Anyone read this thread?

[diverdowndh]

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ba...851-why-do-so-many-poorly-skilled-divers.html

I posted my comments, surely this has been seen by others in this subforum (and stop calling me Shirley...). What do you think?

 

[GA Under Water]

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ba...851-why-do-so-many-poorly-skilled-divers.html

I posted my comments, surely this has been seen by others in this subforum (and stop calling me Shirley...). What do you think?

In EVERYTHING that requires Certification there are those that squeak by. Those are usually the only ones you ever hear about. In my Career field we call it "Paper MCSE" or "Paper CCNA" but it is usually these guys that get the most flak because they didn't support something correctly and therefor brought down the thunder.

When you do right, no one remembers.
When you do wrong, no one EVER forgets.

 

[Ice9]

Well, I'm relatively new still (around 80 dives), but I think I'm a pretty good diver who has just completed his DM. I take being a DM very seriously, and I can say that my DM course was the toughest thing I've ever done. Nobody in my class "slipped by."

In fact, looking around my area, I don't think I've ever seen a bad DM as you describe them. Everyone that I know is very skillful, professional and have been a wealth of knowledge. Perhaps you are encountering a local problem?

 

[diverdowndh]

I must have missed something... I don't remember describing any DM as bad, did I? I looked back thru that entire thread and thought my comments were positive. Maybe I gave you that impression in another thread, apologies if I did!

 

[Ice9]

I must have missed something... I don't remember describing any DM as bad, did I? I looked back thru that entire thread and thought my comments were positive. Maybe I gave you that impression in another thread, apologies if I did!

Oops! Sorry. Thought you were the OP in that thread. Ya, I didn't really follow it too much because it just looked to me like the OP had some axe to grind. I haven't noticed the problems he's listed.

 

[diverdowndh]

No problem, just making sure I'm square! I haven't much either, that is why I thought it might be of interest to other DM's or candies like me...

 

[tceylan]

It's because DM (in my case) training is focused on teaching students. Unfortunately almost all of those 20 skills are performed on your knees in the pool. Still these skills improve certain aspects of diving with focus on teaching in a confined environment.

I don't agree with OP's "diving every weekend with students and not gaining any experience" though. I think dealing with students improves critical skills such as situational awareness, rescue, good judgement, etc. Also working at shallow depths with students improves buoyancy skills....

After all DM Cert is just a cert like OW or AOW. It is one of many commercial certs where the requirements are pretty low. It is up to the DM to improve his/her skills just like a AOW holder.

I'm one of those under 100 dives DM candidates. Did DM class improve my skills? Yes... Did it make me a better diver? Probably... Am I an experienced diver? Absolutely not... Do I still
have much to learn? You bet...

 

[diverdowndh]

Well, i'm over 100 dives for sure but I still have lots to learn too... which is one BIG reason I hang around SB!
The whole thread was very negative, thought some of the comments were interesting though..

 

[Divingguy]

I got tired of reading the DM bashing in that other thread. I know how high the standards are that Scubatoys is holding me to, and how hard I am working to be a good DMC. I have not seen anyone in our program who I regard as unskilled, or unsafe.

 

[diverdowndh]

You and I both! I think that there are simply divers who have been doing it so long they forget the ocean isn't theirs solely. Standards do change and so what? No one is going to have the buoyancy that another person with 1000+ dives is going to have except someone else with that many dives. I'm just glad that when I was a noob that no one berated me because I was "simply an OW diver".
A question on the DM test I took Thursday night was something along the lines of if you are a DM on a boat with TECH DIVERS what would you NOT do? One answer was turn on their air for them. Of course, that wasn't the correct answer (I got the question right...) but my instructor thought my comments about the question were interesting. I said, based on some of the things I've read on SB, I doubt I would touch a tech diver's ANYTHING unless they specifically asked for it. We talked about turning on air as a DM "service" but I pointed out that tech diving, to me, equates into someone who is probably waaaaaay more experienced than me, and would probably label me as an inexperienced DM if I touched their equipment. Besides, I believe they take extra gas down with them, probably don't want some of them turned on.... and my instructor agreed.