Career Development Loan for Internship At Mermaids

[ToodKeng]

Hi All,
This is my 1st post on the forum so i'd just like to say hi and what a fantastic wealth of knowledge this place is , i've been reading so many posts on here and gaining some excellent advice from so many of you but i havent been able to find the answers to some questions of my own, so here goes

i am considering doing a "zero to hero" 3 month divemaster internship (cos im not confident enough to become an instructor ..lol) at mermaids dive centre in pattaya , i am currently unemployed and so im also considering the choice of applying for a career development loan to fund it.

I would just like to hear from anyone else who has been in my situation and done this before with the career development loan and how much you applied for? and how much you actually got ?, did you need extra money or was the loan enough to cover all your expenses ?

 

[Bowmouth]

Hi All,

i am considering doing a "zero to hero" 3 month divemaster internship (cos im not confident enough to become an instructor ..

You will need A LOT of confidence when working as a DM. Being a good DM is NOT an easy job and you will be responsible for (sometimes not all that confident) certified divers under water and/or be helping an Instructor with supervising (sometimes not so confident) students as well.

Do your (Advanced) Open Water Diver course, get a couple of (more) dives under your belt and see how you really feel about diving before taking the "zero to hero" plunge.

Start with becoming a confident zero and then (in time and with practice and experience) become a hero...

 

[ToodKeng]

Thats the kind of advice i really appreciate, and will take good note of it too .. but .. now that you mention it, i should explain maybe a little bit more to expand my reason for doing the zero to hero course .. i didnt go into great detail to start of with to save people from unnecessary amounts of reading ..lol

i have chosen the divemaster course instead of the instructor course for a few reasons,

1) i want to change my career and get into the diving industry, im still undecided on commercial or recreational but feel after doing an internship i can make a more educated choice on which path to take or even if i wish to discontinue it as a career choice, either way it will be a good life experience if nothing else.

2) it is the minimum level at which i can obtain the loan to do any scuba diving.

3)i dont actually intend to work as a divemaster as soon as i qualify just because i am certified , i see the internship more as a way of saving money to gain a lot of experience in a short amount of time, as doing each course seperately and in the uk would take much more money and time to complete, both of which i dont like to waste any more than i have to ..lol, once ive finished the internship i intend to get a normal job and pay the loan and then continue to dive as often as i can to become more confident with all the skills i will have learnt before considering becoming a divemaster, or even commercial diver.

4)from what i have read on the forums , new instructors or atleast the majority who get time to post replies have had a lot of hard work finding jobs with decent pay so im in no rush to become an instructor as i would much rather do that kind of job out of love more than money anyhow, but also becoming a divemaster and then just using that advanced knowledge to become a better beginner means that by the time ive done 250-300 dives maybe more i'll be ready to think about learning to become a proper divemaster with the confidence needed to do a proper job of it.

5)it is also a way of having a nice long holiday ..lol

ive probably missed a few points out somewhere but im sure i can fill in the gaps if my plan seems a little odd to you guys ..lol

 

[Makhno]

I think it's wise to get more experience diving before trying to work in the business -- if you want to be a good DM, that is (there are plenty of bad ones out there, though, so one more would probably go unnoticed). Do tropical coral reef dives where you can, but also do some deep wreck diving, some cold-water kelp forest diving, and/or whatever else you can do in as many different diving conditions as possible (e.g., lakes and quarries will add to your experience and confidence level, even if the diving itself might not be very exhilarating). Then if you decide to settle in somewhere and work as a DM, be prepared for it to take a while before you know the local dive sites, know the local marine life, and gain other knowledge that will make you a good guide as well as a competent DM in the sense of adequately supervising certified divers.

That said, in just about any tropical destination (and plenty of temperate ones, too) you're a lot more likely to get work as an instructor than as a DM. When you're first starting out, dive centers might not give you a lot of courses to teach and might give you a lot of DM work at first, but most likely they'll give the DM work to you as an instructor, rather than using someone who's "only" a DM, because they'll want you around to be ready to do Discover Scuba experiences, etc., and then they'll want you to be available to teach courses when needed. So instructors are simply a lot more in demand than DMs. At least, that's the advice I was given, and I followed it, and it certainly accords with my experience. The instructor internships aren't that much more time & money than the DM internships, if you're going from zero to hero (again, I would recommend getting further diving experience before actually working in the business .. although of course, once you've got the instructor certification you're "qualified" to start teaching if you want to get right to work).

Another thing which accords with my experience is something you already nailed on the head: it's tough to make a living in this business, especially as a newly certified DM/instructor. If you're basically just looking to do a lot of diving and have an extended vacation, then go for it ... but are you sure you want to take out a loan for a vacation which you can't otherwise afford, and which you won't be paying off with your hard-earned professional certifications? Up to you, of course, but if so you should be aware that there are other places where it might be less expensive than Pattaya -- Utila, Honduras comes to mind. But then, Utila doesn't have Pattaya's wrecks ...

 

[stevenl]

I am not fond of the 'hero to zero programmes in general.

In addition: for a career development load one would normally expect to get a career out of it (which is possible in diving) and be able to pay of the loan with the income from the career (which is highly unlikely in diving). So I would not recommend a loan for such an internship.

 

[Bowmouth]

1) i want to change my career and get into the diving industry, im still undecided on commercial or recreational

A Recreational DM or Instructor rating will not help you much with getting a job as a Commercial Diver. Commercial Diver courses are very different, longer, (much) more expensive and harder to get than any of the Recreational DM or Instructor certifications.

Commercial (saturation) diver jobs are well paid but can often be dangerous, hard on your body and in the most horrible conditions and places. Commercial divers are not "fun-diving" (although many love to dive!) but are only going down to do a job and may stay up to 28 days in a row in a dive bell without any comfort or facilities.

Choose first (recreational or commercial?) and then decide to avoid disappointment at a later stage.

 

[dheft]

I did my DM internship at mermaids and thought it was great. The owner has since passed on, and i don't know if anything has changed. He was a great guy, and although there were 100 interns, everyone felt connected to him. Hopefully, mermaids is still a wonderful place.

 

[MoonWrasse]

Are you figuring on working off your loan as a DM in Thailand?

If so, that might not be so easy.

 

[stiggy]

I wasn't to keen on Zero to hero initially.

However with the right attitude maturity and a basic level of experience it can work quite well.

I have meet some pretty good well rounded Dive pros from this way of training.

Its all about attitude and knowing what they are capable of....teaching diving isn't rocket science.

 

[limbo]

Spot on stiggy.