the truth about DM's

[maniago]

Fair enough, but my boss and my customers do

Maybe you should ask for "dual-citizen-ship" ! haha

 

[Keith.M]

So have you been on the Marissa long Asha?

I did a 3 tank dive off of it last September and I don't think the DM was you, but I could be mistaken...

I am planning on diving there again in a couple of weeks and hope to get a trip in on the Marissa again.

 

[asha]

I've been affiliated with the boat for a couple of years at this point, but really only worked "full time" in 2012 and early 2013. It's entirely possible that I was out of town in September

Hope to see you out there in a few weeks!

 

[String]

The shop I'm doing my DM through pays their DMs when they are working. It isn't much, but enough for a few rounds at the pub on a Friday night, plus site entry and gas fills are covered.

Will they also cover your annual HSE medical (£140 or so), the CE certified kit authorisation (£80 or so a year), the DM fee of about £80 and the extra liability needed for insurance coming to about £200? You're looking at about £500 a year in the UK with HSE compliance to be in a place where you can legally dive professionally.

 

[SailNaked]

I think if I taught every week at a shop and then spent every weekend on a boat in fla. I might have to declare bankruptcy in about 6 months. With no house or car payment.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

 

[tenacious]

just an update:
I am a divemaster now! Divemastering alone isn't a wise financial move in itself. I have found that doing divemaster duties pays more in favors than actual money. One hand washes the other though, I haven't paid for nitrox fills, rescue class, divemaster class, or boat trips in quite a while. That's not to say that there isn't money to be made. My shop requires you to be a DM in order to work their boats, and that can be decent money on the right days. there is money to be made in the scuba industry, maybe not a livable wage from just being a DM, but like everything else in life if you really want to you can find a way.
Cheers!

Anther update.... I am now a paid treasure hunter. Not your typical $300 a week plus a percentage type treasure hunter, a very, very attractive daily rate treasure hunter. Being a divemaster and having my own gear was instrumental in getting me this job. Being comfortable underwater and time underwater from being a divemaster was also very important in getting me hired.
I can now say for certain that there is good money to be made in the scuba industry if you keep grinding.

 

[Progen]

I was already performing the duties of a dive master some months before I actually became one.

1. Carting equipment to and fro boat - Out of a willingness to help, dive for free and because the exercise came in useful (although most said a 5' 5" guy weighing 141 pounds didn't need to lose weight)
2. Helping to look out for errant divers - Out of an urge to keep itchy hands from harassing / destroying / killing marine life
3. Helping to look out for new / rusty divers - Out of decency in not wanting to see another diver come to harm
4. Helping out with students - Didn't matter whether I was a dive master or not but if a strap's loose, I don't think it'll matter even if the person saying so was a non-diver

So yeah, I'm one of those who did it for free and whenever I was offered money, I'd refuse it saying that it wasn't my right to accept it and paying me can wait until I was certified as a dive professional.

 

[Rayallyn]

Having been an ex military diver and 50 years of diving experience, minus the fifteen I lived in New Hampshire. I had no desire to become a DM... except having reached master diver and now halfway through research diver certification plus recovering from major surgery I feel compelled to continue on. I don't need the money and feel like I have to keep going. I don't want to sit watching TV or painting landscapes all day to pass the time. I have no plan to work full time and will most likely teach photography/video and post production. (Not the Padi UW photography course or any other cert agency course.) I have over 15 years as photojournalist and degrees in English and photography.
Plus I am waiting for my new tee shirt to arrive - "Some Grandpa's play bingo but real Grandpa's Scuba Dive"

 

[BrewsKampbell]

Browsing through some of this it's s shame some DM positions are unpaid. I just finished my DMT and the shop I affiliate with pays their DM's for pool and O/W work, covers my campsite when doing courses out of town and cover my liability insurance. I just have to pay my yearly dues. I don't do it for the money but it's nice that I won't be breaking the bank covering expenses for assisting the shop, and making a little extra to go out and enjoy my hobby is a nice perk.

 

[TMHeimer]

Having been an ex military diver and 50 years of diving experience, minus the fifteen I lived in New Hampshire. I had no desire to become a DM... except having reached master diver and now halfway through research diver certification plus recovering from major surgery I feel compelled to continue on. I don't need the money and feel like I have to keep going. I don't want to sit watching TV or painting landscapes all day to pass the time. I have no plan to work full time and will most likely teach photography/video and post production. (Not the Padi UW photography course or any other cert agency course.) I have over 15 years as photojournalist and degrees in English and photography.
Plus I am waiting for my new tee shirt to arrive - "Some Grandpa's play bingo but real Grandpa's Scuba Dive"

In some ways I am like you (except I like sitting watching TV...).

---------- Post added August 25th, 2014 at 12:27 AM ----------

Browsing through some of this it's s shame some DM positions are unpaid. I just finished my DMT and the shop I affiliate with pays their DM's for pool and O/W work, covers my campsite when doing courses out of town and cover my liability insurance. I just have to pay my yearly dues. I don't do it for the money but it's nice that I won't be breaking the bank covering expenses for assisting the shop, and making a little extra to go out and enjoy my hobby is a nice perk.

Yes. You have to get paid. How much is debatable, but at least minimum wage. DM positions that are unpaid are not IMO POSITIONS.

I hope both of you get paid. I just did the usual OW (2)weekend course for the usual $300. The Instructor had 6 students and made about $450 for doing 10X the work of a DM. There seems to be a problem there. He said if he had it to do over he'd have stayed a DM. A rarity, I know. Not too many years back the DM OW course pay was $100. I heard many of them quit--well, how many weekends of work would that be just to cover membership & insurance (not to mention Canadian gas prices)? So, it had to go first to $200 then to $300--OR- a lack of DMs. A message here?