I apologize, this is a bit wordy, but here we go:
I went to the Go Pro night at one of the LDS around here last night hoping for a bit of an idea what to expect with the process and job prospects after completion, general curiosity, basically. I had originally been planning on going south to do a 2-month or so DM internship, but from their sales pitch and from talking to the instructors who were there (some of whom have taught me and/or dove with me), I'm looking into the possibility of doing DM (and possibly the IDC) locally and then going down south to work later on.
Obviously the shop has an interest in me doing my courses with them (although the look on the course director's face when I asked if I could do the internship there in gear they don't sell was kinda comical), but it comes up often on here to do your training where you intend to work. This makes sense to me in that if you want to work in cold water, a warm water internship is going to be a bit lacking, but is the opposite true? Does doing my DM and/or Instructor training in cold water make me more versatile as a dive pro? My guess is yes, but is it actually easier to get a warm-water job as a cold-water-trained instructor?
It seems I could get more experience working as a DMT down south based on the higher volume of boat trips and classes (at least in a shorter period of time), so I'm really wondering how much of their "train here, go work there, you'll be a better dm/instructor and it'll be easier to get a job" suggestion is a sales pitch to do the course with them and how much is just plain truth. (If I decide to train here, I may or may not do the course with them.)
Thanks for any insight.
I went to the Go Pro night at one of the LDS around here last night hoping for a bit of an idea what to expect with the process and job prospects after completion, general curiosity, basically. I had originally been planning on going south to do a 2-month or so DM internship, but from their sales pitch and from talking to the instructors who were there (some of whom have taught me and/or dove with me), I'm looking into the possibility of doing DM (and possibly the IDC) locally and then going down south to work later on.
Obviously the shop has an interest in me doing my courses with them (although the look on the course director's face when I asked if I could do the internship there in gear they don't sell was kinda comical), but it comes up often on here to do your training where you intend to work. This makes sense to me in that if you want to work in cold water, a warm water internship is going to be a bit lacking, but is the opposite true? Does doing my DM and/or Instructor training in cold water make me more versatile as a dive pro? My guess is yes, but is it actually easier to get a warm-water job as a cold-water-trained instructor?
It seems I could get more experience working as a DMT down south based on the higher volume of boat trips and classes (at least in a shorter period of time), so I'm really wondering how much of their "train here, go work there, you'll be a better dm/instructor and it'll be easier to get a job" suggestion is a sales pitch to do the course with them and how much is just plain truth. (If I decide to train here, I may or may not do the course with them.)
Thanks for any insight.