Experience as a trainee divemaster

[TMHeimer]

I think it depends on whether the DM in training will be eventually working for the shop. If so, the grunt work is valuable to get familiar with that shop's routine. If the DMT is not planning to work there the grunt work is probably useless.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Grunt work like hauling tanks, sweeping floors, cleaning all the gear, etc is useless for the DM trainee. Unless that is separate from the course and they are being paid for it as an employee.

 

[Mustard Dave]

What work a DM trainee does for the shop depends on what is agreed. If I was paying for training, that is what I would expect to get, and I wouldn't expect to do a thing not connected to my training. For example, learning how to operate the compressor would be valuable, however, any idiot can hump cylinders. As a paying customer, I would never be the shop's kit bitch.

Some DM trainees may be receiving training in exchange for working in the shop. In that situation you have to weigh up whether the amount of graft you are putting in would earn you more than what you would pay for the training.

What worries me in the OP's account is what he said to a customer. People have a flap about all sorts of things when they are new to diving. He should have been reassuring the diver; using language like 'I don't care' suggests a poor attitude to his students.

 

[tomfcrist]

I dont think that a prospective DM should be treated as a shop slave. Should he/she expect to help with classes? yes. Should organizing and executing dives be expected? yes. Hauling everyones tanks and setting up everyones gear? Oh Heck no.

Call me combative, but I'd tell the instructor to off. Then i would talk to the shop owner and either request a comprehensive DM program or my money back.

 

[RJP]

using language like 'I don't care' suggests a poor attitude to his students.

I'm going to give the guy the benefit of the doubt, and assume that when he said "I don't care if you're tipping one way or the other..." that what he meant was "I'm not concerned if you're tipping one way or the other a little. Don't worry about it. It's your first open water dive. This first dive is really just to get you acclimated to open water. Don't fight it, just go with it for now and we'll work on it during the course of the weekend. You'll see how much more comfortable you will be even by the end of this first dive. Are you ready to give it another try?"

Of course, an apprehensive student will hear...

[video=youtube;flBqojLpAnI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flBqojLpAnI[/video]

As instructors (and DMs) we need to remain acutely mindful of just how apprehensive most new divers are.

Sure, we all know it intellectually, but I believe most instructors don't really get it emotionally. Why? Because most of us have never experienced it. Almost by definition, anyone who became an instructor probably had a high initial level of comfort in the water in general, and in diving specifically. Accordingly, it's quite likely that instructors - those who need to display the most empathy for new divers - will actuallyhave LESS innate empathy for the new diver's situation. We need to over-compensate here.

 

[boulderjohn]

I would agree if the OP were a DM already, but they are a DM trainee. They are PAYING to learn to lead certified divers and to help with classes. They will get more TRAINING by sitting in on or participating in the debrief than by hauling gear around.

When the other students have gone, the DM trainee can certainly help with the gear, but it shouldn't be at the expense of their own training -- which isn't on how to haul gear in any outline I have ever seen.

I may have been confused by the word "trainee." If someone is learning to be a divemaster, then the normal term is "divemaster candidate," commonly abbreviated DMC. Once a person is certified, that person may need to receive more specific training on the ins and outs of a dive operation. I would call that person a trainee. There are operations that specialize in this.

If a certified DM is being trained, then that training should be specific to what was not in the DM certification process. This past winter a dive shop I used in Florida had several DM trainees. Here is what I saw happen.

1. They helped hump all the gear to the boat, just as a regular DM does.
2. They helped the customers get to their places and make sure they were all set.
3. They gave dive briefings under the watchful eye of a regular DM.
4. They submerged with a regular DM to set the ascent/descent line on the wrecks.
5. They helped divers get in and out of the water.
6. They helped hump the gear off the boat, just like a regular DM.
7. They accepted tips, just like a regular DM.

Note that they acted as DMs, with an experienced DM working with them the entire time. That is what DM training should be.

If a newly certified DM is just assisting a class with no understanding that they are being trained for specific tasks--as described above--then they are not trainees. They are just inexperienced DMs. They should be paid as DMs. If they not yet certified, it is a different thing altogether.

 

[TSandM]

I see it a little differently. I think DM candidates should be exposed to what DMs do, and part of what DMs often do is haul stuff. I don't think that should be excessive, and I agree that listening to what the instructor is doing is also useful, but being a DM is a lot of physical work, and a candidate should learn that as well as the specific skills and tasks involved. If all the candidate does is the "fun part", it's going to be an unpleasant awakening when they find out that's only some of what they will be expected to do.

I don't think that should, however, involve sweeping shops or things which have nothing at all to do with helping with classes or guiding divers. I would not have agreed to do any such menial tasks when I was in training, and I would not do them now as a working DM. It's astonishing enough that dive shops are able to base their profit and loss model on a lot of unremunerated work by people who are volunteering time and effort to a for-profit entity, but a shop can pay somebody to sweep and clean up.

The "no thanks given" just reflects on the character of the instructor, who doesn't sound like a very nice person.

 

[TMHeimer]

I agree with RJP in that most instructors/DMs were water naturals/very experienced in the water. Much like the talented musician who then gets into teaching. You can't let the fact that a student is struggling way more than you did frustrate you. At the extreme end though, there are a few who should not be divers or musicians.

Also agree with TS&M that while sweeping floors is a no no, hauling tanks to the site/truck and other things like re-hanging BCs in the shop and putting weights in their places are things a DMT must know to work for THAT shop.

 

[1bubbleoff]

Swim-

Welcome to the REAL dive world...and that being said...fire your instructor..and fire your shop. What you have stated is NOT how REAL dive pro's conduct themselves. Yes..its grunt work. NO....its not indentured servitude. Seriously...do yourself justice. Find a PROFESSIONAL operation to grow with...this "dude" ain't no Pro. Just my .02.

Bubs

 

[Pro Dive Davao]

I have run some big operations from time to time.

My DM's are a valuable member of the whole team and good DM's are harder to find then instructors as many are just getting the qualification to move on to instructor.

A experienced and hard working DM is great find. With my DM teams they worked on a rotational bases Shop, Boat, Class Shop DMs would be early to work and prepares all the gear necessary for the whole days activities and included cleaning the Dive Center.

Boat DMs where diving and responsible to look after guests and the boat including swapping gear around for customers, filling tanks on board and just simple guest relations and of course running the days diving .

Class DM's were under the control of the class instructor and they where there to make the instructors job easier. If that means hauling tanks and weight belts because the instructor believes that it would make the course go smoother - IE tired students or students that needed to stay in the pool while the others were finished then that was their job. Any DM internships works with a DM and was rotated the same.

DM's are human and should be treated with respect but they should also understand there is a lot more to diving that blowing bubbles with 6 adoring customers wanting there telephone number on the way home .

Most of my DM's have been female because they have the right attitude