Most Expedient Route to DM

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(at this point just an academic exercise)

I am going to be moving in less than a year and my apartment is like two miles from an LDS. At the same time I will only be taking 3-6 credits of coursework so I will have some time on my hands and should probably be looking for income.

"Why not try to be a Divemaster/Assistant Instructor?"

I am only an PADI OWD and I keep punting AOW/EANx for cash/time reasons. I am not opposed to holding someone's hand in the pool if it means a paycheck and more opportunity to dive.

With your limited experience and number of dives, what do you think you have to offer to a new student? Can you even hold a motionless hover to demonstrate what it should look like? If you're interested in technical diving in the future, get some relevant training now and consider passing on what you've learned at some point down the road.
 
"Why not try to be a Divemaster/Assistant Instructor?"
It is a great alternative to Mac Donalds.
It could be the first step on the career of your dreams, too.
If you really really want to become a DM or an AI then do not try - just do it.

I am only an PADI OWD and I keep punting AOW/EANx for cash/time reasons.

AOWD is an easy course. Nitrox is basically a class in percentage calculus. And some other stuff. Not difficult, but important.

The relevant questions are: How much have you dived? In what kind on environments?

The LDS I'm looking at is a NAUI shop and doesn't seem to have a huge staff,

NAUI is a very fine certification agency. Size does matter, but is bigger better?

However, I would need to go through the entire NAUI course progression (AOW, EANx, Rescue, O2/First Aid, MSD, and their Instructor Evaluation program)

Well, yeah, or you could go through PADI AOW, PADI EANx, PADI Rescue, O2/First aid, Instructor Evaluation Program... You cannot become a professional without professional skills, sorry. And no, those courses alone are not enough. You actually need to capable in the water.

ps. Agencies nowadays acknowledge each others courses.


You list the qualities that I expect from an instructor/AI/DM, and yet you say you want to learn/gain those by being an assistant istructor or dive master. There is something very wrong about this. Go find a CMAS diving club and do a lot of diving instead. More fun, less sued, win-win.
 
A NAUI DM is actually higher than an AI.
"The minimum age is 18 years for all leadership programs. Certifications as a NAUI Open Water Scuba Diver, NAUI Rescue Scuba Diver, NAUI Nitrox Diver, NAUI Master Scuba Diver, NAUI First Aid for the Diving Professional, NAUI Oxygen Provider (or equivalent) are required. "
Also optional for leadership, "the Assistant Instructor and Divemaster ratings allow individuals to attend an Instructor Training Course (ITC) to be trained and qualified as NAUI Instructors. NAUI's Familiarization-Instruction-Testing (FIT) Program is an optional non-certification program that may be used as a prerequisite for enrollment in the NAUI Assistant Instructor course, NAUI Divemaster course, or NAUI Instructor Crossover Course."
The NAUI AI course is geared towards classroom, pool, and open water assisting the instructor. The DM program adds leading dives and actually teaching certain programs.
In either one (I went through the NAUI AI/DM programs alongside the YMCA program and got YMCA certification in 2007), the AI/DM is expected to be able to take over for the instructor (under the supervision of the instructor) if needed. In the classroom this may mean the instructor shows up with a sore throat or decides the DM or AI needs some practice. The AI or DM will teach the class with the instructor observing. When I went through several times the instructor asked if I wanted to teach the class that night. No problem. I actually learned to teach by teaching 100 or so students over the course of 8 months from Jr OW through DM/AI.
Got compensated with air fills, gear at cost, tips from students now and then, fed. etc.
 
A NAUI DM is actually higher than an AI.

And who cares? This is not the military.

A DM leads dives while an AI helps in the classroom etc, both are eligible for instructor training.
The difference is in the job they do.

I have seen awarded instructors that are so #### that they should not be teaching anything.
Skill does matter.
 
@onepointfivethumbs

Have we beat you unconscious yet?

Thought you might have succumbed amidst we elephants trampling and trumpeting.

Hopefully you’ve concluded jumping onto the instructor bandwagon isn’t the path to becoming a proficient diver.
 
One thing no one has mentioned is to check out if your school has a Scuba program as some do. It is a great way to gain skills, knowledge, and get in a bunch of diving that is all covered under your scholarship and/or student loans plus you get credits for it.
 
If i was you, i might just consider trying for a part time job at the lds doing whatever they need done. Sweeping floors, cleaning rental gear, whatever. Might just get ya some free rentals and air fills if you get along good with the staff and are very helpful and motivated to work hard. Would also help you get a feel for the local industry and whether and where you might like to fit into it
 
For the NAUI MSD, in the course I took, it covered just about all the skills required from the DM course I took, plus there was a bunch of apnea work, general skills work in the pool, rescue scenarios, search and recovery scenarios, limited visibility work, a good deal of navigation, plus a boatload of classroom stuff. I had a great and demanding instructor, not to say that I didn't have an equally great instructor for DM too, but I just felt the NAUI MSD was a more demanding program all around.

The whole issue of having demonstration quality skills for DM is that they are teaching elements and are exaggerated, the expectation is that the a DM candidate has the basic skills down pat and then some, so learning how to exaggerate a skill for demonstration purposes may make some better at demoing a skill but it does not make one a better diver overall. All the "skills" a PADI DM is required to master to demonstration quality are all skills relevant to teaching basic open water students...one should expect that a DM candidate has these skills in their arsenal and can properly execute them, the DM course should only teach and reinforce how to explain and demonstrate them to students.

Perhaps it is just my opinion but when someone signs up for a DM course, they are stating they are ready to be a professional...they are stating that they believe their skill set is of high enough caliber that they should be considered as a candidate for this training course....the focus of the course is not about developing the candidates skills as a diver, it is designed to teach how to manage things above and below the surface. The course tests a bunch of stuff and if a candidate is deficient in an area they should go dive more and work on brushing up on those things that they had issues with. For instance, navigation is an important skill for DM to have, but the DM course is not where you learn navigation, it is where your navigation skills are put to the test. If one has issues with navigating in various conditions underwater then that candidate needs to go work on that to improve and comeback to their DM instructor to be challenged/tested again. PADI offers a navigation specialty certification course, the DM candidate is expected to know and understand and be able to execute the basic skills taught in that course and then go work on them to refine and build on that experience BEFORE they raise their hand and say they are ready to be a divemaster....the DM course should then evaluate their skill/acumen and provide feedback on where they are deficient, then the candidate should be able to take that feedback and digest it and apply while working outside the context of the DM course to raise their skill level to a professional caliber. Otherwise a DM course is just pumping out monkeys that have mediocre diving skills but can demonstrate stuff really well. There are plenty of monkeys in the water already.

-Z

-Z
I can see that S & R work could be a nice addition to the PADI DM course. I suppose some more than basic navigation as well. What is apnea work? Poor viz is something very common here, but I guess some time on that would be good. What is the extra classroom stuff-- maybe give a couple of examples of something not in the PADI DM course?
Thanks.
 
Demonstrating skills on the knees doesn't improve buoyancy.
Of course. It only improves the skill you're doing (I know it's better to do those few appropriate skills NB). I consider good buoyancy not really related to say, the 24 PADI pool skills. I put forth that the fact that the whole OW class is always NB-- not kneeling while one does the mask skill, etc.-- is why NB courses send out divers with better buoyancy (not because they can retrieve a regulator while swimming). Just my theory. But we've discussed this before.
 
You must first take the SCUBA vow of poverty. Repeat while glaring longingly at a photo of Jacques Cousteau:

"I solemnly vow to not expect any compensation for being a Divemaster, and further agree to buy any dive gear from the shop that I am associated with. I will learn to eat only Ramen, and will dwell in a old refrigerator box under the interstate if that is what it takes for me to become a certified Divemaster. "

Now say 3 "Hail Padi's". "Hail PADI, full of grease, send some money to me please".
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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