Tech Training Agencies - Which One or All?

[gxsr_sarge]

I've reviewed some very impressive diving creds and have noticed that many are replete with certifications/courses from all over. So I was wondering what training agencies you all have experience with? GUE, TDI, IANTD, NACD, NAUI (I know I'm missing other US based agencies)? Any others? Is it typical to stay with one agency or to "cross train"?

Hopefully I'll be taking GUE Tech 1 fairly soon after having passed GUE/F last month. I'm very comfortable and like what GUE is all about but am curious as to whether I'm limiting myself and not availing myself of other agencies' quals as I continue with my training.

BY THE WAY - I don't want to start a "this one is better than one" thread but rather would like to know your collective experiences.

Thanks!

 

[battles2a5]

Eh... this subject is always likely to start a religeous war. If you passed GUE-F and want to continue on that path, you aren't making a bad decision. GUE has a very specific methodolody/ideology that turns out a lot of great divers. You won't walk away with any skill gaps but your point of view may be a bit narrow.

The only real criticism that I have with GUE is that in my tech training (both OW tech and Cave) I have had a variety of instructors (most of which are certiified with various agencies) and each of them challenged me to think in different ways, explore different approaches, try different procedures. You don't get as much of that with GUE. In the end, I felt like I was a much more well-rounded diver having seen a lot of different perspectives. It just depends on what you are looking for. Do you want a solid but standardized platform or are you looking to glean the best from the individual styles you train with?

 

[PvtStash]

... whatever that means...

 

[TSandM]

I have GUE-F, Rec Triox (which I didn't pass) and Cave 1. I have NAUI Helitrox with Andrew Georgitsis (which I did pass) and cavern/Intro with TDI.

I will say that, especially in Rec Triox, we were exposed to other ideas about how things should be done. For example, we talked about dissolved gas models and pure Buhlmann profiles, and about bubble models. We were then told what GUE has settled upon for teaching deco at our level, and why these things were chosen. I did not come out of my GUE training with no awareness of what is done by others.

I think you DO learn something from everyone with whom you work. Each instructor has his own particular emphasis, things he brings from his own experience. Working with GUE instructors, you are pretty much guaranteed that what you will learn, and the standards to which you will be held, will be fairly uniform across the GUE community. This makes it very simple to travel and fit neatly into teams in other places.

But I also think it's beneficial to read what others have to say . . . I've gotten a lot out of discussions here and on other boards about the differences in teaching between GUE and other agencies or instructors. Knowing what the different approaches can be, I feel as though I can make a more informed choice about what I am going to do. So far, I really haven't had anything come up where I ended up feeling that what I learned from GUE should be discarded in favor of something else.

If you're happy, and getting what you need, and working with a community of similarly trained divers, then I'd say keep reading and researching, but keep your training as it is.

 

[rjack321]

Agencies won't teach you squat, so I would stop thinking about agency acronyms and focus on instructors doing the dives you want to do. Those actual people are who you are going to learn from so interview them!

 

[Reg Braithwaite]

Instructors, instructors, instructors, instructors, instructors.

 

[JDostal]

Definitely all about the instructors. I started out at a PADI dive shop so that's where I trained as I was starting out. Started out cave diving with an NSS/CDS class as that was the easy choice when going to Ginnie for my Cavern/Intro courses. After that I got to know another instructor well and took my full cave through her and IANTD. When I moved on to deco/mix she teaches the TDI courses so I ended up with those.

The agency doesn't matter at all, it's all basically the same stuff. Find someone you enjoy learning from!

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I did my initial technical training with TDI - but the instuctor supplemented the course with IANTD training materials. A good call on his part as the TDI materials were a little weak - particularly at that time.

My cave training has been with NACD although both of my instructors were cross certified with at least 2 agencies.

Many tech agencies accept cross certification so the line between one agency and another and the impact that has on instruction gets pretty blurry. The quality of instruction really depends on the instructor and not the agency.

I do think there is a great deal of benefit in having instruction from more than one instructor and agency. You gain from the different perspectives and when done will have more knowledge, be familiar with more points of view and will be better able to separate the wheat from the chaff and ultimately decide what will work best for you and your team. It will also give you a better understanding of the strenghts and weaknesses of various agencies and points of view.

I found the same to be true in pilot training. I found a great deal of value in training in a large number of aircraft types with instructors ranging from military instrucotrs to crop dusters with 30 plus years of experience, to ATP's with thousands of hours to regular 250 hour CFI's with wet ink on their certificates. I learned something from all of them.

 

[snowmaker]

Decide where you want to do in your diving career. Set both short and long term goals to reach those. Find instructors that are where you want to go. Talk to them. Then take classes from them. Agencies are less important.