Thanks for your video! You are absolutely right. It is a big exploitation happening the dive industry. The profit from others people's passion. It is very sad to see, and almost everyone is accepting it. I think its time for a diver union, where we fight for fair payment world wide...

this is an important issue to talk about and I am glad you took the time to tell people to look out for themselves

Love your passion

What realities of diving have you witnessed? This video is my opinion and does not reflect any of the amazing dive shops i have worked in. They instead, showed me the expectations i should have for myself, my bosses, colleagues and students.

It's not just the Staff. Some Shops push people into signing up for Classes. Passing them when they should Fail. There was article back awhile ago about a New Diver and a Dry suit. Loaded with Unremovable weights. No Inflator Hose. She lost her life and the Shop Tried to cover it up.

Good to see you Pancake.

Am really glad I just watched this video now. Am in the process of planning how I will be doing my Dive Masters, and was almost tempted to sign up for a covered internship. Even if the intern 'saves money', they lose plenty of valuable time that is worth much more from your calculations. So thanks Katt, will consider that as I continue my research when I plan doing my DM, even with my favourite Dive shop.

There is a lot about the scuba industry I don't like. Especially the way employees are treated at some shops.

True words!!

😢 this is very sad to hear, because the idea isn't bad, to work so you get the divemaster for free, it's an amazing idea, because few may wouldn't afford the costs, so yes it's still okay if you would work more then if you would work if you would get paid, but the thing is they miss use this. 3 weeks unpaid work to be a divemaster would be the max I would accept. Because divemaster isn't this expensive, I guess it's all ready payed after two weeks. Oh by the way, I meant 21 days unpaid, but working as a divemaster, sure cleaning is a part of ever job, but what they do sounds more like you practice your skills as a "Toilette -divemaster" c'mon this is just awful! Why does PADI or SSI never stop this: the rueles should be: 2 weeks= divemaster for free 2 month (max) = instructor for free ( of course dive instructor and maybe two specialities) What do you think about my solution?

You're absoulety right about abuse in the dive industry.

I just started my DiveMaster in KY USA. $1,200. I paid for it up front.

Katt what you describe here sadly is not limited to the scuba industry but it is common in a lot of industries as our economy is over financialized. I am blessed that I make a good living in my career but I know that the corporate world focuses more on screwing workers, maximizing profits, and keeping the profits for themselves. That being said, after watching your videos and getting a few dives under my belt, i am so glad I got certified where I did. The guy who runs the shop does it mainly as a hobby and isn’t in it to make a lot of money as he has another business for that. But he trains the right way, and he will make sure that he doesn’t sell you stuff you don’t need, such as a 200 dollar pair of fins when you are a beginner. And seeing an operation that I dove with in Cancun, even though the workers there were great and took care of me, I do see the profit motive overriding other concerns, which will only lead to bad consequences going forward. Thanks for all you do for the hobby. Your videos helped get me interested, and if our paths ever cross, I would love to dive with you sometime.

I've just finished my DM internship in Cambodia. 6 months, got my accommodation, food and training paid for. Worked 7 days a week, dived more or less every day. Had a few off days due to rainy season. I helped out in the office and the kitchen. I did feel a little exploited but I had a great time out there gained a lot of experienced. I was guiding a DSD with an instructor on my second day.

I wish you still were a dive instructor, because with you passion and love your have so much to give, if you would have a divecenter it would be a 7Star divecenter, just because of your love and passion. You are such an amazing girl. I hope you don't mind I would love to huge you. 🫂

Important information for anyone thinking of pursuing a professional career in the dive industry 👍

The timing of this video is great, im looking to become a divemaster in January! If you have more tips or a recommended place id love to hear it!

Spitting truths! Thanks for speaking up about this 😊 it's so important aspiring dive pros know about this. Can we talk about the dive pros who pay for their training and then work for free as a volunteer afterwards too?!? I'm in the UK, this is my no1 gripe with the industry here. 🤦

Any opinion or reaction to the guys diving in chernovil nuclear blown power plant?

First of all thank you for the heads-up info. It's good to have a preview of what might happen to me or anyone else wanting to make a career out of this. It is gonna be unrelated but I thought you would have knowledge on that subject. I wanted to ask you if it's common for the Scuba Resorts/Schools in Australia to sponsor for work&residency permit for foreign instructors happen to be from Non-EU Countries/America or do they offer help on this subject? Thanks a lot. 🎉

I did my advanced open water course 3 years a go. I completed and passed all the requirements. including deep diving, navigation, night diving etc but still I have not received my certificate. the instructor keep ignoring me so I decided to stay as an open water diver even doing deep diving, night diving, drift diving eventhough it might be illegal.

All truth. Why do you have closed captions on your video when youtube gives you that option?

That’s sad

May I suggest when doing back of envelope weeks to a month use 4.2 not 4. It works out to 4.32 but with a 2 week vacation and any holiday/sick bleed, 4.2 is a really good number to use. That would make your argument even more compelling. The industry does what you say, and sadly uses the cheap labour to keep instructional prices artificially low that profits them while being exploitive, is also creating a barrier for entry to competition. You can get a instructor trying to compete and do OK, but unless they get outside funding they can't afford to compete with the established players because they have to be close to market rates established by the big players. Oh yeah, along with 30 yrs in dive industry, have a MBA

I paid for my #Divemaster and #IDC and I still had a shop take advantage of me. They tried to tell me their shop #training was unpaid. This turned out to be all the teaching roles I was in. I only could get paid for non diving roles. I ended up having to step out of the professional diving industry to catch up and reset

Good job!!!

All dive instructor should really have a unión...but that will never happen.

Agree with the spirit and 95% of the content of this video. I have always been recommending people to pay for the course and have heard absolute horror stories about internships. But... The money calculation you present is very region specific. You mention minimum wage for Australia which is a little skewed. If you are from a "first world country", by all means, just pay for the course. Cost of living is high, and the course prices you mentioned - let's say there are plenty of places in the world where the DM or IDC doesn't cost half the amount you stated. But imagine you are a young person growing up in Thailand, Honduras, Sri Lanka, Tanzania or dozens of other places in the world... Where an average income is between 3 and 11 USD a DAY, the course cost can be a serious challenge. For those people doing an internship (in their own country) can be a viable alternative to get into the tourist industry and make a decent income supplemented by tips. Oh, one last thing - You didn't mention the pitfall if the never-ending internship, which I have come across in people's stories a few times. A 3 month internship where you spend your days lugging tanks and rinsing gear and sweeping floors, after which the shop evaluates your skills aren't up to standard yet, you may have not gotten the training (because paying customers first and being taught is for slow days), so your internship is extended by a month, then another, then another... Still dangling the "by next month you can be a certified DM"-carrot in front of you.

Australians like to brag about their high minimum wage, but they don't talk about all the ways employers avoid actually paying for hours worked. Not just in diving - taking advantage of young people on work visas is a huge industry here. Typically young people wait until the last moment to put in their work requirements for the visa and end up getting trapped by the worst employers who know they have to get the hours in.

Ocean Pancake there is a lot of misinformation and BS out there I'd like to discuss a few things with you.

Too bad that most of the work place exploit intern 😢

😂😂 I go help Pual Heinerth at the shop quite often. I don’t mind. I couldn’t work full time to trade out training though. That’s just nuts

You lost me at “48 hours a day”