Instructor internship... to do or not to do

[SubMariner]

Alot of instructors have gone straight from DM class to the Idc. To say that you need to do a bunch of dives in different locations is a great idea but not so easy for some of us with low funds. Those of you who are in the training side know what I'm talking about. I think being an intern where you do 200 plus dives between DM and the IDC is alot more then most of us have had. I think it will be a great experience and hard work but worth it. And you will be ahead of alot of other new instructors with the experience you get there. Good luck!

Yes, you can go "straight from DM to the IDC"; that doesn't preclude you from having many dives in a variety of conditions. It's not a race to see who get the requisite number of dives in the shortest amount of time to qualify for DM & Instructor. It's about the learning process itself where you gain the right knowledge and experience to be a good dive educator.

And why people think that only the dives you get between DM and Instructor "count" is beyond me. It's your TOTAL dive experience we look at when you decide to become a DM or enroll in the IDC, not just the ones you've gotten recently.

FYI, I have been "in the training side" for many years.

Pax,

 

[DORSETBOY]

200 dives on a 3-month internship...
hmm..that makes it...errr...2.something dives per day + all the other things ya need to do...sounds like a lot of hard work...

2 dives a day is very little if you're gonna work full time as a dive professional. When I did it full time we were doing 4-5 dives per day on a 6 day a week basis.

As long as the terms are right I think an internship would be a great idea and an excellent way of getting good experience, esp since it will involve diving and generally working closely with the dive shop which will give invaluable experience.

 

[charlie78]

2 dives a day is very little if you're gonna work full time as a dive professional. When I did it full time we were doing 4-5 dives per day on a 6 day a week basis.

Helps if i quote the right information.. it's up to 200 dives/airfills outside of the courses and training plus an option of 5 specialty courses.... hmm so many to choose from

Thanks to all who replied to this... i've decided to just go and do it and see what happens!! So Thailand here I come - Jan 2006!!

 

[Diversauras]

Alot of instructors have gone straight from DM class to the Idc. To say that you need to do a bunch of dives in different locations is a great idea but not so easy for some of us with low funds.

I think your comment about funds is right on the mark and many divers have used it. But what I would like to know is how anyone can justify putting students at risk because they can't afford to get more experiencs and a better background before becoming an instructor.

The other thing I don't understand is how someone with 15 dives can know they even want to be an instructor. They cannot even have done a hard dive to this point. I think this is akin to letting highschool freshmen sit a PHD exam and then award the degree for passing the test. I think it is absurd.

 

[charlie78]

I think your comment about funds is right on the mark and many divers have used it. But what I would like to know is how anyone can justify putting students at risk because they can't afford to get more experiencs and a better background before becoming an instructor.

The other thing I don't understand is how someone with 15 dives can know they even want to be an instructor. They cannot even have done a hard dive to this point. I think this is akin to letting highschool freshmen sit a PHD exam and then award the degree for passing the test. I think it is absurd.

Just out of curiosity.. how many dives do you think someone should have done before they know that they want to become an instructor??

I've said that i wanted to do it since my very first dive... and 40 odd dives later (which I can understand probably doesn't seem much) i'm still saying it... so how long should someone dive before they take that step?

 

[Diversauras]

Just out of curiosity.. how many dives do you think someone should have done before they know that they want to become an instructor??

I've said that i wanted to do it since my very first dive... and 40 odd dives later (which I can understand probably doesn't seem much) i'm still saying it... so how long should someone dive before they take that step?

Charlie, I mis read your level, but even at 40 dives, unless you have some varied experience as for locations and conditions and have had some expereience with instructors othere than your primary one and with new student I don't think you have a clue as to what it takes to be a good instructor. I don't doubt that you want to be one, but then too many kids want to be doctors but never do it becaue of the effort involved. There are already a ton of average and subaverage instructors out there, and to be a good instructor you need some real experience. I, and many of the other instructs here on the board think that doing the same 4 or 5 dives 40 times is not experience enough.

I'd be curious to know what your hurry is. Sure you can become an instructor but if you think about what you are going to have to offer to your potential students a few months from now after your internship, you have to admit that it will be limited. You have to know that your lack of experience will absolutely be putting them at risk.

I do wish you all the best luck for your IDC, but my advice to you would be to spend the next year diving and learning those thousand things that aren't in any book and that no one has told you about yet. Then you will know what we are talking about, and then you have a much better shot at being a really good instructor.

 

[DORSETBOY]

I personally think that some people rush into their idc too quickly but people learn at a different pace, that said there's no substitute for experience.

 

[ranger979]

Just for my own curiousity, lets ignore the question of whether it's a good idea for an new diver to got straight from OW to instructor in 3 months, I'm assuming most people will say it's a bad idea and I would agree, are these interns worthwhile? Let's assume a diver had over a 1000 dives in many diverse conditions, drift dives, deep dives, ice dives, wreck dives, you name it. He has been in many, oh ***** situations and handled them well.

Would one of these interns be worth attending? Do they have quality instructors or are they a scam. They seem kind of like a diploma mill to me. Are there other divers out there with first hand experience, besides subadoguk?

 

[DORSETBOY]

good point ranger, I did an internship for my instructor and msdt, I found that in doing so I gained a lot from working with instructors and dms who had 'been there before'. Also, working in a dive shop, albeit at that point unpaid, made me more marketable.

 

[scubadoguk]

One thing I would say is that ask a lot of people get a lot of PERSONAL opinion right or wrong, somedays its down to you
If you think the job is one you would like and you can handle the knock backs along with the victorys, the strange folk who own dive shops in the strange places we tend to want to dive in and always keep your passport and return ticket handy.............. go for it