Why is becoming a DM considered not worth it?

[Lorenzoid]

I was just thinking to update this thread as I am now close to finish my DM, after 1 and half month. I can safely say it MASSIVELY improved my diving skills and I don't understand people that say it doesn't.
My buoyancy, my trip, my kicking are so much better. I'd say the skills is the last thing as it's the thing I've done the least I will have to work on them before being certified, but it definitely made me become a better diver.

For the last time, I'll repeat my belief that few, if any, comments in this thread asserted that the DM course would not improve your diving skills. See my thoughts in this post upthread: Why is becoming a DM considered not worth it? I'm glad your buoyancy, trim, and propulsion skills have improved, but you could have gotten the same improvement or more from a 4 or 5 day skills workshop or Intro-to-Tech type course without all the additional baggage that goes with learning to be a divemaster.

 

[Zef]

For the last time, I'll repeat my belief that few, if any, comments in this thread asserted that the DM course would not improve your diving skills. See my thoughts in this post upthread: Why is becoming a DM considered not worth it? I'm glad your buoyancy, trim, and propulsion skills have improved, but you could have gotten the same improvement or more from a 4 or 5 day skills workshop or Intro-to-Tech type course without all the additional baggage that goes with learning to be a divemaster.

Not to mention, that one should more or less already have those skills refined before commencing the Divemaster course...the fact that one could take the course to become a Divemaster and have loads of improvement to make is not a testament to how much the the OP gained but more a general lack of standards for becoming a profesional in the dive industry.

Perhaps the amount the OP improved is directly related to their general lack of experience before taking the course. Quoted from post #1 of this discussion thread:

Hello!
I just recently fell in love with diving, like I've never liked anything in my life before, and I was thinking about getting my DM....

#sigh
#zero-to-hero
#SMH
#sigh

-Z

 

[Wibble]

I respect your opinion and tec diving is a great tool to enhance your skills. But this person literally said they "just" fell in love with diving and may potentially want to work in the industry. I think its best to get comfortable in the recreational world first.

I think its important to use the context of the original post to identify what a good course of action is. 1)This person said they "just" fell in love with diving. 2)They potentially want to volunteer or work at a dive shop. 3) They have mentioned budget in their post.

I wouldn't recommend a newer diver to take a tec class right away when they've expressed interest in something else. Sometimes its best to bring a ballplayer up through the system and not promote them directly to the majors.

To work or volunteer at a dive shop they would want to take the professional recreational route first. I can't imagine the market for a tec instructor who started diving a year ago is super hot.

For the 3rd point, they mentioned cost several times in their post. Tec is expensive as heck.

I was talking about the skills improvement.

As @Lorenzoid said, skills improvement is generally quite cheap at a few days for a course (plus many more days of practice).

Technical diving isn't that much more expensive than doing a DiveMaster course. The basic core skills benefit all styles of diving and are essential for more advanced diving -- photography?

 

[Leatherboot69]

What was the rest of the "work" like? Long days as part of the team?

Was the training explicit, or more like continual mentoring?

Do you lead dives with customers?

Only curious as to what's involved with the course.

My experience will be different to Issa’s, but having completed mine with a PADI centre in the U.K., mine was spread out around the dive centre’s business operations as and when I could complete it rather than as a single course. I received some training, to help me pass certain tests (such as the Rescue Scenario, as I had done Rescue Diver many years ago, and never had to use the training). There are some watermanship/fitness tests, which were demanding enough that they weren’t attendance passes (eg the cut off time to swim 400m). Some of the training objectives were self driven (eg the mapping exercise, where I buddied up with another DMT and we went off on our own and mapped out a local dive site). About a quarter of the time was spent on ‘workshops’, where we would work through the delivery of a particular course or activity (such as leading a guided dive), either with other DMTs role playing as customers, or with real customers under close supervision from an instructor. And another quarter was spent on practical assessments, where I had to act as a DM with real customers whilst under assessment by an instructor, eg helping to deliver a course, leading a dive, things like that. These were all done from start to finish, from setting up, receiving divers, briefing and kitting up at the start to debriefing and signing log books at the end. In between all of these specified activities there was lots of assisting instructors in the pool to build experience, improve the basics and get to understand dive centre operations whilst essentially working as a member of staff. It’s quite self driven and not really like a formal ‘course’ - I see why people describe it as an apprenticeship. If I was to do it again I would probably seek out a bit more formal training. I tended to teach myself and then go straight into some of the assessments, but having a few more opportunities to practice is always good. I took about a year, doing a day of diving (2-3 dives) and one to two pool sessions per month average.

There’s a lot of dogma around about ‘go and do a tec course’ and ‘DM is an inefficient way to become a better diver’. I don’t agree with this. I did my DM course because I wanted to be a better diver. Better for me, once I’ve mastered the basics, means being responsible for other people, more so than individual skills such as buoyancy, all of which improved as I was diving more, and having to perform different tasks centred around looking after other divers; leadership and teamwork in a dive environment, which a DM course teaches, is another aspect. Also, the DM course doesn’t expect you to have ‘professional level skills’ when you start, and you don’t need professional level skills to dive recreationally. It does require you to master core diving skills by the time you finish, as a central standard, so you can demonstrate in a very prescribed way to a student. So - do I systematically work through ‘Signal, Orientate, switch to Regulator, check Time, Elevate low pressure inflator, Descend’ every time I descend when I’m diving personally? No, of course not - it’s much more fluid and subconscious, yet still safe and competent. But the DM course required me to be able to demonstrate the individual steps, slowly, clearly and in an exaggerated manner to teach them to someone else underwater.

Fundamentally a lot of people want to do the DM course because it’s accessible, fun and a logical step both skills and cost-wise, and fewer people want to jump all the way to tec diving.

 

[Leatherboot69]

Not to mention, that one should more or less already have those skills refined before commencing the Divemaster course...the fact that one could take the course to become a Divemaster and have loads of improvement to make is not a testament to how much the the OP gained but more a general lack of standards for becoming a profesional in the dive industry.

Perhaps the amount the OP improved is directly related to their general lack of experience before taking the course. Quoted from post #1 of this discussion thread:


#sigh
#zero-to-hero
#SMH
#sigh

-Z

Not necessarily true. PADI professional standard is about performing the skill in a highly prescriptive manner to teach it to someone else. You can have mastered it but still have work to teach or demonstrate it in the prescribed way.

 

[Leatherboot69]

I was talking about the skills improvement.

As @Lorenzoid said, skills improvement is generally quite cheap at a few days for a course (plus many more days of practice).

Technical diving isn't that much more expensive than doing a DiveMaster course. The basic core skills benefit all styles of diving and are essential for more advanced diving -- photography?

The kit is though. And doing a tec course would mean even more skills that I’d never use than on a DM course

 

[Lorenzoid]

I did my DM course because I wanted to be a better diver. Better for me, once I’ve mastered the basics, means being responsible for other people, more so than individual skills such as buoyancy, all of which improved as I was diving more, and having to perform different tasks centred around looking after other divers; leadership and teamwork in a dive environment, which a DM course teaches, is another aspect.

If "being responsible for other people," "looking after other divers," and "leadership" is part of one's goals, then it seems to me the DM course would be a great route to take. I'm glad it worked out for you. My own view of "better diver" doesn't include those things, and I recognize such views can differ among individuals.

 

[Lorenzoid]

And doing a tec course would mean even more skills that I’d never use than on a DM course

Like what skills? Taking GUE's Fundamentals course in a single tank and wetsuit, with my stated goal, understood by the instructor, being to become a a better recreational diver, I learned (what I can recall off the top of my head) propulsion techniques (ie, kicks), buoyancy, trim, donating gas to an out of gas diver, more rigorous gas calculations, DSMB deployment, situational awareness, how to be a good buddy (or "team" member in the GUE lexicon), plus a few tidbits peculiar to GUE. GUE isn't unique in offering divers an opportunity to hone the types of skills I mentioned, as it has been said that some TDI or other instructors are willing to tailor their intro-to-tech type courses. Or it may be possible (though admittedly not as simple) to get an instructor to teach a customized skills workshop apart from any course.

As for the kit (or gear/equipment to us Yanks), while it's true that most divers start out in a traditional jacket-style BC with a traditionally rigged regulator set, the backplate-and-wing (BP/W) is an increasingly common alternative even for recreational divers, as is the so-called long-hose regulator setup. It's not even always necessary to buy such gear just for a course, as it may be possible to borrow a BP/W and reg set, as I did. I liked it, and I switched over permanently after the course. I run into plenty of rec-only divers wearing the same gear. If I had instead decided after the course that this so-called tech gear did not appeal to me, I could have continued using my old jacket-style BC and reg set, and the course would still have left me with vastly improved skills.

 

[Leatherboot69]

Like what skills? Taking GUE's Fundamentals course in a single tank and wetsuit, with my stated goal, understood by the instructor, being to become a a better recreational diver, I learned (what I can recall off the top of my head) propulsion techniques (ie, kicks), buoyancy, trim, donating gas to an out of gas diver, more rigorous gas calculations, DSMB deployment, situational awareness, how to be a good buddy (or "team" member in the GUE lexicon), plus a few tidbits peculiar to GUE. GUE isn't unique in offering divers an opportunity to hone the types of skills I mentioned, as it has been said that some TDI or other instructors are willing to tailor their intro-to-tech type courses. Or it may be possible (though admittedly not as simple) to get an instructor to teach a customized skills workshop apart from any course.

As for the kit (or gear/equipment to us Yanks), while it's true that most divers start out in a traditional jacket-style BC with a traditionally rigged regulator set, the backplate-and-wing (BP/W) is an increasingly common alternative even for recreational divers, as is the so-called long-hose regulator setup. It's not even always necessary to buy such gear just for a course, as it may be possible to borrow a BP/W and reg set, as I did. I liked it, and I switched over permanently after the course. I run into plenty of rec-only divers wearing the same gear. If I had instead decided after the course that this so-called tech gear did not appeal to me, I could have continued using my old jacket-style BC and reg set, and the course would still have left me with vastly improved skills.

That’s great, but I don’t want to dive in GUE standardised kit or with standardised procedures. I did want to do something I enjoyed, and I enjoyed DM.

 

[Leatherboot69]

Also, not that it’s the be all and end all, but Fundies costs £799 in the U.K. (approx) plus kit rental and included four dives. DM cost £920 and I got around 20 dives for that, plus the opportunity to DM for my LDS and defray the cost of diving in the future.