Working and divemaster intership

[KrisB]

Mark,
Thanks for the advice. I suppose at this point i'm planning to go all the way up. It's just more a concern about being able to pay for that trianing. As i'm only a AOW, it might take a little while. I don't have enough dives to take a short course.

I'm pushing my language skills, but i'm not getting any bites. How would you approach a company?

Lachlan

Hi Lachlan,

What I would suggest is finding the place that you want to do it and then go there to take the Rescue and EFR. You'll get to know the operation and the instructors this way, and let you make a better choice maybe. You might even want to do other recreational training (like Nitrox or DPV) before going professional.

I really doubt that you could go wrong picking a shop that offers the instructor training -- I know on Maui there are two or three offering PADI instructor training, my favourite being Maui Dreams Dive Co. (http://www.mauidreamsdiveco.com/) -- I earned AOW through MSD from them, and will be doing my DM starting Sep 13.

HTH,

 

[uminchu]

I have found that every little job requires you to be a Instructor. And i feel like if i could just get there, then i could start chosing my place. Unfortunetly, i have to take money into consideration. I'm between jobs, and though it'd be a good time to try it on for size!
There's a place in florida, which is looking good. Everyone says "go there! Check it out". we'll see. Thanks for the advice.
Do you really think it's better to do my rescue and EFR then do the instructor? I've found a few places that'd train you all the way up!

 

[KrisB]

I have found that every little job requires you to be a Instructor. And i feel like if i could just get there, then i could start chosing my place. Unfortunetly, i have to take money into consideration. I'm between jobs, and though it'd be a good time to try it on for size!
There's a place in florida, which is looking good. Everyone says "go there! Check it out". we'll see. Thanks for the advice.
Do you really think it's better to do my rescue and EFR then do the instructor? I've found a few places that'd train you all the way up!

I think you have to consider whether your training and experience will match your paper when you go with the fast-tracking.

In the IT industry, we call people with the knowledge and certification but no experience "paper certs" -- unfortunately, that's what you'd end up with, too, unless you have a very specific aptitude towards leadership and instruction.

I don't think you'd want your friends or family to get dive instruction from someone who had just barely met the minimum required number of dives (60 for DM, 100 for OWSI) and is really just starting their dive career... whereas someone who *starts* their instructor training with more than 100 dives would have seen a much greater base of what's good and what's bad in other instructors.

Personally, I'd suggest taking it easy -- dive instruction is not likely going to be much more than a meal ticket, and that's once you're OWSI or MSDT... the place in Florida probably has some fine print about having to continue to work for them for a year or something after certification.