Requirements for becoming a Dive Master then Course Director

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vtxkev

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Location
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I was wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction or knows the answer to what is required to become a Dive Master then on to a Course Director? I am scheduled to take the OW class Jan 2,3,4 and at the same time get my dry suit cert (because of the cold up here in the North East). Now I know I am just beginning and I need to log a bunch of dives, but ever since my first dive on a cruise I am hooked and not to mention I love water. Anyway, just looking for some thoughts, is this something that takes 10 yrs to complete?, can this be done when you work a reg job?, just some info. I know you are all very knowledgable.

Thanks.
 
Whoooooooa!:shocked2: Work on 1 thing at a time. Get through your Open Water first, then consider taking some specialty courses & gain some experience first. Yes, it's possible to go from 0 to hero in a few months, but nothing will replace experience. Would you, honestly, want to learn from an instructor who has only been diving for a few months, themselves?:confused: I fully understand your excitement & enthusiasm & it's wonderful!:D I had & still have it, but I spent my first 3yrs just having fun diving, taking courses, practicing basic skills & logging dives (getting experience). Don't go for the "bare minimum" of what you have to do, go for the quality,I can assure you, your future students will very much appreciate it. Keep the goals of becoming a professional in mind, but don't rush at it. It doesn't have to take 10 yrs by any means. Get with some good, quality instructors, learn form them & emulate what they show you. & perfect those skills, so that when you do go for Dive Master/ Instructor/ Course Director, you can be the absolute best you can be. I personally work a full time job & am an instructor part time. It can be what you want it to be, just don't look to make a lot of money for a long time, or if at all. I do it to fund my "habit". Good luck to you in your endeavors.
 
You can go from OW to being a good instructor in about 5 years' time (but not everyone makes a good instructor), even with a full-time job, but you'd have to live somewhere with lots of good diving nearby. The mid-Atlantic is not one of those places. I'd estimate giving yourself 10 years if you're truly serious.

In order for this goal to make sense before ever taking a single diving class, I'd imagine you must have some other outdoor leadership or teaching experience? If not, I'd suggest you scale back your ambitions a bit and just enjoy diving at first--the rest will come if the activity really does resonate with you.
 
Going from an Open Water (OW) to a Course Director (CD) is a HUGE leap! These guys are talking about going from OW to Instructor being a lot of work, but going from Instructor to CD is even more. So from OW to CD is ... its just ... its just huge.

Its fully doable in a few years but do as Tammy says and think about why you are wanting to do it. If you are serious about helping other people learn then you'll take it slow and steady and gets lots of experience.
 
wow..i hope you are financially set, you are talking A LOT of money, you will probably invest more than 20K in becoming a course director, and your guaranteed return on your investment is : zero.
If you enter into it being newly certified, and wanting to do it for the love and passion of the sport and wanting to assist others, then fine..but if you think of it as stable employment and positive income, then you are wrong..unless you are the only dive shop, instructor, service facility around for 1000 miles, then maybe. There are many 2 week wonder courses out there that are happy to take your money and give you a card, but I wouldnt let my dog swim with them. NAUI requires 50 dives for DM and Instructor, SSI, 50 for DC and 100 for instructor and other agencies as close to the same, but having your pages filled in, doesnt make you qualified to lead and teach..I applaud you for your drive..good luck in your choices..
 
Thanks for the replys everyone. Please let me clarify my original post....I in no way shape or form or by any means am looking to go from OW to Course Director in months or even years. I am the type of person who plans for the future, my mind is always going and I look to be the best at what I can do. So all in all this was basically just a question for personal knowledge. I would never want to learn from an instructor who has been diving for a few months and I would never want to instruct someone until I have my act together. I am moving to Florida within the next year to year and a half and I know there is lots of good diving there and eventually I would like to bring some knowledge and leadership to my LDS (if they are willing).

So again thank you for the replys and hey one step at a time.
 
Ah, okay. That's good to know.

To actually answer to your question ... oops ... to qualify to become a PADI DM you must be 18 years of age and have logged 20 dives. By the time you complete your DM cert you must have logged 60 dives.

Instructor is 100 dives and have been diving for 6 months.

After that things get measured in the number of certifications you have done as an Instructor. For instance, Master Scuba Diver Trainer is 25 certs. After that comes Staff Instructor, Master Instructor and eventually Course Director. And you have to have a certain number of certs for each of those steps.

There are also other requirements such as assisted with a certain number of IDCs or attended a certain number of annual forums.

All of this will take a fair amount of time unless you work full time or pull some sort of shenanigans (like letting other people train students then do their last dive to qualify as their certifying instructor ... not nice at all).

But if you are serious about training ... these requirements aren't important. They are just road bumps ... you should be concentrating on making sure you are ready for each additional step.

P.S. All of the above is the PADI route. Other organisations might have different requirements and different advancement ladders.
 
wow..i hope you are financially set, you are talking A LOT of money, you will probably invest more than 20K in becoming a course director, and your guaranteed return on your investment is : zero.

A friend & I were just having this conversation recently. He has kept better track than I have. He got certified 6 yrs ago. Became an OWSI instructor 1 yr ago. He dives ALL the time in SoCal. He has spent $20K on training & gear. He just taught his first open water course...he got paid $210 for 3 students by the LDS (and he has to pay income taxes on that as a 1099 contractor). After taxes that doesnt even pay for his annual renewal fees to PADI and doesnt begin to cover his liability insurance, and othe costs, etc.

Take your time, perfect your skills through experience and as stated before, be the best that you can be. If you follow this track, do it because you absolutely love it. Invest in yourself and your love of your new sport/hobby. Know that you will have a big investment of time and money to get to that place and once you get there you will be extremely lucky to eeke out a very meager living wage from your hobby.

Just my 2 psi worth.
 
Ah, okay. That's good to know.

To actually answer to your question ... oops ... to qualify to become a PADI DM you must be 18 years of age and have logged 20 dives. By the time you complete your DM cert you must have logged 60 dives.

Instructor is 100 dives and have been diving for 6 months.

After that things get measured in the number of certifications you have done as an Instructor. For instance, Master Scuba Diver Trainer is 25 certs. After that comes Staff Instructor, Master Instructor and eventually Course Director. And you have to have a certain number of certs for each of those steps.

There are also other requirements such as assisted with a certain number of IDCs or attended a certain number of annual forums.

All of this will take a fair amount of time unless you work full time or pull some sort of shenanigans (like letting other people train students then do their last dive to qualify as their certifying instructor ... not nice at all).

But if you are serious about training ... these requirements aren't important. They are just road bumps ... you should be concentrating on making sure you are ready for each additional step.

P.S. All of the above is the PADI route. Other organisations might have different requirements and different advancement ladders.

FYI, even having gone through all that, once you become a Master Instructor you still need to APPLY to PADI to be accepted into the Course Director program. For that you need a fairly extensive dive CV as well as a reference from a CD or equivalent. Even then there is no guarantee of being accepted as there are other factors, not the least of which is only a certain number of spots are available each year.
 
To actually answer to your question ... oops ... to qualify to become a PADI DM you must be 18 years of age and have logged 20 dives. By the time you complete your DM cert you must have logged 60 dives.

Instructor is 100 dives and have been diving for 6 months.

Amazing you can become a DM after 20 dives and only 100 for instructor. Personally I think these standards are far too low. I'd say 200 dives for DM, 500 for instructor.

It really doesn't matter though since they only require 20 minutes for dives. They'd just do a lot more 20 minute dives!

Sean
 
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