Odd question - instructor numbering

[Kharon]

I'm curious. Are instructor numbers assigned sequentially or does each state/region have their own set?

 

[scubamarketing]

At least with PADI, it’s by region. So I may have a lower number from PADI Americas than someone from PADI EMEA who has been an instructor longer than me. Not sure if that example actually lines up correctly, just an example.

 

[tursiops]

They are assigned sequentially by the training agency.....but at the time of entering the professional ranks as a DM, not when the instructor rating was achieved. So even within PADI Americas, for example, a lower number does not mean definitively that person has been an instructor longer, only that they became a DM sooner.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

This is the SDI/TDI/ERDI forum so I was guessing he was asking about that agency. And my answer is I am not sure. My SDI/TDI instructor number is 16810, my Sidemount instructor's number (Doppler) is a single digit.

 

[tursiops]

This is the SDI/TDI/ERDI forum so I was guessing he was asking about that agency. And my answer is I am not sure. My SDI/TDI instructor number is 16810, my Sidemount instructor's number (Doppler) is a single digit.

Oops, missed the SDI/TDI part. Still the same answer, as far as I know. But I was not a SDI/TDI DM, so I don't know if my SDI/TDI number (6237) would have stayed the same.

 

[Doppler]

With SDI and TDI and ERDI number are sequential. At the beginning of things, the database was a bit dodgy and numbers were all over the show... however, now I believe that since Brian and his team took over several years ago, things are on track and numbers globally are sequential... instructor numbers are sequential. And Jim is correct. Mine is a single digit.

 

[Blue Quaker]

It seems to be a case of who you know as well. I started out with Instructor #144 from Brett Gillam back in 1994 with a C card that looked more like Brett's business card on one side with my Quals. ( at the time listed as TDI instructor, Nitrox, Advanced Wreck, Technical Deep) on the other side. Then a while later, when the Canadian Regional office opened my C card was reissued by that office and had both USA #144 and CI #0041. When the Canadian office was closed, and World HQ resumed as the office for Canada, World HQ was nice enough to give me a new number, Instructor #3587. I thought that there had been an error in issuing the new card; then when I asked why I couldn't use my original number I was told that as far as the US office was concerned I had been inactive, as my diver certs were not processed through them, and my number (144) had been re-allocated to someone else. I tried to get it back but was politely told "No!" I first met Doppler when he was helping to man the TDI Canada booth at Underwater Canada and had yet to complete his TDI Nitrox Diver cert... so no, in my experience, the SDI/TDI/ERDI instructor numbers are not necessarily issued sequentially.

 

[underH2Oman]

Same situation as Blue I was originally CI-61 in Canada and when the office here closed became #5079

 

[Kharon]

Thanks so much. My SDI diver number changed from one cert to another and I was curious about instructor numbers.

 

[tursiops]

Thanks so much. My SDI diver number changed from one cert to another and I was curious about instructor numbers.

A better way to think about it is that it is a diver certification number, not a diver number. So each certification will be different.