How much experience does your instructor have?

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SailNaked

Contributor
Scuba Instructor
Divemaster
Messages
1,075
Reaction score
109
Location
between 30° and 10°
# of dives
500 - 999
I am finishing my rescue diver this weekend and will be signing up for dive master next week, I have about 60 dives in clear ocean water to a max depth of 110ft. I will be taking the IANTD/TDI adv nitrox/deep diver course immediately after DM.

How much experience and what type of experience would you all feel I should have before taking my instructor cert? I do not feel qualified to teach yet even if I took all the courses required. am looking for the old salt threashold factor. what factors besides what they teach you in class make you a respected proper instructor?
 
That's a really tough question. I guess you need to make an honest self assessment. How capable are you of dealing with stress underwater. In particular, can you handle a (or perhaps multiple) stressed novice diver(s)?

How task loaded can you get before you reach your breaking point? I fully believe that everyone has a breaking point. For some it's as simple as a tweaked mask, for others its much much more. I think that to be a safe instructor (not even touching on 'ability to teach'), you should be on the "much much more" end of that spectrum.
 
I am finishing my rescue diver this weekend and will be signing up for dive master next week, I have about 60 dives in clear ocean water to a max depth of 110ft. I will be taking the IANTD/TDI adv nitrox/deep diver course immediately after DM.

How much experience and what type of experience would you all feel I should have before taking my instructor cert? I do not feel qualified to teach yet even if I took all the courses required. am looking for the old salt threashold factor. what factors besides what they teach you in class make you a respected proper instructor?

I've had five instructors:
-OW instructor - over 1000 dives, not sure about their training
-AOW instructor - around 1500 with technical training
-Nitrox instructor - 2500 dives, with 1500 planned deco dives. Teaches Adv. Trimix and does a lot of very deep wreck diving. Instructor since 1995
-Rescue instructor - not sure how many dives but 1000s at least, technical training (cave, deco and so on), has certified at least 3000 students
-new instructor for Dive Leader course - 800 dives, cave qualified and does a lot of decompression and wreck diving

I would not want an instructor with less than around 500 dives in all sorts of conditions personally. Prior experience instructing is good as well. Also I would want instructors who have technical training and do a lot of the type of diving I want to do (i.e. wreck diving). Also if they don't dive for fun as well as work I would be less likely to pick them as an instructor...

If I were you, I would get a lot more experience diving before starting to teach. Especially if you do not currently feel qualified to teach. Is there some reason you are contemplating being an instructor so early?
 
The instructors I've used all have thousands of dives. However since most of them have been instructors for a long time, a LOT of those divers have been instructing. I'm not sure how much emphasis I put on instructional dives hanging off a platform at 25'. But it does count towards the instructing side of things.

IMO if you have 200 dives, handle pressure well, and have dove in some diverse conditions (cold, low vis, warm, deep, current, fresh, salt) than that is likely enough to start recreational instructing. IMO if you dive cold low vis conditions on any type of regular basis, you are a LOT more experienced than divers who spend all their time in good vis and warm water.

I guess part of this depends on where you will be teaching.
 
I don't think the pure number of dives is a useful yardstick, although I'm quite sure I want an instructor with more than 60. I'd ask these questions:

1. What are your own diving SKILLS like? Can you provide new divers with a good visual model of a diver with good buoyancy control and stability? Can you dive without disturbing a dive site? Is your situational awareness good, and are you an effective leader and communicator underwater?

2. What is your knowledge base? Have you done any exploration beyond your required course work of topics like decompression theory, or marine creature identification, or diving physiology? I think an instructor should know more than the book the students are studying has in it.

3. What is the breadth of your experience? Are you going to be able to advise students about conditions outside of your local dive sites? Can you tell them what they will need to know to do wall dives, or drift dives, or dive off small boats?

4. How much do you know about your reaction to problems underwater? Have you dealt with any yet? You certain will with students . . .

As I have said before, I was mentally well on my way to being a 150 dive instructor, before I got a very sharp check, when I discovered some divers whose skills made both mine and my former instructor's look pretty shabby. You just often don't know what you don't know.
 
Where did you get the idea that a 60 dive diver is qualified to lead?

Can you deal with panicked divers? Can you offer advise on raging currents? small boats? big boats? skipped safety stops? decompression theory? a variety of gear configurations? wall dives? drift dives? fog? swells?

You might get a DM card in 60dives, but I know quite a few DMs and even some instructors who are not particularly waterwise and they are not truly qualified at that level despite what some agency says. They might be qualified to help out classes at benign sites.

Don't buy the agency hype, they are merely selling you classes. The best way to be a well rounded, well educated and respectable diver is to get out of the classroom/pool/checkout dive sites and really dive. And travel to new areas/environments too.
 
Let me put it to you this way: The curriculum for each agency is somewhat standardized. Any baboon could teach it,a nd I assure you that a number of baboons do. However, when you talk to students who loved their instructors, the common theme is always what the instructor did above and beyond the curriculum, such as giving examples from personal experience, or demonstrating perfect form, or even discussing when the agency's "rules" don't apply and providing some perspective.

All of these extras require experience. My suggestion as a n00b and potential student of yours is that since you're gung ho, go ahead and get your assistant instructor's certification and put in the hours assisting the best instructors you can find. If you work with an instructor and they don't seem that sharp, stop working with them, you are not learning about instructing.

And of course, dive, dive, dive and get the personal experience. If you amass a lot of experience as a diver and you work with great instructors to gain experience instructing students, you will be an asset to the sport.
 
I am finishing my rescue diver this weekend and will be signing up for dive master next week, I have about 60 dives in clear ocean water to a max depth of 110ft. I will be taking the IANTD/TDI adv nitrox/deep diver course immediately after DM.

How much experience and what type of experience would you all feel I should have before taking my instructor cert? I do not feel qualified to teach yet even if I took all the courses required. am looking for the old salt threashold factor. what factors besides what they teach you in class make you a respected proper instructor?

First, my instructor instructs instructors and has been diving forever. What you might want to do is ask instructors, how much experience did you have when you decided to become an instructor.

I'm just slightly behind you. I have 49 dives and will be doing my rescue diver in a few weeks. I'm spending the summer working towards DM. My plan is to hang out at the pool and join training sessions. Obviously I cannot assist at my current level but by observing instructors I'll gain some experience.

As I work my way up the ranks I'll offer more and more of my services to my LDS. Basically, I plan to be slave labour. As the owner of the shop feels I'm capable, she'll let me do more and more. Once we believe I'm ready for the next stage I'll move forward. I'd trust Candace with my life so I see no reason not to trust her with my dive career. Mind you, she is not just someone I pay to teach me diving. She is a friend.
 
Where did you get the idea that a 60 dive diver is qualified to lead?
I laugh when I read responses that start like this. The number of dives a person has is hardly a good metric to use.

Can you deal with panicked divers? Can you offer advise on raging currents? small boats? big boats? skipped safety stops? decompression theory? a variety of gear configurations? wall dives? drift dives? fog? swells?
These questions are much more valid. Now, suppose you have someone who is, say, a paramedic and who has much experience dealing with life and death situations. If they have the diving skills I would have no problem with someone like this becoming a DM at the minimum number of dives set by the certifying agency. There is much more to being an DM then an instructor than simply meeting any standard for a minimal number of dives that an agency sets, then passing the course. From what I have seen of folks who take the IE and from the courses that I took (including my AI course), there are folks that truly do not understand concepts or an approach to instruction.

You might get a DM card in 60dives, but I know quite a few DMs and even some instructors who are not particularly waterwise and they are not truly qualified at that level despite what some agency says. They might be qualified to help out classes at benign sites.
For every example like this, there is an equal and opposite example. I know someone who was a school teacher, specifically with troubled, difficult students, who became a dive instructor with almost the minimal number of dives to qualify. A safe, skilled, and considerate individual who is an excellent SCUBA instructor IMO.

OTOH I have also met folks with many more dives who do not have the personal skills to instruct. They may be safe, skilled divers, but should not be instructors although they have passed the IE and hold the card. They just do not have the personal skills to be effective instructors.

Don't buy the agency hype, they are merely selling you classes.
On this we agree.
 
I am finishing my rescue diver this weekend and will be signing up for dive master next week, I have about 60 dives in clear ocean water to a max depth of 110ft. I will be taking the IANTD/TDI adv nitrox/deep diver course immediately after DM.

How much experience and what type of experience would you all feel I should have before taking my instructor cert? I do not feel qualified to teach yet even if I took all the courses required. am looking for the old salt threashold factor. what factors besides what they teach you in class make you a respected proper instructor?

I have no idea how many dives my OW instructor has logged, but he's a recovery diver for the local FD, and an Intro level cave diver.

One thing that really struck me about my OW instructor, was his poise in the water. He was always in darn near pefect horizontal trim, and was a great role model.

I think it's not so much about the number of dives a potential instructor needs to have, but about the experience obtained from each dive. Someone once said, "you can have the same dive one hundred times, or one hundred different dives". It's a matter of what you've experienced during your dives...have you ever had to deal with an emergency underwater? Low visibility? Current? Surge? You really don't want your first time dealing with an unpleasant situation to be while also dealing with several student divers who are depending on you to make good decisons.

Oh, and I just finished with the TDI Advanced Nitrox and Deco class. It kicked my butt! :) Good luck...:D
 

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