What a DiveMaster Can (and Can't) do once qualified?

[Magnus Lundstedt]

I am Canadian and not familiar with the laws in different countries in Europe. However, Canadian law is based on English common law and based on that, and my understanding of tort law in commonwealth countries, I would be concerned. OP is from the UK. How concerned? It depends on how risk averse one is. I am very risk averse. Maybe OP is not.

US law is also based on English common law. However, I agree that the US is a very litigious country as a whole.

I have read a number of incident reports, and court rulings, i must say that that is not making me concerned in this case.

 

[Dogbowl]

I have read a number of incident reports, and court rulings, i must say that that is not making me concerned in this case.

Ok. We will have to agree to disagree.

I hope you are referring to incident reports and court rulings from the UK, right? Otherwise, it would not be relevant (for the OP, when she's diving in the UK).

 

[Magnus Lundstedt]

Ok. We will have to agree to disagree.

I hope you are referring to incident reports and court rulings from the UK, right? Otherwise, it would not be relevant.

UK, Germany and Sweden. Not much difference, Maybe the Swedish is a little more forgiving then the other two.

 

[Marie13]

@SammyW

Another consideration is that you would have to pay fees to your agency each year to remain in "active" status as a DM. I don't know what SSI charges, but I've heard that for PADI it's at least several hundred dollars a year, on top of whatever liability insurance you may have to pay.

The liability issue (I'm in the States) is a huge turn-off for me.

I've had a number of people tell me I'd be a good candidate for DM in a couple of years. I have friends going through their DM training right now, and you couldn't pay me enough to take it. Do you want to be riding herd on students during OW classes or out doing your own diving? I'm going tech in a couple of years, beginning with sidemount this year. The friends paid something like $1600 for their DM course (PADI and another agency concurrently). That's a big chunk of change, in addition to annual fees for the agency and insurance.

Some people seem to think that because a someone is an enthusiastic diver, they would make a good DM/instructor.

Go do the diving you want to do, and use the money you would have spent on DM training, on your tech training instead.

 

[tursiops]

Recognize that Professional Training (and most technical training) is actually priced in an appropriate way.....considering the time it takes and the credentials to teach it that are needed. It is the recreational classes that are being given away, as loss-leads in some cases. So, dive shops REALLY want you to become DMs and Instructors, because they might actually make a little money. not to mention that there are lots of dropouts of DMs and Instructors who decide not to pay the large insurance and membership fees each year, in order to teach for almost nothing, and they need to be constantly replaced with new DMs and Instructors who have not yet quit. Lots of churn. If you want to be a DM, go for it, but staying with it requires a real desire to be part of the teaching system and help out a lot and like people and maybe get to do some things you would not ordinarily get to do, like lead a trip somewhere. Doing it to get a discount is not a very good reason.

 

[Asheron]

I am not sure how the UK tax system works, but in the USA it's an excellent write off and if you are good at keeping receipts then it can make alot of sense to use it for business expenses exuipment purchases, and even losses if you are a terrible business person(but have a normal job, strategically lower your tax bracket some years)

 

[NorCalDM]

My renewal fees are $120 a year and that is discounted if you auto renew, insurance is $75 a year. My insurance is a group plan through the shop I work out of which means I’m only covered when working for the shop not a big deal since I only work with them and not on my own. The fees are less than I spend at Starbucks a year so not a big deal. The liability issue is a risk I assume when I’m working as a DM but when I’m diving for fun all my buddy’s are DM’s or Instructors so I guess we’re all in it together. You have to make the choice if you want to work as a DM or just dive and if the shop is serious they should help you out with the fees for the course because they are going to make money off you.

 

[Bob DBF]

Go do the diving you want to do...

That's the real answer, find your thing and do it. If it is being a DM or instructor, don't do it for the monetary rewards because, for the majority, they are not that significant.


Bob

 

[claymore]

I do not think in many cases the DM course material makes you a better diver. It is about learning, teaching, demonstrating the skills taught in the classes and performing the duties that may be required of you as a DM. There is very little in the PADI curriculum dealing with actual diving skills. The time in the water training during the course probably improves your diving skills more than the curriculum of the course.
I enjoy working as a DM because I enjoy working with the students and instructors. In the water in most cases it is play time for me. I am working acting as the eyes of the instructor watching the the students he is not working with so I am constantly moving to check on and watch students and if needed be buddy for an odd person in the class, supervise students on the surface or on the bottom.
I have no desire to be an Instructor. I do not want the responsibility nor do I want to spend the majority of my time tied to teaching skills to students when I am working, as a DM I generally am diving.

 

[Diving Dubai]

I don't really understand why anyone would want to be a DM except as an intermediate step towards becoming an instructor. If one's goal is to teach, then go for the DM cert and move on to instructor as soon as possible.

@SammyW

Lorenzoid's post above was pretty much the way I thought before I took the PADI DM course.

A lot of people say that the course doesn't make you a better diver, or improve your skills, rather it is just a step towards instructor. I have to disagree (the caveat here is it depends on your instructors)

Using myself as an example:

Prior to starting my DM course, I was already a BSAC Dive leader (equivalent cert), I was qualified to 50m and mixed gas deco. I was pretty happy with my buoyancy being able to hold a stop with a total up and down deviation of less than 12", and my general diving was done with groups of very experienced friends in challenging (big current) areas.

So entering DM I was pretty confident that everything apart from the swim tests would be a breeze. However I was on a self imposed "gap year" from work and thought it would be fun and I'd probable learn something. I certainly did.

Buoyancy - as above My skills were pretty good, however holding a stop at 5m and below is hugely different from keeping neutral in a shallow pool (1.5m) while slowly demonstrating skills. My fine tuning of breathing improved remarkably and I learnt to slow movements down even further than they were already. I also re learnt skills I'd long ago forgotten.

Finning. Again a higher level of precision is required to hold position with a student in confined water where you are concentrating on teh student rather than your finning. Using your hands (not that I did) is not role model behaviour. I certainly got to fine tune and improve my precision finning.

In my normal divign I was with experienced people that you didn't need to worry about. Guiding strangers teaches you another level of concentration. It's mentally challenging because you're thinking for the group rather than just yourself. You'll learn to have eyes in the back of your head etc.

While I'd never dare to gas check my wife, according to her post DM I was a more attentive diver.

And yes if you are thinking about teaching, then DM will let you know if you enjoy it or not..

In short, personally I believe there is value in the DM course, everyone can learn something - a real world example is a very experienced and highly respected full cave instructor on here who has chosen to undertake GUE Fundies, because he recognises that there is always something to learn.

Anyway just my 2bar..