Pros and Cons of Working as a Driving Instructor

You think about becoming a driving instructor but want to get additional information before making your final career choice?

Great! Stick with me since I will show you all the pros and cons of being a driving instructor in the following chapters.

Driving Instructor Job Profile

Advantages of Being a Driving Instructor

1. You don’t need a college degree for becoming a driving instructor
2. Driving instructors don’t have to work in a hard physical manner
3. You can get in touch with many different people
4. Working as a driving instructor is not that stressful
5. You don’t have to deal with lots of time pressure
6. You have a pretty structured workday
7. Driving instructors don’t have to work many extra hours
8. You often have free weekends and holidays
9. You barely have to work at nighttime
10. You can maintain a healthy sleeping pattern
11. You do an important job for society
12. You will have enough energy left when you come home from work
13. Risk of burnout is rather low for driving instructors
14. You can hand over your knowledge to the next generation

You don’t need a college degree for becoming a driving instructor

One advantage of being a driving instructor is that you don’t need a fancy college degree.

Instead, you can start your driving instructor career relatively early in your life and can make money from a rather young age while many of your friends will still be in college and have to spend lots of money on tuition and other expenses related to it.

Driving instructors don’t have to work in a hard physical manner

It can also make sense for you to become a driving instructor if you don’t want to work in a hard physical manner but rather work with your brain instead of your hands.

In fact, while welders, roofers and other people who work in construction often have to work in a hard physical manner, you as a driving instructor will have a rather relaxed time in this regard.

You can get in touch with many different people

Working as a driving instructor also gives you the opportunity to meet many different people.

In fact, you will have new clients on a daily basis and you may even become really good friends with some of them in the long run.

Working as a driving instructor is not that stressful

Another reason to become a driving instructor is that it is just not that stressful to teach your students how to drive.

Sure, you have to make sure that they don’t get involved in serious accidents and this can be tough on an emotional level.

However, you still don’t have the same pressure that comes along with working in demanding roles in the corporate world and also don’t have to deal with difficult coworkers on a regular basis.

You don’t have to deal with lots of time pressure

As a driving instructor, you also don’t have to deal with lots of time pressure.

Instead, you will just teach your students step-by-step and if you don’t get things done in one lesson, your students will just come back and you will have time to continue with your schedule without having to push lots of stuff through in an unreasonable manner.

You have a pretty structured workday

Another upside to working as a driving instructor is that you have a pretty structured workday.

You will usually have a boss giving you instructions regarding what to do every day and don’t have to worry in this regard so that you can completely focus on your main tasks as a driving instructor.

Driving instructors don’t have to work many extra hours

Most driving instructors also don’t have to work many extra hours and come home from work relatively early so that they can spend more than enough time with their loved ones.

You often have free weekends and holidays

While driving instructors sometimes have to work on weekends, you will have free weekends and holidays most of the time and this gives you the opportunity to make nice weekend trips with your favorite people.

You barely have to work at nighttime

While you may have driving lessons in the late afternoon or the early evening, it is pretty uncommon to work at nighttime for driving instructors and you will rather come home from work pretty early most of the time.

You can maintain a healthy sleeping pattern

Since you don’t have to work at nighttime, you will also be able to maintain a healthy sleeping pattern as a driving instructor while bartenders and many other people don’t have this luxury.

You do an important job for society

Another benefit of a driving instructor career is that you can also do an important job for society since you can make our streets a safer place and reduce the risk of accidents.

In turn, we all can feel safer and can enjoy driving much more.

You will have enough energy left when you come home from work

Since working as a driving instructor is not physically demanding, you will often have enough energy left after work to meet up with your favorite people or to play with your kids while many other people are just tired and just want to sit down on their couches.

Risk of burnout is rather low for driving instructors

Since working as a driving instructor is not that stressful, you will also not be at great risk of burnout and can rather spend your time at work in a pretty relaxed manner most of the time.

You can hand over your knowledge to the next generation

Similar to teachers, driving instructors can also hand over their knowledge to the next generation and this can be pretty cool since you can just do good for others and know that when you pass away, you have helped out many people and made their lives safer.

As you can see, there are many reasons to become a driving instructor.

However, it is still not all upside and we also have to talk about all the issues that come along with a driving instructor career so that you can better decide whether you still want to become a driving instructor or rather want to work in a different field instead.

Disadvantages of Working as a Driving Instructor

1. Driving instructors don’t make good money
2. Rather poor job security for driving instructors
3. Many driving instructors need to work a second job
4. Driving instructors have a rather low social standing
5. Your friends may not understand your career choice
6. Hard to save money as a driving instructor
7. You will not be able to afford much luxury
8. Driving instructors often suffer from old-age poverty
9. Clients can be annoying
10. You are at risk of serious accidents at work
11. You may not have a good feeling when you go to work
12. Driving instructors have a high level of responsibility
13. Mistakes on your side may destroy your career
14. You may be liable for mistakes
15. Hard to start your own business as a driving instructor

Driving instructors don’t make good money

One problem with working as a driving instructor is that most driving instructors don’t make good money and you may just envy your friends who will often work in fancy corporate jobs and will make much more than you.

Rather poor job security for driving instructors

Driving instructors also have pretty poor job security since they are easily replaceable and some jobs in this industry will also be lost to intelligent machines sooner or later.

Hence, you always have to worry about losing your job and this may really stress your nerves in the long run.

Many driving instructors need to work a second job

Due to the rather poor money most driving instructors make, many of them are not able to make a living and have to work a second job to pay their bills.

Driving instructors have a rather low social standing

Another downside to being a driving instructor is that they also have a pretty low social standing.

While driving instructors do good for society, they are still belittled by many people and don’t have the same high social status as dentists or judges.

Your friends may not understand your career choice

Since driving instructors don’t make good money and also have a rather poor social status, even your friends may not understand your decision of becoming a driving instructor and you may have to justify quite a lot in this regard.

Hard to save money as a driving instructor

Since driving instructors don’t make good money, it is also hard for them to save enough money for an emergency fund and many of them get into financial trouble due to that sooner or later once something unexpected happens.

You will not be able to afford much luxury

Due to your poor salary, you will also not be able to afford any luxury as a driving instructor and will often envy other people who make significantly more and are able to afford all the nice things that life has to offer.

Driving instructors often suffer from old-age poverty

Since you will not make good money, you will also be at great risk of suffering from old-age poverty as a driving instructor since most driving instructors are not able to save and invest enough money for retirement and really struggle with their finances once they get older and are no longer able to work anymore.

Clients can be annoying

Another disadvantage of becoming a driving instructor is that clients can be annoying and you may have to deal with many snarky comments during your career and if you don’t get along with your clients, chemistry may not be good enough to really teach them how to drive in a proper manner.

You are at risk of serious accidents at work

You should also know that you will be at significant risk of suffering from accidents at work as a driving instructor since your clients will make mistakes and if you don’t react fast enough, you may get involved in serious traffic accidents and may even lose your life if you are unlucky.

You may not have a good feeling when you go to work

Since you will experience some critical situations at work during your career, you may also have a bad feeling every time you go to work since you might fear that something unpleasant might happen.

Driving instructors have a high level of responsibility

Another reason not to become a driving instructor is that you will also have a pretty high level of responsibility since mistakes on your side could take away the lives of your clients and you therefore need to always stay focused to minimize the risk in this regard.

Mistakes on your side may destroy your career

You should also know that just one serious mistake could ruin your driving instructor career since you may just get laid off or may even no longer be allowed to work in this field anymore.

You may be liable for mistakes

If you are unlucky, you may even be liable for mistakes you make at work as a driving instructor.

For instance, if you don’t pay attention and the student driver you are responsible for makes a critical mistake, you may be the one who will be charged for in case you don’t have proper insurance or your insurance company may not want to pay.

Hard to start your own business as a driving instructor

Becoming a driving instructor may also not be the best choice for you in case you want to have your own business sooner or later since it is pretty expensive to start your own driving school and there are many jobs where you could work self-employed without having to make those huge financial commitments, for instances as a digital marketer where you just need your workforce to start a business and don’t have to invest lots of money upfront.

Top 10 Being a Driving Instructor Pros & Cons – Summary List

Should You Become A Driving Instructor?

Now that you know all the advantages and disadvantages of being a driving instructor, it is on you to evaluate all the pros and cons yourself so that you can make the best possible decision in this regard.

If you come to the conclusion that a driving instructor career is not for you, you may also want to check out the following articles:

Advantages and disadvantages of becoming a teacher

Advantages and disadvantages of becoming a professor

Advantages and disadvantages of becoming a trucker

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driving_instructor

Own research and interviews.

About the author

My name is Andreas and my mission is to educate people about the different career paths that are possible in our current state of the world. In my opinion, people often make the mistake to choose their profession solely based on how much money they can earn from it instead of doing what makes them really happy.

This is quite sad and I just want to give people a more objective picture of how a fulfilling career could look like. I did the same when I started working in consulting after finishing my Master’s degree in Economics. However, I’ve quit pretty soon after that since I haven’t found true meaning in my job.

Now I can do what I really love to do and I want to enable as many other people as well to go this exciting path towards happiness instead of money.

I conducted various interviews with employees to give you a good impression of what working in different fields will look like and that you can make the best possible decision regarding your future career choice.

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