When to start the DM course?

[grazie42]

To the OP:
I think your diving needs to be at the point where its all on "autopilot", and where you have good situational awareness so that you can focus your "bandwidth" on your surroundings (and later your divers) rather than yourself.

Does shooting an SMB require focus or can you do that while still paying attention to your surroundings? Does sharing air on ascent cause bouyancy problems? Does replacing a mask stress you (beyond the discomfort of cold water)? etc...

ymmv

 

[seaducer]

Well, how are your skills? Here is what I consider my targets before taking the DM course...

Can I adjust my bouyancy with thinking about it, or do I still concentrate on it? As a DM you may be having to deal with a runaway or any other problem, you own bouyancy should be second nature.

Do you know where all your gear is without looking? Same as above, if you are having to concetrate on your own gear, how well can you help out a student?

Do you know enough about how the gear works to deal with it on someone else? It can be like tieing a neck tie, easy on you, hard on someone else.

How is you air consumption? You may be swimming back and forth on a line, up and down another line, herding students, spending alot of time underwater moving, then the last thing you have to do that day is bring an OOA student to the surface, will you have the gas?

Speaking of OOA, probably the most important area, how are you at dealing with emergencies? Are you prone to panic? Do you freeze up, make mistakes, let other people step in? Or do you take charge, act calmly, think your way through trouble?

I think those are the more important things to consider. Stuff like demonstratable skills you will learn and practice during the course. It is the intangibles like those mentioned above that would make you an asset to a class or boat crew...

 

[chipwd]

In my case, I dive/dove with mostly instructors and divemasters that have years of diving and teaching under their belts. It made every dive a kind of training dive for me and it really helped me develop my skills and confidence.

That being said, I did not make the leap until after I unofficially "interned" with numerous classes and was approached by an instructor who then trained me for cost of materials. I did all my confined and open waters one on one with him and I did classroom work with another DM class that was running at the same time.

In effect, I had already demonstrated quite a few of the necessary skills of becoming a DM. I found the classroom and pool work an extension of what I had already seen and in some cases assisted with, although in much greater detail.

A previous poster said you need to be confident and comfortable in your skills and with your gear and that is VERY true. Now as a working DM, I find myself watching and working with students of various levels while still being able to dive safely without a lot of conscious effort into my own diving.

I did not start DM course until well after over 120 dives of all different types in all sorts of conditions. I was comfortable with my skills and with my gear. That was just me. I had some other DMCs in my class that had many less dives than me but the same level of confidence and skills.

And as with any course, so much depends on the instructor. A good instructor will help you develop into a good DM.

 

[J.R.]

When do you start the DM course?

I'm not talking about a minimum number of dives that is required to begin the course or to be certified as one.

At what level should your skills be before you can start thinking about it?

Humm... well... let me take the questions in reverse order...

1: In as much as I believe that continued education in anything is a good idea I'd have to say that I believe that anybody who is serious about the sport of diving should ALWAYS be thinking about it... kind of a "plan your dive" thing... Whether or not you ever decide to actually go for a DM rating is irrelevant... the key is to continue to prepare for it as though you were.

1a: As to any specific 'level of skill'... if you can make it through Rescue Diver your skill is 'basically' adequate to do the course. But, in my opinion, there's a difference between "level of skill to do the course" and "level of skill to BE a Divemaster"... The 'level of skill' to make it through the DM course doesn't have to be that high... but... the 'level of skill' to "BE" a Divemaster is a different thing and more related to what kind of DM you chose to be... if all you want to do is schlep tanks... skill level isn't that high... if you want to be a "DM/Dive-Diety"... refer to answer 1.

DM is only another starting point in a long sequence of starting points...

2: I think you should start DM when you have a REASON to start it. Yea... the hat is cool... but it's a motivation that wears off quickly. A *good reason* can vary... for some it might be simply the challenge of it without any real consideration for working as a DM... for others perhaps other reasons relevant only to them... for others it might well be a step on a thought-out career path.

For me it was because I found I had this *compulsion* to want to help out with and encourage new divers... well... that and that 'challenge' thing.

my 2-psi...

 

[Rick Inman]

They say that the best job to have is the one you are already doing for free because you love it.

You can take all the classes you want, but some people will never have that natural ability to attract others who want to learn from them. You can tell when you meet people like that, regardless of the card.

If someone is not already mentoring other divers then they might want to look at why they wish to DM in the first place. There are scores of DMs out there who just go through the motions, and the diving-fire in there eyes, the love of the sport that is contagious, has long disappeared.

 

[Stu S.]

Has anybody ever told you that you are really good diver and you should be teaching it? Do people tell you that you are a likable person and they would like to dive with you often? Do folks say "hope to see you again, diving"? Has a person you met on a boat remembered your name six months later?

If the answer is yes, and often yes, then consider being a dive master or an instructor. That job (or hobby) is more about what others think of you than what you think of yourself.

After that, there will be a diving test that will determine if you are good enough with your unerwater skills.

 

[ItMustBeJames]

There seem to be lots of opinions on this, but I'd like to point out that the OP didn't ask "when are you good enough to be a DM", he asked when to start it.

Good enough is determined by the instructor signing off on your cert. Some instructors are good about this (IMHO, one who ensures you learn, know the skills, have the tacit knowledge, and observes your progress and fitness to execute the responsibilities of DM). Some aren't (e.g. motivated purely by profit or by the profit potential of being able to lead "more" divers"). It is up to the potential DMC to choose an instructor/shop/outift wisely (and they don't always do this)

As for when one should start the course, here is my $0.02 (or about €0.154, OP!)

1) Be proficient with your own skills (buoyancy, all basic OW skills, your own equipment, etc)

2) Be interested in the details of diving (e.g. the answer to the questions "why" and "how" beyond (A)OW.)

3) Be interested in sharing your knowledge with others and learning from them (students, teachers, other divers, people who are just curious)

4) Have at least a few dives in different environments (e.g. fresh water, salt water, open ocean, quarries, rivers, lakes, etc)

5) Have at least a few dives in different conditions (e.g. 100' vis, 3' vis, day, night, current, no current, shore/surf, boat, sleep, little sleep, warm, cold, shallow, deep, etc)

6) Be capable of managing stress in yourself (panic, unexpected conditions, etc)

7) Be responsible.

8) Be physically fit enough to rescue someone else.

9) Have the time to committ to diving. You don't have to always be johnny on the spot at the dive shop or at the dive site, but you should undertake this with an eye toward learning, contributing, and making progress at a reasonable pace.

This certianly isn't an exhaustive list, but it gives a number of common indicators that you are ready to start. Remember that, as a DMC, you aren't just helping others, but you are learning too. You'll spend a lot more time under water and your skills will improve even more because of it. You will come to understand why things happen and how things work. You will be privy to the business of diving, the teaching of it, and maybe even perks depending on the shop. It is a worthy undertaking if you are interested in it, but it is not (IMHO) something to do just to get another card or to claim a title.

You may notice that I don't count the number of dives a diver has among the qualifications to start the program. There are minimums set by the agencies, but I find it to be an invalid criteria from a quality perspective. I'm sure there is a higher correlation between divers with more dives and their qualification to start DM (more dives = more opportunities to have experiences/experiment/get comfortable), but it isn't a sure thing by any means. Judging a diver by the number of dives they have is like judging a diver by the c-card they carry. I have dove with DMCs who's first order of business upon descending is to silt the vis to hell and beyond because they (can't? won't?) stop their descents with their BCs rather than fins. I have also dove with brand new OW students who have a mastery of bouyancy and stress response that a dive veteran would envy. "Qualified" is a subjective judgement based on demonstrable knowledge and experience, not an objective measurement based on a certification or number.

Like I said, just my $0.02. I completed the PADI DM program last Saturday and it was a great experience. It has been very rewarding and I'm very excited to work with new divers every week!

 

[1_T_Submariner]

They say that the best job to have is the one you are already doing for free because you love it.

You can take all the classes you want, but some people will never have that natural ability to attract others who want to learn from them. You can tell when you meet people like that, regardless of the card.

If someone is not already mentoring other divers then they might want to look at why they wish to DM in the first place. There are scores of DMs out there who just go through the motions, and the diving-fire in there eyes, the love of the sport that is contagious, has long disappeared.

As I was reading other posts I was thinking what Rick said here. Thanks Rick.

I think you will know when you are ready. I'm not sure it can be quantified as others have tried.

 

[ZenDiver.3D]

El Orans, this is not that tricky. You must have all the pre-requisite courses needed, and the minimum number of dives requires by the standards of the agency you are going with.
Realize, that as a dive master, you will have a professional rating. If you feel that you are up to the challenge, go for it. A dive master must exhibit these traits"

1. You should be a confident calm diver who models good diving practices, safe pre and post dive behavior, and sound problem solving skills.
2. You should be able to perform all skills at a demonstration quality level.
3. You should be able to show calm relaxed diving and be able to anticipate problems that other divers may have when you are responsible for them.
4. You should be able to dive in any and all dive conditions, from warm and clear, to cold and murky, and all states in between.
5. You should be able to sort out equipment issues and make minor repairs.
6. Understand all physics, physiology, and geography as well as planning sections of the courses, you assist with.
Wait, there's more.....

Since you will refine and perfect these above traits, you should have a good base in each, as you begin your DM training. There are many people who can take and finish the training, and still make dismal dive masters. There are many young, less experienced people who train and make outstanding dive masters. Each person will have to decide if they meet the standards and are actually ready. Time tells.

 

[Thalassamania]

In my world the DM is called an Operation Diving Supervisor. An ODS and an Instructor are basically co-equals, each with a different focus. We expect an ODS' personal diving skills and knowledge base to be, at a minimum, as good as any of our instructors'. The only difference is that we expect an ODS to have a suite of dive management skills that are directed at minimizing the risks of qualified divers who are going about their tasks, as opposed to the instructors' role of minimizing risks whilst teaching a non-diver how to dive.

So what does that mean in terms of the OP question? I guess what it means, to me, is that you are ready to begin formal training as an ODS at about same level of skill and knowledge that you'd need to be ready to train as an Instructor, perhaps with even a little more "real world" experience than an Instructor candidate.