How many dives until your DM

[edneeves]

I think the number of dives does have a significancy but only to the point where you can see how much of a chance someone has had to learn and improve.

I truely believe that you can have a great diver at 40 dives, I also believe that there are divers with 100+ who don't cut the grade!

Ed.

 

[eponym]

A big second to that, jlyle.

I have to laugh when I run into an "instructor" on a dive trip who brags about his "experience" level...."I have 300 dives!" Yes, 300 dives to 20 feet for 20 minutes.

I'm in my 50's and started diving two years ago. A few months back I took a specialty course and helped out a younger student who was having problems. Now he's on the instructor track. Heard from another diver that he's been doing 15-minute dives at 15 feet in the lake, to get his numbers up.

On a tangent to the topic: On my boat trips (very few to date), I've met some great divers my age and older, who have been diving for decades. Not one of them has ever mentioned his credentials or dive totals, even when I'm asking them about their diving past.

 

[Curt Bowen]

How many dives did you do before beginning your dive master training?

Somewhere around 500 or so

 

[Curt Bowen]

Remember, new divers coming into this sport look up to DM's and instructors thinking they are the true experts in this field.

Sorry, but I would not consider anyone with 50-100 dives even close to expert, no matter if they have a 150 IQ. There is no way you could gain the LIFE experiences in 50-100 dives that are needed to become an expert.

Lets try this to stir the pot.

1-40 dives = Openwater
41-120 = Advanced
121 - 200 = Knowledgable / Basic Experienced
201 - 500 = Experienced / Leadership worthy
500 - 1000 = Basic Expert / Master Instructor Worthy
1000+ = Expert / Instructor Trainer Worthy

If you need you appendix taken out, do you go to the surgeon with 5 operations or the doctor with 1000 operations?

What are your feelings?

 

[ShakaZulu]

Don't get it............so you've completed "Rescue Diver", the coarse content still fresh in your mind. Then you go off and do 150 dives, 6 months later you've just become a new member of the 5 minute university. All you can remember from the coarse can be condenced to a 5 minute session. How often do you really aquire any more experience than the usual basic stuff. I think once you've mastered a certain confidence and nailed the skills, go right ahead and do it. Then aquire experience as a DM............(I know I'm gonna get nailed for this post)

 

[AtomicWalrus]

I think you could start your divemaster training just about anytime, but don't expect to be a good divemaster until you've mastered your own basic skills and have dealt with a lot of different stuff in the water.

That said, you don't have to have the skills of a divemaster to start divemaster training - that's what the training is for! Any good instructor is going to make sure you get the training & experience you need before they sign you off. And if you're smart, you won't insist on getting certified until the instructor thinks you're ready.

Biggest thing is experience diving, period. You've got to be so comfortable with your basic skills that you can handle troubleshooting other people's issues underwater without becoming task loaded and becoming a hazard to yourself and others. You also need to have been exposed to a lot of different situations so that you have the experience to know how to handle stuff like getting stuck in a strong current, managing a downdraft, tracking your buddies in poor vis. Finally, when you're doing your DM training, I think it's critical to get as much internship experience as possible.

 

[paolov]

it's not too much of how many dives you make to become a DM.

I think if you want to become a GOOD DM, you have to aim for variety of experiences in different diving conditions and be exposed to multitude of divers skills and attitudes.

Like most of the guys who posted , IT IS EXPERIENCE that matters.

 

[jbd]

If you need you appendix taken out, do you go to the surgeon with 5 operations or the doctor with 1000 operations?

What are your feelings?

Oooops.... not a good analogy. Many surgery patients don't make the choice on their own. In most large and many smaller community hospitals the person taking out your appendix is closer to the 5 operations number....its how they gain experience to eventually do open heart surgery

Its all about gaining experience through education, training and mentoring. Same as it is in diving.

 

[Curt Bowen]

Oooops.... not a good analogy. Many surgery patients don't make the choice on their own. In most large and many smaller community hospitals the person taking out your appendix is closer to the 5 operations number....its how they gain experience to eventually do open heart surgery

Its all about gaining experience through education, training and mentoring. Same as it is in diving.

OK then change the appendix to Open Heart. Thanks for your comment on my analogy, but I am sure the lay person got the gist of what I was saying.

Let me guess, your a Doctor or just play one on TV.

 

[jbd]

Neither but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once

Actually I did work in surgery at a large teaching hopsital for several years.

Your point is quite valid, that people do want the mosre or most experienced person they can get. The thing is most people have no real way of guaging the competence or experience level of the person they are dealing with regardless of whether its a surgeon, an auto mechanic or a divemaster. This is why we(society in general) depend on credentials and endorsements from various agencies like ASE for mechanics, NAUI, PADI ,SSI, YMCA etc, etc for dive professionals.

The residency programs that surgeons go through provides them with education, training and mentoring until someone finally signs their name indicating that this person is qualified to be a stand alone surgeon. So it should be with the certification of DM's AI's and instructors.

Regardless of the number of dives a person has prior to starting their training as a DM or instructor when they finish they are a newly minted DM or instructor. Only time will tell after that how well they will do on their own.