First itt and even sidemount is not required to start tech in sidemount.
So this are courses like drysuit that can be selfteached. Same as specialties like multiple stage cave or dpv cave. Yes, i know a lot of divers and instructors will not like this, but it it true. It are called 'specialties'.
The argument you dont know what you dont know is sometimes a completely dead cow and ********. If you know how stages work, just learn ( can be reading or a good buddy) about the gas rules etc. Practise and extend limits slowly.
In diving you have 3 types of courses: the usefull ones, the can be usefull ones and the ones that don't train you better diving.
The first group is ow, aow, nitrox, adv nitrox, normoxic trimix, full trimix, the cave path till full cave, rebreatherclasses, etc.
Then you have the can be usefull group:
Drysuit, dpv, itt, cave specialties, sidemount. Some need it, others dont.
To learn yourself sidemount or dpv cave you need to read about it, be more or less an autodidact, have a buddy or camera to help you with skills, but this doesnt need to be necessarly an instructor. But you must be able to criticise yourself. If you don't see things, it does not work. Evaluate your own dive, then you can learn.
But for example you are a liitle bit afraid of real restricties in sidemount caves, taking a course can bring you further that you enjoy it and then the course is usefull. So yes, it is really good that there are such courses, but please dont say they are absolutely needed, they are optional. And yes, i also teach optional courses. I am not against them, only aigainst them as required.
And the last group:
Photography, biology, seaslugh identification, zomby diver, etc
If you are interested, take it. But dont expect to get a good course from an instructor who only uses a simple camera if you want to improve your photographyskills. Better is to sign in on workshop weeks with real photographers. The only thing: you dont get a cert.
I aslo teach biology and photography. I almost never do it because i tell people go for biology to the course the university teaches for divers once a year in evenings and for photography, i did the instructor rating with a gopro clone. Now I have a good camera, but am still exploring and improving, but I am now at a level that sometimes i can help others. But for more experienced people: book a liveaboard with some of the professional photographers. I don't know all details that profis know.
I will never book such things myself as i really hate theory when i could go diving, but i am with photography more a diver than an photographer and i am selfteached with this. So all are personal choices. But yes, I have seen really nice results of people who did such workshop-liveaboards.
So nice that these courses are possible, but sometimes it is better to book a workshop without cert. And you won't learn better diving skills. Do it if your interest is there.
In diving, diplomas, cards, certs seem to be the norm, the more the better.
When I did my courses, ow was nice, aow crap as i already did nightdives and deed dives. 3*/dm was only because it sounds nice that you are a 'guide'. rescue was boring. Deep was not done according to standards, so i paid for the card.
Advanced rec trimix was a good course, but with bad instructor, normoxic was just 10 m deeper, so i did not learn anything and full tx with 3 stages was good. Cavern, intro and full cave in one week was one of my most usefull courses. So some of my required courses were also not that usefull as they had could been. But I can now use these experiences to improve myself as instructor.
With this as personal experiences,i teach normoxic trimix now with 2 stages. It is allowed with one, but then it is same course as adv nitrox or art, just on trimix and a little bit deeper. So I teach it now with 2. A little bit more challenging and the step to full is smaller. I went from one stage to 3 and yes I could do it, but it can bea big step.
Full tx is with 2 or 3. I teach it with 3. A 100m dive done with no travelgas is not the way in my eyes.
Cave I prefer students who do at least zero till intro, or the last part ( intro to full, or zero to full). We dont have caverns here and i dont see any usefull thing in teaching just cavern because in 8 minutes dive is over because of cavernlimit. In other places cavern can be a nice first step, but not here. The argument you learn the skills in cavern is true, but if I only sign of cavern, divers will go over their limits on the first dive after the course. I do it this way: The first dive in zero to intro is most times 100-120 minutes near the entrance to do only skills. So in this dive we do the cavernskills. The divetime is more than the minimum of a caverncourse, but it is only done in 1 dive instead of 4. But you start in twinsets, I don't allow single tanks in intro to cave. And the next dive means slightly further in the cave and of course skills again, the caves here are mostly better just outside the cavern and inside the cave to practise things and not irritate others.
I also allways do a dive with skills at home in open water before going to caves.
Intro to cave is also a course to invite people to go over limits after certification. That is why I stimulate good divers to do also the full cave part. So look at the diver and listen to the divers wishes. Then advice if only intro is better or the way directly to full cave.
I offer potential students a dive to know each other, i can check them and can say it is better to do practise longer, or do another course first, or you can do it in backmount, but for sidemount you need a sidemount course also to have the right level. If people dive good enough, we can start.
I really hate instructors who only sell and not look at the divers.
For myself I would never switch to another agency for a higher level course when i also had to do a lower level course. I have done courses with several agencies, and I cannot say padi is always worse, cmas always great. At the end it is not only the instructor, but also the diver. As soon as you think i know it all, then your level is getting worse. Every diver need to practise from time to time. And after a teaching dive i also do an evaluation of myself what i could do better.
There are no statistics that agency A has less accidents, or that DIR is always safer. I dive DIR, but I also dive sidemount and rebreather, sometimes solo and if needed a normal bcd ( but with longhose). Use the tools for the job.
On internet we cannot advice to do itt first and then an/dp. This depends on the diver. If the course is done in weekends, the diver can practise during the week. If the course is done in a few days, there is no time to practise in between. All points to think about. The instructor has to look at the diver. And not only require things that are not required before knowing the diver.
