If you want to share your passion for scuba diving and like to live an extraordinary life, why don’t you think of becoming a scuba instructor? It’s considered one of the rewarding full-time or part-time scuba jobs you can have.

It’s annoying that a scuba instructor doesn’t commonly appear at the list when a child is asked about what he can be when he grows up. With all the respect to lawyers, doctors and firefighters, scuba instructors can transform peoples’ lives and play an important role in marine conservation.

Read this article if you want to have a meaningful career and travel the world boy becoming a PADI scuba instructor.

Courses That Is Required Before

Becoming a scuba instructor isn’t easy. But if you have a great passion for diving and you are committed to it, it can be easy and a ton of fun too. You can’t just start teaching other people how to dive right after an open water course, but you have to complete a list of courses and prerequisites to make sure that every diver is safe and cared for by a well trained PADI professional.

Require Courses Are:

• Open Water Diver Course.
• Advanced Open Water Diver course.
• Rescue Diver Course.
• Emergency First Response Course.
• Divemaster Course.
• IDC Course.

It may seem that there are many courses required, but each one of these plays a crucial role in the development of your skills to become a good instructor by the end. Once you get all the certifications of the courses mentioned above, you will be on the way to get a PADI instructor position in any place you want in the world.

In the next lines, you will know step by step how to get your IDC and where this can take you!

Steps to Become a PADI Instructor

The PADI Instructor Development Course (IDC) is the most famous scuba diving instructor course in the world. Most successful scuba instructors in the world have gained their skills, knowledge and confidence required to teach scuba diving during their dive instructor course.

Step 1: meet the prerequisites of the ID course

Enrolling in an IDC is considered your first step to become a scuba instructor. To start IDC, you must be at least 18 years old and meet the next requirements:

• Be certified diver at least 6 months ago.
• Have a PADI divemaster certification.
• Have made 60 logged Dives.
• Have the certifications of current CBR and first Aid.
• Have a medical approval to scuba dive.

How many dives are needed to become a scuba instructor?

You need at least60 logged dives to be able to enroll in an instructor development course and 00 logged dives to receive your instructor credential.

Step 2: Complete the IDC

The instructor development course is divided into two categories

• The Assistant Instructor(AI).
• The Open Water Scuba Instructor(OWSI).

As the name of the course implies, you will focus on learning how to teach scuba diving skills, Because by enrolling in the instructor development course, you should already have perfect scuba diving skills and professional knowledge of scuba Diving equipment, physiology and physics. in the IDC, you will learn to share this knowledge and experience with others.

During the instructor development course, you will learn the following:

• Giving classroom presentations.
• Working with the students in confined water and open water.
• PADI’s 4E’s philosophy.
• Risk management.
• Marketing yourself as a scuba instructor.

You will also learn other skills that will help you in other areas of Life, such as:

• Explaining complex ideas.
• Giving constructive criticism In a positive manner.
• Improving your confidence in public speaking.

 How hard is it to become a dive instructor?

Different parts of the instructor development course can be easy for some people and A challenge for others. For example, if you have good public speaking skills, you will find classroom presentations easy, but if you become nervous and stress on speaking in front of people, it will be hard for you at first.

But don’t need to be worried because PADI organization is known for the high quality instructional curriculum that has been designed to accommodate students at various levels and also with different learning styles. That’s why the majority of dive instructors are PADI ones.

Step 3: Pass the Instructor Exam

After you successfully complete the instructor development course, you will be now eligible to enroll in the PADI instructor exam. Instructor exams are conducted by experienced course directors who work for PADI. 

Those examiners are following standardized criteria to make sure that the structure candidates have all the skills and knowledge to become effective and safe instructors. These independent evaluators make sure that the evaluation process is objective, consistent and fair worldwide.

After becoming a PADI scuba instructor, you can apply for the jobs on the international job board from PADI and enjoy the benefits of PADI membership.

How Long Does it Take to Become a Dive Instructor?

If you meet all the prerequisites, you will complete the PADI instructor development course in 10 to 14 days. Ask the Dive center you will train in if they offer a consecutive day program because not every IDC center offers that.

If you prefer to take your time, you will find many centers scheduling training over the course of several weekends.