I am both DIR and a DM, although I consider myself an independant DM, which means I am not employeed thru a shop. That way I can choose who I DM for. I feel that when someone is learning to dive that they should not be considered an unsafe diver, as they are in fact still learning. During my DM internship, I DM'd for an instructor that was also DIR, so he taught in his DIR set up and so did I. Mostly the students were DIR as well, or heading that direction in their training. So now that I am a DM I can still dive with DIR buddies, like DIR divers in this area on business or vacation looking for a guide and I do refresher courses as well.
I live down the road from Disney, and they hire DM's to work at the Living Seas at EPCOT. I used to work at Disney and figure it would be easy for me to get rehired for a DM job, as I meet all the requirements, it would be Part time and extra money for me, but I don't do it cuz I don't like the gear they require you use (split fins, pony bottle, single reg set ups). So I have never applied. I have thought of this question before, should i look aside from my beliefs and apply for the DM job, but I decided no. I am happy with the way I dive and with the buddies I have. If I could dive the gear I wanted to that would be a different story.
