Can you work at something related with DIVING after getting the OPEN WATER CERTIFICATE? What?

Question

Can you work at something related with DIVING after getting the OPEN WATER CERTIFICATE? What?

Answer 1

Maybe you could work on a dive boat helping people with their gear, but once they are in the water, you need a instructor's certificate to do anything.  I have an Open Water One NAUI and have never considered trying to make a living with it.

Answer 2

Actually, a lot of marinas for yachts and such dont really look into your level of expertise diving.  all they need is someone who can scrub good! if you live close by to one then try and approach, although this would be a hard job to land given the fact that the prerequisites are not at all demanding.  

another job you may be able to contemplate would be UW fishing.  I know a lot of guys who make a living diving for lobsters and such.  

and last (that I can think of) is as a pet shop distributor.  now this would be more of a small business that may require some investments,  but it is a good ongoing business.  here you dive for live fish and sell them to the petshops,  but here you need a lot of salt water fish tanks to contain the fish until sold, you need a bottle of O2, and most important YOU NEED TO BE RESPONSIBLE WITH THE ENVIORMENT AND THE LAW!!!  I would say those are you best choices having only OWD.  

Hope I was of help,

Chris

Answer 3

Retail staff at a dive shop if you're lucky, but that's about it with just an OW, since it's not a professional certification.

Answer 4

You mean you're not even AOW and you want to work in the industry.  You need a minimum of a professional level certification such as divemaster to work with student diver's. The best you are looking at right now is at the retail level in a dive store.

Take my advice, if you want to go PRO take a NAUI or SSi course, PADI (Put Another Dollar In) is getting way too money oriented with all the hokey c-card courses they're coming up with.

Answer 5

For almost all scuba diving related jobs you would need a professional level of certification.  The standard open water 'sport diving' certifications are not considered qualifying for any dive related careers.

At the very least you should go on and get your Advanced Diver and Rescue Diver certifications.  With those under your belt then you can take additional training to become a Dive Master.  As a Dive Master you can run Scuba Diving excursions, work for a Dive Boat or Dive Shop, or possibly a resort.  However, that's the lowest level of certification needed and generally speaking you would get to do the least desirable of the jobs available, like cleaning gear and filling tanks!  I've been there!

After getting your Dive Master certification you can go on to become a Scuba Instructor.  That's where sport diving jobs get interesting and fun.  

The alternative is to become a certified commercial diver.  This is usually accomplished by attending a specialty school that is truly geared to professional training.  These courses typically are full time like going to college and last for 6 months or even more, depending on your specific level of training desired.  You can become a standard commercial diver, a diver-medic, a research diver, a mixed-gas deep diver, and etc.