Why don't more DM's become Instructors?

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Humm. Well I fit this thread very well. I got into diving just for something to do with the wife. (I fell in love with it and she didn't). Went all the way to MSD and then went back and picked up DM 10 years ago. It was great back then, stationed in Okinawa, best friend the instructor, got to dive for free, love teaching, free gas and then most instructors would pay you. There were so many students that the instructor had to have a solid DM. Now living inland NC. Started to go the instructor path but everytime a shop offers me a deal the shop winds up going out of business. So here I am DM (PADI and SDI) and I help on dives (mainly tech stuff like advance nitrox, decompression, etc.) I really don't have the desire to assist too much. (Pissed in wetsuits, humping tanks, cleaning regs. etc. for no pay). I dive for me and am very happy with that.
 
So if you are a DM, are you one of those non working DM's? :eyebrow:

Did you get the cert just for the training and experience?

Are you in an area where you can work as a DM?

Are you going to get your instructor cert?

I am the BSAC equivalent of a DM (and it's not commercial). I have no real interest in being a DM and even less in being an instructor however my club is all volunteer (the training is free, just pay for instructor's costs like their boat dives and fills) and given I have been given a lot of free training and mentoring I thought I should give something back now that I have a lot more experience.

I have zero interest in working as a DM for anyone.

I will probably get my instructor's cert at some stage for the same reasons I qualified as a DM.
 
Just the stupid and unsafe ones with an inability to listen/learn.

And not mine or they don't get a cert card. It's the ones I see coming from other programs that allow someone to get certed in a weekend that scare the crap out of me and have to be part of the reason insurance is so high.
 
Really interesting reading all the post. The LDS I DM for is apparently way out of the norm. Our DMs get paid per student, not much granted but it is something, we get free air and equipment discounts. The DMs also get first shot at DSDs and scuba reviews which pay a little better. No one is going to get rich but I do better than break even. We appear to have a much higher status than most other DMs, while we do carry a lot of tanks and wetsuits, our instructors are right there beside us and we are considered part of the training staff. Once the instructor has done the initial training, I get the students who need more assistance, demo a good many skills and take an active role with the students. To put it in some perspective, we are one of the larger PADI shops in the southeast based on training, we do 400-500 certs on an average year. Our staff has around 20 instructors (10-15 active) and about the same number of DMs. Classes with 4 or more students has a paid DM assigned to the class. I personally DMed for 35-40 OW students and another 10-15 students in other classes (aow/nav/rescue). I prefer OW students so I tend to choose OW classes, we get a choice of which classes we DM for.
I enjoy the role of DM, at least where I DM. Not too sure I would take to well to being an unpaid tank slave but as a part of the training staff and making a little cash to boot, I can‘t wait for dive season to return. For me, the statement of another of our DMs sums it up, I get to have all the fun with none of the paper work.
 
I think a more appropriate questions is why do so many people take a DM course? In my little neck of the woods we see to many people chasing the next cert instead of enjoying their diving. DM is only the next logical step in your training if you want to work in the industry - it does very little to make your diving better or more enjoyable on a personal level. Most divers I see taking the DM course here have no desire to work in the industry. There are so many other better ways to make yourself a better diver - shorter goal orientated workshops, intro tech classes, working with university/aquarium dive programs and just diving a lot are just some of the ways to improve your diving without wasting the time on energy on a class that most will never use or get any real benefit from. The only people who benefit from the huge amount of DM generated by the industry are the agencies with book sales and a year or two dues from their newly minted DMs.
 
I'll be an active DM candidate this year, and have no intention of ever pursuing an instructor rating. The prohibitive costs vs. possible income are part of it, but the bigger part for me is the enormous responsibility that an instructor must accept. I don't want it. I want to enjoy and improve my own diving, and like the idea of being able to assist in classes during my candidacy. That's all I'm after.

I don't see working as a DM, for all the reasons previously mentioned in the thread.
 
just an extra 2 cents in the pot here but I will say what I love most about the divemaster class is it really helps me keep myself up to date on alot of things I would otherwise just forget. Like I always have some student ask questions about how to do something with a dive table. the first couple times I really had to go back and look because I no longer use them but discovered it may prove useful should I go somewhere and my computer fail and end up renting a regulator.

I always have refreshing reminders of simple things we so often throw away out of class with such things as out of air practice. I always get to demo the skills which keep in mind the things to do and look for in the worst case situation (I do monitor my air constantly but looking at reality these are mechanical gauges and there is always the possibility something get lodged into the mechanism we did not anticipate and throw the gauge off a few pounds give or take)

Its good to always do the fun things in practice you hope never happen in real life. Loosing a mask, swimming without a mask with the aid of a buddy, hovering off the bottom and things I rarely ever do in person such as a roll back entry. Should this ever become a need I will have practiced hundreds if not thousands of times in a demo method.

Dive mastering does give me great perks and free air and gear usage in the pool (So I dont chlorinate my good gear and damage it in the pool with things like discoloration) I get to swim for free on occasion while waiting on students too. I get to sample alot of new gear in the showroom and get hands on with some great promotions too.

Dive master is not just a course one should take because the want to get into a professional side. As others stated its very rare to make much if anything off of divemastering they should instead want it to work with people and be good role models. They should do it because they love the sport so much they want to help others love it equally as much. They should do it because they want to be a part of peoples experience they will remember for a lifetime. After all I can ask anyone if they remember their 30th dive and most would have to look at a logbook to recall it but they will never forget their first open water sessions!
 
I went through most of dive master with a private instructor back in 2004.
The only reason I was getting it was because I was in talks at the time with a vessel owner out in Bodega Bay that had a 65 foot charter fishing boat he was interested in turning into a dive charter boat and I would have been the one in charge of the diving end of it.
After that whole ordeal blew up (He would have made all the money and I would have just been another scum deckhand pee-on in his view) I had no reason to try and finish the DM program so I walked.
I only have about 4 things I need to do to finish up and I looked into it a few times but the shops I inquired with said I would have to retake everything including the internship. There was one private instructor who said he would finish me up but he would have wanted me as an intern (slave) and he has a reputation for stringing people on for years.
I don't see how completeing it is going to change anything with my diving, it won't whatsoever, so I'm not interested anymore.
 
yea but sadly there are those divemasters who seem to think they are scuba gods too.

Please refer to me as "god" now. :banana::banana: :rofl3::rofl3:
 
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