I am not a regular PPRuNer but a while back LAI (Lookout Attitude Instruments?) posted the following advice on this thread which I pass out the same advice, almost in exact essence of this most excellent post, to my FIC students:
1. Your instructors and friends are right; instructing is excellent for the person doing the instructing. It will improve your flying and aviation knowledge no end.
2. If you do not love the idea of teaching in its own right, DO NOT INSTRUCT. You will not enjoy it and your disinterest will show through to your students.
3. It is hard work. Think of all the briefs, debriefs, write-ups, ground lessons that usually you are not paid for (but are just as important to the progression of YOUR student). All of these require your best effort, despite not paying you anything. Think of that student who just can't quite get how to fly a level turn, but you've had a long week and can't be bothered to spend another five minutes reteaching it...Spend the five minutes!.
4. Recognise that you don't know much! Never ever bull**** a student if you don't know the answer to something. Admit you don't know and seek advice from someone who does. Then go back to your student with the correct answer (and you've both learnt something!). Same goes in the air; if you can't get something across to your student, ask someone else how they teach it. Don't waste your time and the student's flogging a dead horse.
5. Never forget what it was like when you were a student and how much you relied on your instructors (and probably believed 100% of what they told you, without reservation). It is a huge responsibility, so take it seriously.
6. Constantly assess yourself on every trip and every board brief. What could you have done better? Never allow your own personal standards of instruction or flying to slip. Go back to the books regularly to make sure you are teaching things correctly (don't let the bad habits slip in!).
So, to sum up, if you think this still sounds attractive, then go for it. The personal (not financial!) rewards are more than worth it. Seeing your student going off solo, the satisfaction when you finally manage to get them to understand landing without crashing , or seeing them coming back from their skills test with that big grin on their face is what it's all about. Do not do it if it is just a job and hours building to you
At a stage in life when most other people are pushing a golf cart around and enjoying the privileges of a bus pass I just can't get away from the enjoyment I get out of instructing, particularly teaching people to become Instructors. The other plus is on those grey days is when you are are on an Instrument training flight being up there in blinding sunlight when the golfers are out in the gloom and damp you are soaring above the pristine white cloud layer beneath you. These are things you just cannot give up. Keeping a class one medical means keeping fit for your annual Stress ECG, eating healthily and drinking moderately as one's years accumulate. It is worth all the effort and of course the lifestyle prolongs one's time on this planet too.
Money is important, but so is the satisfaction and enjoyment from the job as opposed to the "bus driver" role. Many airline pilots who started as instructors will tell you that the best time, if not pay, that they had was instructing!
Any job relates to how much you put in to it, to what you get out of it. Instructing/teaching of any kind can be the most rewarding occupation you can have in life!