Pervasive "Going Pro" Theme in New Divers

How many times a week do we come across the "0-24 Dive" divers who are looking for advice on equipment, courses, etc. in their grand pursuit of becoming a DM/Instructor/DiveGod? I'm curious what about the scuba industry engenders this.

I was a ski instructor, racer, race coach, instructor trainer and alpine guide for over a decade and I never saw the beginners (or frankly, many students) who wanted to become instructors in that sport. Hell, we couldn't even talk the qualified professionals into to coaching anyone.

Is it PADI's marketing or the instructor's push to build a culture of continuing education?

Where else does this exist in the "action sports" world?

I used to see it a lot in Part 141 pilot training schools. In contrast to a Part 91 school where the goal may have been for a student to just get their private license and then maybe later instrument and or multi engine tickets, the 141 student was constantly exposed to the potential to move straight through private, instrument, multi-engine, commercial and instructor tickets and do it in less total hours of flight and pilot in command experience. It was also, unfortunately, a marketing approach where if the student had the funding, it was sold as a method of making them a better and more capable pilot - which was not always the case - but it improved the bottom line for the FBO with the program.


I think the same model prevails in the scuba industry. And I think the same problem exists. In aviation, the most likely time for a pilot to crach and burn is between about 200-250 hours and about 800-1000 hours. That 200-250 hour point is also the exit point for a newly minted flight instructor who thinks he knows a lot about flying, but is instead not even to a point of knowing what he or she doesn't know.

That same description applies to a newly minted scuba DM or instrcutor as well, but no one tells them that and they go forth thinking they actually know how to dive and have enough training and experience not to get in over their heads and off themselves, their charges or their students.

I think you'll find that it's exactly as you suggest. In my OW course, my instructors were asking me when I wanted to take the DM course... simply because I was comfortable with the OW course. I hadn't even finished it yet and they were plying the "go pro" kool aid. I really don't think it's so much about "continuing education" but I may just be cynical.

I think it's partially the fact that divers are assumed (rightly or wrongly) to have more excess money than kayakers/climbers/cyclists, though. In those sports people are often considered "dirt-bags" (in a good way) and they're proud of it... making do with duct taped gear and cheap-as-you-can-get stuff and "roughing" it. Skiing might be the exception to the perception of money issue, but I think people are more realistic about the "pro" opportunities in that sport. Most of the ski/snowboard instructors I know didn't get much more than minimum wage and free slope time. The free slope time is why they do it, more than the money. That's a little different in the big resorts out west but not hugely so. With diving, it's considered relatively easy to be a "pro" (again, rightly or wrongly) and most new divers are vacation divers who never even get to the skill of an amateur. Simply put, "pros" in diving are often thought of as babysitters, while pros in other sports are thought of as real pros.

I've never seen it in any other "action sport" that I've been associated with to date. Cycling is about the closest thing I've seen, when club riders start turning into "racers" but very few ever actually reach the pro level. I do know it happens at some level in auto racing clubs too.

Interesting thread. I see the 0-24 DM Candidates post here alot.

The only other "hobby" that seems to have a similar amateur to pro vain is Music. When you get that first guitar, then write some songs, put together a band...it goes on and on.

"I want to tell them don't do it, you can't stop it once it starts but something deep inside my soul says God bless your precious heart." Chris Wall

While I'm not in the 0-24 camp anymore, I probably still qualify as a "newb wanting to go pro" to some degree, though the idea of going pro only occurred to me as a possibility after I had already done 50 dives or so. Until then, and especially when I was a 0-24, it seemed like it would take an eternity to become comfortable and adept enough to become a dm or instructor. I'm well aware that I really should get some more experience under my belt before taking the step to pro, though, and I'm well aware that I don't know everything about diving and probably never will - I just hope I don't end up with training staff for DM and/or OWSI that try to convince me otherwise.

I think the pervasiveness of wanting to go pro is all in the marketing, sometimes subtle, sometimes not. When I took my OW class, during the meet and greet, the instructor pointed to the progression chart on the wall and asked us to state how far we hoped/expected to go when we introduced ourselves. Possibly just a curious "what are your goals" type of question, possibly a subtle way of saying "look, pro ranks aren't too far away", though there was nothing explicit like what fjpatrum mentioned. There seems to be a Go Pro challenge ad (or 2?) in every issue of Sport Diver, and the manuals seem to promote it too. There were a couple of go pro ads in my Rescue Diver manual, at which time I was still thinking "maybe in a few years".

"Maybe in a few years" has turned out not to be as long as I thought. I completed Rescue last June and might be starting DM this coming July or August.

I was asked if I wanted to take DM training, and after I stopped laughing, told the instructor "I like diving".

Around here it is training for a job that dosen't exist. The few DM's that may get paid are employed at the shops and there are no paid openings. The DM canidates pay for priviledge of doing the shop DM's work.

I have nothing against anyone taking the training and becoming a DM if that is their choice, but their instructor and the canidate should be realistic about the opportunities available.

Good news is that I picked up a good dive buddy when he figured out he was just being used.



Bob
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I may be old, but I’m not dead yet.

Generally people of all walks of life is very status aware. They believe that people will respect you based on some title (manager, DM, instructor etc) rather than earning the respect or leadership/mentor ability.

You never need to ask if a diver is a DM or instructor, they gladly inform you of their "position" without you even asking.

What it is, is that these newbies have found something new to do that they REALLY like to do and want to do it all the time.(Sort of like s*x.) And they want to be able to make a living at it. (Sort of like a 'lady of the evening'.) Unfortunately, like in the other mentioned avocation, there are many, many others out there with the same idea. This degredates their value as a worker and because of this the wages just won't keep up with the hours of work involved. That's why you see so many "pros" instructing as a part-time job or "ex-pros" telling the world that they are actually scuba instructors working, waiting tables or some other menial job, but still with the dream.

I see it to some extent in my 'second job' as a sailing instructor. Many beginners want to sail around the world. I don't discourage them, dreams can be good motivators, and the sea teaches you real quickly who is boss anyway.

Also I don't think in sailing that the private cert agencies (American Sailing Assn, US sailing Assn) are quite so "specialty-hungry" as the scuba agencies, nor as Pollyanna-like about the prospects of earning a living in the sport (you'll note i said "second job" to describe what I do on the weekends). And if you want to make a living at sailing with paying students or charter passengers, you have to get the sea time, the exam, and the government (USCG) license to be able to pursue it legally.

Scuba doesn't have the government licensing component, so maybe the pipe dreams of the new student can be smoked a little longer with the help of agencies who get fees to keep the pipe lit ;-)

So in scuba, you may find that many if not most of the folks who actually make a consistent living at it, have the Coast Guard captain's license in addition to all the PADI certs, so much of their living comes from that, and maybe also from owning the boat and hence the business, and not (just) from teaching.

Actually guys from the POV of a diver with 50-70 dives my interest is in improving my skills and diver safety. It just happens that the courses to improve my skills point me towards becoming a DM. Do I ever see myself being a professional diver.NO but I sure do want to be as safe and efficient diver as I can