Zero to hero Divemaster program in 30 days - thoughts?

[Teamcasa]

That line of defense is drawn by the employer,

Exacty.
Does it really matter what course they took? If an dive operation hired a DM, AND they performed poorly, chances are they are out looking for work. OTOH, if they turn out to be a very good DM, chances are they are pretty bright and learn quickly. In addition, once hired, they are making several dives a day, learning all the time and after a year, they might be one of the top DM's around. Who knows?

I just hate dismissing things out of hand.

 

[rjack321]

There is nothing wrong with these zero-to-hero programs.

The 'school' offering this is downright preying on people who think they could actually be employable after completing one of these (expensive!) programs. Anyone who has been diving for even a month knows that you don't make living wages as a DM. If you are just getting out of high school or college and only need to eat, well ok. If you are considering a career change in a poor economy - don't.

They emerge as a result of market demand.

There is no demand for zero-to-hero DMs except by maybe the most unscrupulous operators who are trying to get another insured "pro" aboard to share liability.

 

[elan]

The 'school' offering this is downright preying on people who think they could actually be employable after completing one of these (expensive!) programs. Anyone who has been diving for even a month knows that you don't make living wages as a DM. If you are just getting out of high school or college and only need to eat, well ok. If you are considering a career change in a poor economy - don't.



There is no demand for zero-to-hero DMs except by maybe the most unscrupulous operators who are trying to get another insured "pro" aboard to share liability.

rjack321 if there is no demand it will just die by itself as those guys will have corresponding reputation Those who hire them will eventually suffer if the DM does not do things satisfactory.

 

[SteveAD]

rjack321 if there is no demand it will just die by itself as those guys will have corresponding reputation Those who hire them will eventually suffer if the DM does not do things satisfactory.

Sadly, this is not necessarily true. There is always enough new blood coming into diving who want to live the lifestyle, but don't yet know the industry to keep zero to hero schools in business. There have always been more wannabe instructors than there are "gainfully employed" instructor jobs, yet more people continue to pursue instructor training.

 

[muddiver]

Works fine here.

Terry

I'll have to try from home. I get a "Gateway Timeout" error on the office system. :depressed:

 

[elan]

Sadly, this is not necessarily true. There is always enough new blood coming into diving who want to live the lifestyle, but don't yet know the industry to keep zero to hero schools in business. There have always been more wannabe instructors than there are "gainfully employed" instructor jobs, yet more people continue to pursue instructor training.

Steve this is a good point and it's true for other industries as well. There will always be companies that make use of the newbies who do not know the field well. But oh well this is life. The thing that works in this cases is developing adequate certification system which involves as less subjective judging as possible.

 

[muddiver]

The 'school' offering this is downright preying on people who think they could actually be employable after completing one of these (expensive!) programs. Anyone who has been diving for even a month knows that you don't make living wages as a DM. If you are just getting out of high school or college and only need to eat, well ok. If you are considering a career change in a poor economy - don't.

There is no demand for zero-to-hero DMs except by maybe the most unscrupulous operators who are trying to get another insured "pro" aboard to share liability.

There is the same thing going on in the Commercial Diving industry. There are around 8 to 10 schools cranking out commercial divers every three to six months around the U.S. There were ten in my class so if that is an average your looking at around 400 entry level workers looking for a job per year in a really small industry.

It's the lure of the romantic notion that diving (commercial or as an instructor) is such an adventurous life that pays really well. It sells like hot cakes, buyer beware.

Oh, almost forgot, somewhere in all of the posts on one of the two threads, someone said $45,000? Geeze, getting a commercial diver certification is way cheaper at $15,000. And you might even find a good $12 an hour job with that piece of paper.

 

[SteveAD]

In a parallell thread someone who advertises a zero to hero program using that phrase has a rant about unfair hiring processes, and potential employers taking advantage of applicants (I still can't figure out how) I submit that the real predators are the individuals running these z t h programs, creating unhirable "professionals".

 

[Teamcasa]

The 'school' offering this is downright preying on people who think they could actually be employable after completing one of these (expensive!) programs. Anyone who has been diving for even a month knows that you don't make living wages as a DM. If you are just getting out of high school or college and only need to eat, well ok. If you are considering a career change in a poor economy - don't.

You seem to be posting on the assumption that 100% of the graduates will be no good and fail. I don't think for a second that would be the case.

There is the same thing going on in the Commercial Diving industry. There are around 8 to 10 schools cranking out commercial divers every three to six months around the U.S. There were ten in my class so if that is an average your looking at around 400 entry level workers looking for a job per year in a really small industry.

It's the lure of the romantic notion that diving (commercial or as an instructor) is such an adventurous life that pays really well. It sells like hot cakes, buyer beware.

Oh, almost forgot, somewhere in all of the posts on one of the two threads, someone said $45,000? Geeze, getting a commercial diver certification is way cheaper at $15,000. And you might even find a good $12 an hour job with that piece of paper.

Their course is $2,500. not 45k.

 

[rjack321]

You seem to be posting on the assumption that 100% of the graduates will be no good and fail. I don't think for a second that would be the case.

Well I do think everyone coming out of the program will be a decent diver. Some maybe more than decent, some less than average.

But I don't think you can be a good DM or instructor if you've only dove in one place and off one or two different boats. The good professionals are able to pull from a well of both diving and "human resource" experience. These graduates definitely won't have the former and are unlikely to develop the latter in 6 weeks - so by (my) definition they won't be good professionals.

I thought it was 25k