Rushing up the ladder!

[Badknees]

Is it just me or is there some kind of rush to climb the ladder to DM

There seems to be a rush of divers who's aim is to become an instructor or a DM my question is...........WHY!

A lot of DM's i know would need wet nursing themselves let alone aidding novice divers.

my question is this. Why must you complete a DM course to enjoy diving???????

[Steppenwolf]

Badknees Wrote:My question is this,Why must you complete a DM course to enjoy diving???????

Well said. When I finally decided to strat training to be a diver, I set myself the goal of getting certification upto 100 feet for recreational diving....no more. I did not know the details about PADI or other organisations at that point and the "100 feet" was just an arbitrary figure. Over the next 6 months I got upto PADI AOW and later added the Deep Diver & Nitrox specialities because I thought that they'd be useful. At that point, I decided that was it and I was going to settle down and enjoy my diving just as had always hoped and not worry about adding more gongs on my shoulder. I have been doing exactly that and am convinced that I made the right decision for me.

I can understand those who want to make diving a career wanting to "climb up" the proverbial ladder, but reading some of the posts it seems to me that there are at least a few people who want to do it simply because "size matters". I did not want to mention my feelings before, but now that BK has opened the proverbial can of worms, I thought I'd add my own halfpenny worth.

[annieg]

I'm doing my DM this summer. I did my OW 12 years ago but then really just started doing a lot more diving in the last 3 years. The main reason that I have decided to do it is to increase my confidence in my skills and knowledge before going off on my gap year, I am planning to do a lot of diving in this time (if I can ever decide where to go) and want to be able to trust myself to cope with any situations and not just a dive guide(who may have gone from OW to DM in one block). As i took my OW so long ago I have completely forgotten the theory side of things. if at anytime I feel confident in a place to guide dives for work and get the opportunity to do so- but as I said this will depend on confidence.

In addition to this its a great excuse to justify a summer in Dahab

[Scuba do ba doo]

I know exaclty what you mean, i did my PADI rescue diver with a couple who where still completing there AOW and there now trainee DM's and they've been diving since Nov 07.........i've been diving with this couple and one of them seem to be all the talk but when it really comes down to it they dont have the experience or confidence.

An example: Boat diving this week, trainee DM on board, i decended had my dive got back to the boat and there they where all changed and dry, asked what happened........masked filled with water and panic'd.

These people will be helping to teach other how to dive!!!!! They cant dive themselves!!!!

I think the dive school's should take some of the blame, the dive school i went through keeps asking when am i going to do my DM......

[coldhands]

My motivation was purely because I have four children and they all want to learn to dive. Two are now AOW and one is just beginning his OW. The youngest has to sulk because she doesn't turn ten until December and so has to be Chief Assistant Shore Cover for now. I thought the best way to help them was to gain some experience in assisting other divers which it has, but I would say the whole process has been much less fun than I thought it would be. I have to carry all the heavy things and be first back on the boat, for starters!

[shortcuts]

I would suggest, after OW, to do AOW once you have some experience as it gives you the extra depth allowance and opens up more dive venues/sites. I would also suggest Nitrox and then add Rescue Diver as I personally consider Rescue Diver to be a very important qualification for many reasons not least because I regularly dive with my wife as buddy and would hate to find myself unable to do anything constructive if she found herself in difficulties.
After that just enjoy your diving for the sake of diving.
BK I understand where your coming from. It's a sad situation but unfortunately this sport does seem to attract it's fair share of knob ends!
I would be far more interested in a DM or instructors experience than his/her certificate.

[bottlefish]

To answer the original question, I think possibly because people perceive DM as being the first qualification where they can "make a living" out of diving. Newly qualified inexperienced divers see the lifestyle and so set that as the target.... I know that's what I did.

And, judging by my own experience, and that of the people I've dived and worked with, as I got more experience in the water and less naive about the diving industry, I realised that I wouldn't magically turn into a diving guru with the addition of a DM badge at 60 dives, and DM was highly unlikely to provide me with an income that would sustain me.... so I took a bit more time over it instead (I think I eventually got my DM after 4 years and 200+ dives).

So, I don't really have an issue with newbie divers aiming for the stars. They've found something they love and are keen to learn... one would hope that they would also get a reality check as they took on a few more courses and encountered a few more problems.

I have more of an issue/concern with the mid experience people, i.e. people who have got a few dives under their belt, and have accumulated enough experience and water time, and confidence in their own ability and knowledge to ignore good advice or push themselves too far and get themselves hurt..... just my two penneth

[bottlefish]

A quick addendum to that message, re my mini rant at end... I'd hate for any of you involved in incidents from last weekend to think that I'm talking about you... absolutely not!!!

Cheers

Stu

[nottrikk]

Personally, I started diving just to experience the water. I have no aspirations to becoming an instructor or DM or what have you, I would agree that some people are possibly running before they can walk, but if that's what they aspire to and there is a company that will take them on on those terms to further their experience then power to them.

I'll be going as far as an AOW (when I get to bleedin' do it, ear problems notwithstanding), possibly with a couple of specialities at some point.

The point I'm trying to make and probably failing miserably is that we set our own levels and goals, if you find an operation that employs subpar instructors or DMs vote with your feet, ask to see credentials before getting wet. Make sure that you are not far out of your comfort zone, and if you are, make sure it's for the right reasons.

As a friend once said to me: "Be good, and if you can't be good be careful."

[ginge]

for my part i wanted to become an instructor so that i could dive as much as possible and see as much as possible before it was all gone ---- on my instructors course there were quite a few people who didnt even have the obligatory 100 dives to satisfy PADI standards which really madfe me quite nervous ( at the time i had around 500 - 600 ) and i have met a few instructors who have only got the ticket as something to do or another badge to collect .