DM certs that do not require a shop affiliation?

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stuartv

Seeking the Light
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I'm back to looking at pursuing DM certification.

I'm not interested in teaching. My purpose would be to have appropriate training and credentials for leading club dive trips and having professional liability insurance.

As such, I would like to be free to work with any shop I choose, for the purpose of possibly running trips through the shop. E.g. I do all the work, they just collect the money and maintain the trip roster. It seems like being affiliated with a shop might make other shops reluctant to work with me. So, it seems most advantageous for me to get my DM cert from an agency that won't put me in that position.

It is my understanding that PADI does not require DMs to be affiliated with a shop.

Per a prior conversation with @sheeper, it is my understanding that SDI also does not require a shop affiliation for DMs.

SSI does require all their pro certs to be affiliated with a shop.

Are there any other agencies besides PADI and SDI that offer a DM cert that is not required to be affiliated with a shop?

TIA!
 
I think SDI and SSI require all professionals to be affiliated with an SDI facility. NAUI does not. Neither does UTD but with UTD you have to be trained in their way of diving.
 
Forgot to mention PSAI would be a great option as well.
 
Forgot to mention PSAI would be a great option as well.

Who, around here, does PSAI DM training?

Anyway, for my purposes, I think name recognition of the agency would be of some benefit. So, I'm leaning towards PADI or SDI, regardless. PADI has the most name recognition, I think. But, SDI also has good name recognition and SDI is who I've trained with, so far, plus there is no crossover required if I eventually pursue TDI DM certification.

NAUI is probably the other name that I perceive to have comparable recognition and which I would consider, if they don't require shop affiliation. I like SSI and would absolutely consider doing down their pro path - except that they require shop affiliation.
 
SSI is the only one I know that requires shop affiliation, although I certainly don't know the rules for everyone.

If you are just looking to work as you describe and have both the training and the liability insurance, then name recognition is unimportant. On the other hand, if you decide you do want to go on and either work for a shop or become an instructor, it would be wise to choose an agency for which that will work. There was a thread in the Instructor to Instructor forum a year or two ago in which someone who had become and instructor was upset about the fact that no shop would hire him. Well, no shop would hire him because he had chosen to become an instructor for a really obscure agency that has no shop affiliation anywhere that I know of, so he had no option other than working as an independent.

I suggest you choose an agency that will give you the best options depending upon where you might want to work.
 
If you are just looking to work as you describe and have both the training and the liability insurance, then name recognition is unimportant.

I think you know that I am no particular fan of PADI. But, for my purposes, I do feel like PADI's name recognition would be beneficial to me. But, that is somewhat specific to the situation in which I envision offering my services as a trip leader. At least at first, there would likely be a lot of people going on trips that I organize that don't know me. For those people, if they are looking at the credentials of the trip's Dive Master, I think PADI DM would be likely to imbue a little more credibility (in the minds of those people, who are generally Caribbean resort vacation divers) than, for example SEI or IANTD or PSAI DM. It's not that one is any better than another, with respect to presumed competence of the DM. It's that my target demographic seems to (by and large) regard PADI as the Gold Standard. Nobody is going to say "PADI DM? Is that something I should trust?" But, I could easily imagine "XYZ DM? Is that any good?"
 
RAID doesn't require affiliation. I don't know RAID USA at all, but @Wookie does know them and may be able to give some info about your area.
 
Thanks, Brendan, I just glanced at this thread, and saw the question.

Stuart, RAID indeed does not require affiliation. The coursework is for divemaster is tough, with a ton of physics and physiology, just like it was when I became a divemaster 20 years ago. It is both a leading dives (dive guide) course as well as a teaching assistant course (like I was 20 years ago, before my prior certification agency decided to split the roles). The bookwork is done online, at your pace, and although some of the courses are a little dated, RAID international is working very hard to get all of the modules updated.

RAID has a philosophy of coming at things from the tech side of things, so no configurations are wrong. you do have to have a snorkel as a student, as well as SMB and reel, but you don't actually have to wear the snorkel. So that's good.

As far as dive centers near you, things are a little slim. Clint Seeley at Unique Scuba is an instructor, as is @Doppler, and RAIDusa is bringing on another shop in Georgia next week. If you are further interested, drop me a PM and I will try to find an instructor in the tidewater area.
 
I do like the gear agnostic aspect of RAID. I can teach a course with students in full Hogarthian or a standard jacket BC and octo as long as the octo is on a necklace, the silicone holders or the slip-on necklaces are easy to stock.

Anyway, enough hijacking...

Stuart, are you planning to do most of your DM stuff in the US?
 

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