Where to become dive master

[Lorenzoid]

I see that. I just joined the forum and am finding my way around.
Thanks

Try plugging this query into Google, using the somewhat disparaging term "zero to hero":

site:scubaboard.com zero hero divemaster

You'll find lots of previous threads from new divers asking about the divemaster course, and those are only the ones that use that somewhat disparaging term.

 

[randpchi]

Sean, in most of these threads many people advise that in order to make it in the scuba industry you need other skills that apply to the diving industry. I was about to do it myself. The fact that you are a helicopter pilot should be marketable in resort areas. That could be your path to a career.

Their are many dive pros that will weigh in, listen to their advise but I think you may have a real good chance at making it work.

 

[scubadada]

Try plugging this query into Google, using the somewhat disparaging term "zero to hero":

site:scubaboard.com zero hero divemaster

You'll find lots of previous threads from new divers asking about the divemaster course, and those are only the ones that use that somewhat disparaging term.

Even Antigua Scuba School calls it "Zero to Hero"

 

[boulderjohn]

I am going to disagree with some of the others in this and the many threads that come up on this topic, although I will agree on some other points. Here is my list of comments in random order. You will see that some are pro and some are con.

• A Course Director I knew told me that he had a very bad attitude toward zero to hero programs until, when he was directing a major Florida diving operation, he observed a recent graduate from such a program. The guy was really good, better than most of the people who came from more traditional backgrounds. He realized that when every dive you do is a training dive, you will progress faster than someone who does a lot of random diving, with much more most of it simple dives during which little personal progress is made.
• Doing your training in a specific area where you will like to work will not do you a lot of good. Those operations churn out hundreds of professionals each year, so it can be argued that they are the least likely places to find a job.
• Antigua (the site of my honeymoon) is a beautiful island and a great place to vacation for lots of people, but it is not a great dive destination. People do dive there, but it is not a major dive destination by any means. I know nothing about the program you identified.
• People who earn a living while scuba diving usually have to be able to do lots more than lead dives. It is not common for people to be hired merely as DMs. You usually have to be at least an instructor as well. Any other skills you can provide are helpful. Speaking a language commonly used by tourists in that area can help.
• I believe a scuba professional should not be limited to only one kind of diving. If you are going to do a zero to hero program, do whatever it takes to get experience diving in different environments. I myself did not become a professional until I had a number of years of diving, but they were all in tropical waters. After I became a professional, I got that broader experience, and I was much better as a result of it.
• If you have the money for it, you can indeed fast track yourself through the system. A few years ago, I encountered a brand new student who fell in love with diving immediately. He was in his final year in college after a hitch in the army that gave him GI bill benefits and payment for disabilities that did not impact his life. Using the GI Bill benefits, he was able to pay for all of his training, and within a year of his initial certification, he was both an instructor and a technical diver. That was only a couple of years ago, but is now working as both an instructor and a commercial diver, and he is doing pretty well.

 

[Saniflush]

The fact that you are a helicopter pilot should be marketable in resort areas. That could be your path to a career..

I can't wait to see the followup thread of "how long should I wait before flying a helicopter"?

 

[Lorenzoid]

Even Antigua Scuba School calls it "Zero to Hero"

Gotta love self-deprecating humor.


By the way, I'm not bashing the zero-to-, er, let's call it the fast-track route. I spent a couple of months on the Honduran island of Utila being what you might call a diving groupie, hanging out with a crowd of people either in the process of becoming DMs and instructors or who had already done it and were eking out a living as such. I took AOW and Rescue but decided to stop short of DM and just enjoy the remaining weeks of my little sabbatical diving for fun. Anyway, as you know, the fast track route is fairly common in some places, especially certain resort areas of the Caribbean and Thailand, and I'm sure it has turned out competent divemasters and instructors.

 

[stuartv]

• Doing your training in a specific area where you will like to work will not do you a lot of good.

Are you assuming that he will want to work in a Caribbean resort? Or do you feel like that's true everywhere that he might want to work?

 

[Hank49]

helicopter pilot/divemaster....Hawaii?

 

[boulderjohn]

Are you assuming that he will want to work in a Caribbean resort? Or do you feel like that's true everywhere that he might want to work?

I'm talking about the big instructor training operations, such as you find on Roatan.

If you train locally in a dive shop, that's another story altogether. I was hired as a DM by the local Boulder shop that trained me almost immediately after I was certified.

 

[stuartv]

I'm talking about the big instructor training operations, such as you find on Roatan.

If you train locally in a dive shop, that's another story altogether. I was hired as a DM by the local Boulder shop that trained me almost immediately after I was certified.

And that was my point earlier. He said he wanted to go somewhere to train. He didn't say he wanted to go live there (after he finishes training). I said he should consider doing his training where he wants to work. I.e. if he wants to train and then "go home" to work, he might want to reconsider.

However, if he DOES want to go live and work in, for example, Roatan, do you really think he'd be more likely to get a job there (in the dive industry) by training somewhere else first?