescue Diver Course (RD)
Things get a bit more serious. You learn how to prevent and manage diving emergencies.
Divemaster Course (DM)
This is the first professional-level certification. You will not be able to teach after this course, but you can assist instructors and independently guide certified divers.
Instructor Development Course (IDC)
A roughly 2-week course where you learn how to teach and manage student divers. Whichever certifying agency you choose to do your course with will teach you their ethos and exactly how they want you to teach your students.
Instructor Exam (IE)
A formal evaluation where you must competently showcase everything you have learned during your Instructor Development Course.
Where Do I Start?
That really depends on how far along the ladder you are. I would always recommend focusing on gaining experience rather than just chasing certifications. Experience is one of the most valuable things you can build as a diver. The best way to improve is simply to spend time underwater. Dive in different environments, with different people, and under different conditions. Warm tropical water is very different from cold water with low visibility or strong currents, and every environment teaches you something new. The more comfortable you become with your equipment, buoyancy, and general awareness underwater, the easier the transition into professional-level training becomes later on.
Which Diving Training Agency Do I Choose?
This is the most common question I get asked by people who aspire to become instructors. The answer to the question depends on why you want to become an instructor.
Work
If you want to become an instructor because you want to work in the diving industry, your best options are PADI, SSI, or SDI. PADI and SSI are the most widely represented training agencies worldwide. This means there is the biggest chance of getting a job if you work with these two agencies. SDI is slowly building itself to compete with these two, but they aren’t quite there yet. Personally, I would choose either PADI or SSI to start with. PADI used to be the most well-represented agency in the world but SSI has expanded rapidly in the last few years.
I think SSI offers a much better product. Their online platform is light-years ahead of PADI’s, they offer a lot of support for instructors, lower renewal fees, and more flexibility when teaching courses. That being said, the content of both PADI and SSI courses is virtually the same because they need to comply with WRSTC and ISO regulations. What you will find is that they teach similar things but often using different processes.
The area of the world you choose to do your instructor course in may decide which agency you end up doing it with. Different agencies have strongholds in different places.
Whichever you choose, there is the opportunity to obtain the other instructor rating via a crossover course later on. It’s very common in the industry to have an instructor rating for both of these agencies. In the interest of disclosure, I’m currently an active instructor for both of them.
Personal Development
If your goal isn’t to work as an instructor, it’s worth taking a step back and thinking about what you actually want to get out of the experience. Instructor training is designed to prepare you to teach others, so much of the focus is on demonstration quality, standards, and educational methods rather than purely advancing your own diving.
For some divers, that’s still a rewarding challenge in itself. But if your main goal is to improve your personal skills, build confidence, and deepen your understanding of diving, there may be more direct paths. Technical training, for example through agencies like TDI, IANTD, or GUE, tends to focus heavily on precision, problem-solving, and the theory behind diving.
Ultimately, it comes down to your motivation. If you’re excited by the idea of teaching, the instructor route can be incredibly fulfilling, but if you’re primarily looking to grow as a diver yourself, investing in further diving education might be a better fit.
Requirements And Qualifications
Requirements vary between agencies, but for the most part, the prerequisites to start an IDC/ITC are:
- 18 Years Old
- Divemaster or equivalent level
- Logged dives: 60 to start the course and 100 dives to be certified as an instructor
- A certified diver for at least 6 months
- Rescue Diver training
- Current CPR/First Aid qualification (some agencies also O2 provider)
- Current medical clearance
Cost Of Becoming A Scuba Instructor
To become an instructor isn’t cheap.
You need to spend money on:
- Open Water → Advanced → Rescue → Divemaster → Instructor Courses
- Instructor Exam fees
- Yearly agency membership fees
- Fun dives to hone the skills you are learning
- Equipment costs
- Insurance
Easily in the thousands, regardless of which agency you choose to do your course with.
How Long Does It Take?
This really depends on who you ask.
The honest answer is: it depends.
At the fastest, you can go from beginner to instructor in about 6–7 months if you follow an intensive program where you take each course with the minimum possible amount of dives. You must be a diver for at least 6 months before taking the instructor development course.
A more typical route takes a year or more, especially if you’re diving consistently but not rushing through each step.
In reality, it comes down to how often you dive, how much experience you build along the way, and how quickly you choose to progress.
Salary And Job Opportunities
Salary
Salaries in the diving industry are a bit of a sore subject. I’ve personally made anywhere from €700 a month to $2,400 a month. That’s quite a big range. The lowest was in the Philippines, and the highest was in the Maldives.
When you first start out you’re probably not going to be making much. In a lot of cases, you’ll just take whatever work you can get to build experience. That’s just how it is at the beginning.
For the most part, the pay isn’t great, especially if you compare it to friends back home working normal jobs. But then again, you didn’t become an instructor to sit in an office. Part of what you’re getting out of it is the lifestyle.
At the same time, I’m not a big fan of the whole “we don’t do this for the money” thing. It sounds nice but it ignores reality a bit. Instructors work long hours, take on a lot of responsibility, and put up with a lot behind the scenes. You need to decide what your time is worth. If a job doesn’t meet that, you shouldn’t take it.
Your wage also depends a lot on where you are. Places like Thailand, the Philippines, or Indonesia are very desirable to work in, but what you save there might not go very far once you leave.
Working in places like the Maldives or on liveaboards can make it easier to save money. The trade-off is that you give up a bit of your freedom and life outside of work as you’re living full-time on a boat or in a resort.
Different dive centers structure pay differently, too. Some offer a steady salary with smaller commissions, while others lean more on commissions. Sometimes you’ll be offered accommodation and meals included but with lower pay. Personally, I tend to avoid those after a couple of bad experiences.
Tips can help quite a bit as well — just don’t rely on them. If a dive center tells you “you’ll make this much in tips,” take it with a grain of salt. Tips are never guaranteed, and a quiet month can leave you short if you were counting on them. Your base pay should be enough on its own.
Job Opportunities
It can be quite difficult to find work as an instructor, especially when you’re just starting out. In many cases, how many languages you speak can be just as important – if not more important – than your experience. Being able to speak German, French, Mandarin, or Russian is a huge boost to your CV.
There are a few places you can look. Various Facebook groups regularly have dive centers posting vacancies. SSI and PADI also have job sections on their websites where affiliated dive centers advertise positions.
That said, most of the work I’ve found has come through word of mouth. You meet people, make friends, go your separate ways, and then a position opens up where they’re working. Having someone vouch for you goes a long way in this industry.
Your Course Director from your IDC/ITC might also hear about opportunities, so it’s worth keeping in contact with them. Over time, you realise that contacts are everything. It’s a small industry, and reputation travels fast.
Another option is to move somewhere and go door-to-door, handing out your CV. It might sound a bit gung-ho, but I’ve had it work more than once.
A lot of dive center owners prefer to meet you in person and see how you are before committing to anything long-term, especially when it comes to arranging a work visa.
In reality, this can sometimes mean being asked to start out on a tourist visa while they “try you out” — which, fairly or not, is something you’ll come across in parts of the industry.
Ideally, you should always have the correct visa to work legally in the country. The challenge is that not all dive centers are willing to organise or pay for it. In some places, you may even be expected to cover the cost yourself, which can run to $1,500 or more in countries like Indonesia.
Is It Worth It?
Honestly, I think that depends entirely on why you want to do it.
If your goal is to make a lot of money, then probably not. There are much easier ways to earn a stable income while working fewer hours and dealing with far less stress.
But if what you want is a different kind of lifestyle, then it absolutely can be worth it.
You get to spend your days in the ocean, meet people from all over the world, travel, and experience places most people only ever see on holiday. Some of the best moments of my life have come from diving and the people I’ve met through it.
At the same time, it’s important not to romanticise the industry too much. The hours can be long, the pay can be inconsistent, and constantly moving around can become exhausting after a while. Teaching also comes with a lot of responsibility. You’re responsible for people in an environment where small mistakes can become serious very quickly.
I think a lot of people get into diving because they want to escape normal life for a while, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But eventually, you have to decide whether you actually enjoy the work itself and not just the idea of the lifestyle around it.
For some people, becoming an instructor ends up being one of the best decisions they ever make. For most, it becomes something they do for a few seasons before moving on to something else. Around 70% don’t make it past 3 years.
Personally, I don’t regret it at all. Even with all the frustrations that come with the industry, the experiences, friendships, and opportunities it’s given me have been worth far more than the money I’ve made from it.
Best Places To Do Your IDC/ITC
A lot of people end up doing their instructor course in places like Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, or Honduras because they’re some of the cheapest places in the world to become an instructor. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but these places can sometimes fall into what people in the industry call the “factory” model.
The goal in some of these operations is simply to push as many candidates as possible through the system. Remember, diving is a business. Dive centers and course directors will flaunt their 100% success rates for IDCs to attract new candidates. This can lead to students’ failures being overlooked just to keep a reputation. I’m not pointing fingers at anyone, but I’ve definitely come across instructors who weren’t ready for the level of responsibility the job carries.
The problem is that passing an IE and being a genuinely good instructor are two very different things. I’d argue that virtually no one is a good instructor after passing the IE. It’s somewhat like passing a driving test where they kind of teach you how to do it, mainly to pass the test, and then you have to go and figure it out on your own.
Personally, I think one of the best ways to do your instructor course is through a setup where you’re guaranteed work afterwards, even if it’s only for a season. Your first job is by far the hardest one to get because dive centers don’t generally want to hire an instructor with zero experience (unless they plan on paying you next to nothing because of this). Having a place willing to actually let you teach after your IDC/ITC is incredibly valuable. It’s also worth staying in contact with the place where you did your Divemaster course or internship for this exact reason.
I did my instructor training through a liveaboard operation in Thailand that guaranteed all IDC candidates work for the season afterwards. Straight away, I was teaching courses, guiding certified divers, and learning about the business side of the industry. I was also surrounded by more experienced instructors who gave me advice and showed me the ropes. That experience was worth far more than the certification itself.
I don’t generally recommend unpaid instructor internships. Working for free as a certified instructor undervalues the industry and makes it harder for everyone else to find paid work as well.
Divemaster internships are a bit different in my opinion. You’re still learning at that stage, and spending months around experienced instructors teaches you a huge amount about diving, guiding, students, and the day-to-day operation of a dive center.
Divemaster vs Instructor
I generally wouldn’t recommend trying to work long-term as a Divemaster, especially as a foreigner. In a lot of places, Divemaster jobs have naturally become more focused towards locals. Filipinos, Indonesians, Maldivians, and other local guides often spend years in the same area, guiding dives day in and day out. They know the sites inside out and are usually far better at spotting marine life than someone who just arrived a few months ago.
There’s a real learning curve with guiding in a new location. You need to learn the topography and layout of the dive sites, how conditions change throughout the year, what creatures can be found where, and when certain species start appearing seasonally. These are all things that can only really be learned through time in the water.
Because of that, it makes more sense for dive centers to keep experienced local guides year-round rather than constantly training new foreign Divemasters who may only stay for a season. Instructors, on the other hand, are usually hired to teach as well as guide, which makes them much more valuable to a dive center. If a shop has to choose between hiring a Divemaster or a certified instructor, they’ll almost always choose the instructor.
Work visas can also be a problem. In many countries, it’s difficult or even impossible to get a proper work permit as a Divemaster, whereas instructors are generally easier to sponsor because they can both teach and guide.
Career Progression
If you do decide to stay in the industry long term, it’s important not to let yourself stagnate. There’s nothing wrong with teaching Open Water courses and running DSDs for years if that’s what you enjoy, but you should still be thinking about your long-term future too.
There are plenty of ways to progress if you want to stick with it, whether that’s technical diving, becoming a Course Director, managing a dive center, or working on liveaboards. There’s no real “correct” path in diving, it just depends on where you want it to take you.
A technical instructor at the shop where I did my Divemaster internship told me back in 2018 to keep learning and pushing myself, otherwise I’d eventually get bored and move on to something else. Looking back now, I can see how right he was.
Zero To Hero Programs
In recent years, “zero to hero” programs have become a lot more common, offering a fast-tracked path from complete beginner to instructor.
That sounds great on paper but it’s worth thinking about what that actually means.
You’re not just accumulating certifications. You’re developing the judgment, awareness, and experience needed to teach others safely in an environment where mistakes can carry real consequences.
There’s also the question of dives vs time. On a fast-track program, you might rack up 80+ dives in a few months, which will definitely improve your skills quickly, but learning that much that fast doesn’t always give you time to properly process and apply what you’re learning.
Taking a longer route gives you more time to see different situations, make mistakes, learn from them, and actually understand what’s going on around you, not just get through the requirements.