The Rise of the E-Diver

I am sitting in a dive supervisors office. Something I am not used to doing, but I am helping out a friend of mine (Sat Diver) while he is away.

Today I met a young guy in his early 20's. Not unlike a lot of prospective commercial divers 25 years ago when i first started. Except this guy was really a lot more knowledgeable than I expected. Not the typical newbie air diver that you see, straight out of the academy.
So I sent him out to the tank for a trial run with the chamber foreman.

He was completely useless.

A liability.

When I spoke to him, it turns out, that he did a crappy basic surface supply training course along with about 50 open circuit dives for his open water qualifications, and the rest he learnt on the internet.

THE INTERNET !

He wanted to work as an offshore diver.

What he was thinking, I am not sure. But apparently this is not unusual.

Dive supervisors field these kind of applicants on a reasonably regular basis, I am told.

I am not a dive supervisor, but anyone who has worked as an offshore diver will tell you that the internet cannot prepare you for what awaits you as an offshore commercial diver. You WILL get weeded out in the harshest possible way.

I was curious if this happens in the recreational certification world as well ?

Yes, this is in any field of work/study. They are book smart, but in practice these people cannot perform. This is also said in higher levels of education, they know the subject really well but when it comes to hands on forget about it. About the only way to overcome this problem is to get a lot of "field experience" and some just don't learn and become useless.

There's a big difference between reading about something and experiencing it.

There'a a big difference between knowing something and understanding what it means.

In diving, there is no substitute for actually getting your fins wet.

But this phenomenon described by the OP isn't new ... and it was occurring before the Internet.

The Internet just makes access to information easier ... prior to that, those who were into "self-education" used manuals from various sources (Navy, NOAA, US Divers, etc) to get there ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

It's not just diving. This "phenomena" seems to be pervasive in many fields.

But what I find troubling is how some people believe their online, low-"real world" qualifications somehow demand they receive the same level of consideration of someone that may not have a certification but long-term real life experiences.

Makes no sense to me. A book can go only so far in preparing someone for what they may or may not experience.

There are also those that are not book smart but are wonders in the field

How many decades of experience do you expect an applicant in his early 20's to have? And how much is he going to learn in the field from chest pounders?

Lobzilla:

How many decades of experience do you expect an applicant in his early 20's to have? And how much is he going to learn in the field from chest pounders?

Click to expand...

He is going to learn a lot in the field. But he is likely going to get himself killed by getting in over his head with half knowledge gleaned from who knows where.

A lot of inshore commercial dive operations are hiring divers with dubious credentials. The combination of a fast talking inexperienced diver, and a lazy recruitment procedure is a recipe for disaster.

I am THE eDiver

The Internet is NOT replacing real life dive experience/physical activity (that is the best way to build "muscle memory"), but, it IS improving education (not just in diving) by making information easily accessible.

I think you are confusing theory with applying theory to real life situations; for that it takes time, lot of practice and ... patience.

Alberto (aka eDiver)

The part of commercial diving you don’t read much about on the Net is that it is more about heavy construction, mechanics, and seamanship than diving physics and physiology — not to minimize their importance in any way. The fact that they learned enough theory and vocabulary (jargon) from the Net to convince someone like you to give them a shot at step-two is impressive. That indicates that they are highly motivated even though currently inexperienced and ill-prepared… something that could eventually prove more valuable than all the rest.

All good divers, commercial and otherwise, require a certain sense of calm or inclination not to panic. Commercial divers also require personality traits including strong mechanical aptitude, resourcefulness, and tolerance for discomfort. Unfortunately, these are difficult to impossible to learn without the compatible intellect (or lack thereof).