Pick up any diving magazine, or surf the internet for dive related websites, and images of the tropics and exotic destinations, combined with interactions of aquatic life often stimulates the dream of working full time as a scuba diving dive professional. There's few professions in the world where you can spend a Monday morning commuting to work on a boat, enjoying beautiful weather, and clients who admire and appreciate you for the job you do, but is becoming a scuba diving professional everything that we imagine it to be? For padiidcgilitrawangan of us that do decide to 'GoPro' and become either a PADI Divemaster or Instructor, and ditch a stable career, or embark on a life changing journey, how do you achieve the goal and what can you expect to encounter working encounter in the dive industry?

In this article, I aim to overview the benefits of working in the scuba diving industry as a PADI professional, and also some of the downsides, and discuss the path to becoming a PADI Divemaster and Instructor, and the career opportunities, both short and long term for PADI professionals. Whilst it would be impossible to cover every possible work scenario and environment, remember PADI dive centres and resorts operate in over 180 countries, this article does provide a generalised overview to help guide you in the decision making process.

For most divers they'll never forget their first breath underwater, whether in a local swimming pool, or at a tropical beach, as part of their initial confined water training. Even those divers, who have initial anxiety issues breathing underwater, always remember the experience, and whilst for the majority of scuba participants the entry level certification opens a whole new world and environment, for others it creates the dream and goal of becoming a scuba diving professional.

Scuba Diving is a sport that builds self esteem in individuals, improves physical fitness, whilst educating individuals to the physics and physiology of scuba diving, and creates an environmental awareness and respect and shows individuals how to make a positive contribution to both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Unlike many other sports, scuba diving is non-contact, 3 dimensional, and multi sensory, and the competition is with each individual to better themselves as a diver, not over others. Whilst many divers enjoy the silence and serenity of the underwater world, on the topside scuba diving is also a very social activity and fosters camaraderie amongst participants and leads to lifelong friendships.

As a scuba diving professional you get to make a positive difference to other people's lives and to the environment. Whether an individual seeks scuba instruction to learn about the environment, as a self fulfillment goal, to explore our underwater heritage, or to challenge themselves, you become a facilitator and help them connect the motor skills and intellectual knowledge they'll need to dive safely and have fun, enjoyable experiences.

The PADI system of diver education has some of the most comprehensive educational products and a system that takes the burden of teaching form the Instructor and allow them to work more on individualised instruction, as most students are free to learn at their own time and pace with the independent study manuals, DVD's, e-learning and now e-book versions. This allows for you as the Instructor to focus on individual needs, remediation and delivering the course in a fun and effective manner, which is what, makes PADI programs so popular with student divers. These materials can be used anywhere in the world to teach a standardised course though you as the Instructor will need to adapt each course to the local environment and culture, which is an area you will be taught during the PADI Instructor Development Course (PADI IDC).

PADI Instructor's can choose to work part or full time in tropical resorts, or local dive centers, on a vocational basis when taking sabbaticals from their full time employment, or in conjunction with other seasonal work such as in winter sports, or outdoor Summer work. Many of the candidates we train as Instructors also have their own full time jobs and work on the weekends either as freelance Instructors, or more commonly through a local PADI dive centre. In the resort environment many Instructors enjoy teaching on tropical islands in calm, clear, warm waters, on beautiful coral reefs with an abundance of fish and other aquatic life. It's this dream lifestyle that motivates many individuals to switch careers and 'GoPro'.

So that brings us to the question, how exactly do you qualify as a PADI Instructor or a Divemaster?

Well from the date of being certified a diver can progress through the PADI system of diver education, from the Open Water course to the Advanced Open Water course, then to the Rescue course with CPR/1st aid certification (EFR course), before enrolling in the Divemaster program. These courses can be done back to back and upon completing all components of the PADI Divemaster course and reaching a minimum of 60 logged dives; a diver can be certified as a PADI Divemaster. There are different methods of completing the Divemaster course; it can be done through a local dive center, on a part time basis, either interning on classes or via practical simulated training components. Many candidates choose to take time out and intern on a program over several weeks in the tropics, and get real world hands on exposure whilst training. This is the favoured option at our resort destination on Utila in Honduras, and Thailand and the Red sea are also popular choices for internship Divemaster courses due to the great diving and affordable and quality lifestyle they offer.