career progression

Question
I am a 28 year old brasilian with a spanish passport that has allowed me to live in england for 5 years. I climbed frequently in brasil, very successfully, partnering with a friend who owned his own climbing equipment store. In england I clind 2/3 times a week and having now mastered the english language am ready to return to my studies. I am very keen to have rock climbing as my profession, whatever form that may take- I would assume being a guide of some description, my ideal being the outdoor sport arena. I basically would like some advice on getting certified and where is best to study? What experience I should try to get and what my options are! Sure that's probably a bit broad but out of brasil I am so confused as to exactly how people follow these ideas up. Any help/ guidance would be much appreciated.gabriel

Answer
My guiding experience was not of a professional nature.  From what I have heard though, the most well known school is NOLS.  You can find information at www.NOLS.edu.

Generally speaking however, I don't think there are any official certifications needed to be a guide.

What I may suggest is that you also take a look at these sites for guide services and contact them to see what they require to become a guide:

http://www.climbing.com/print/classifieds/guidesandtravel/
http://www.rockandice.com/online-guide-directory.php


Good luck,
Nick