TDI Intro to Tech or AN/DP?

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This almost sounds like when GUE didn't have Fundies, you took cave/tech directly, mostly failed it the first time and that ended up being your very expensive Fundies-equivalent.

Yes and that was almost 20 yrs ago now.

I'd be wary of any instructor offering his/her ITT services for "free" to get a AN/DP student. This whole thread is a product of the weak standards and squishy prerequisites of TDI in the first place. If they had clear expectations at agency level, ie ITT with 25 post class dives or comparable preparation in doubles, proper trim, and kicks, like cavern & intro cave... Then this whole thread would (properly) be moot.
 
Yes and that was almost 20 yrs ago now.

I'd be wary of any instructor offering his/her ITT services for "free" to get a AN/DP student. This whole thread is a product of the weak standards and squishy prerequisites of TDI in the first place. If they had clear expectations at agency level, ie ITT with 25 post class dives or comparable preparation in doubles, proper trim, and kicks, like cavern & intro cave... Then this whole thread would (properly) be moot.

At least TDI materials don’t have pics of divers in doubles kneeling on the bottom of a pool, including an attempt at valve shutdown while kneeling.
 
Before getting into the tech realm, after being a diver for many years, I became a divemaster which led to other things. I took IANTD Nitrox with a WKPP member and then later IANTD Advanced Nitrox from the same instructor. This turned out to be a good background. I then became a GUE and NSS-CDS certified cave diver. Then I got certified as an IANTD Trimix diver, which I was eligible for, since I had the Advanced Nitrox certification and was full cave certified. This was all a lot fun and a lot of hard work too. Unfortunately there are no shortcuts to getting experience, so don't be in hurry, and don't get way beyond your experience level. The things you want to see and do will still be there when you are ready.
 
At least TDI materials don’t have pics of divers in doubles kneeling on the bottom of a pool, including an attempt at valve shutdown while kneeling.

Agreed, whoever put together the pics for the PADI/DSAT manuals should be fired.

However, the text states you need to be in trim and maintaining neutral within a few inches. I never was big on picture books anyway.
 
Yes, I read it.

I assume you mean "how much experience do I have teaching technical diving?" And the answer is none. I am not an AN/DP instructor. How much do you know about the instructor that the OP has found to say that the OP should not take AN/DP (including learning to dive doubles) from him or her?

My reading of the OP leaves this highlighted in my mind:



I must be extra stupid this week because I am really failing on understanding why you seem so adamant that the OP not take this instructor's AN/DP class. It appears that the instructor will cover the stuff from Intro to Tech as part of his AN/DP course. So, is your beef that he is (presumably) not issuing an Intro to Tech C-card as part of the deal? If he issued the Intro to Tech C-card as part of it, would that make it all better to you? Is your beef because another instructor is willing to spend more time and teach more skills in their AN/DP course than what you do? Do you have some reason to believe that the instructor is going to teach AN/DP in the same amount of time as you would and your beef is that the instructor is going to give a poor class because he's trying to elevate the student too much in too short a time? If that's the case, what is your basis for that belief (that the instructor is going to do the class in too little time)?

No, I meant exactly what I wrote -- what is your experience as a technical diver that gives you the authority to tell someone they should just skip intro to tech and jump straight into an AN/DP program.

And once again, I will re-state it for the third or fourth time -- I don't have an issue with ITT and AN/DP being conducted jointly, and I don't have an issue with someone being mentored in the ITT skills without getting an ITT certification as part of a lengthy AN/DP "mentorship" program.

HOWEVER, I have a huge issue with someone that openly admits he lacks the skills and experience in technical diving gear and techniques being put into an AN/DP program that only hits the bare minimums in number of dives, especially when that student explained to his potential instructor that he lacks the skills and familiarity and would prefer to start out with the baby step. It's a recipe for disaster. And when a student asks about doing the beginning skill program and any technical instructor responds with "don't worry about the basic skills, we can work on those while we're doing the whole AN/DP program thing" that sets off my bullspit meter.
 
I need to add this too.

TDI's AN/DP or AN/Helitrox is actually a very high level certification. I think a large number of people tend to ignore that fact and think it's simply an easy peasy course. The person who completes AN/DP (or Helitrox) is qualified to engage in decompression dives to 150', use hyperoxic gas mixes, and can quickly get themselves into a heap of trouble outside of training if they're not well prepared for it.

It's really a big leap from Advanced Openwater diver to AN/DP.
 
I hope that we can all agree on the importance of a foundational skill course like UTD Essentials of Diving and GUE Fundamentals prior to embarking on technical training. I wish such classes were requirements for dive pros! But that’s a fantasy I’ll never see become a reality.

If someone wants to skip such a course, they have to at least pass a test to demonstrate they have the proper skills set.

I don’t expect mainstream agencies to adopt such a requirement. As a recreational instructor, I’m more focused on the Sisyphean task of getting open water students off their knees.

To the OP, there is no rush. To get the best benefit from your training, get it in digestible chunks, whether small steps with brief training, or longer courses where more is covered and you have time to acquire proficiency at the level needed.

Good luck!
 
SB really needs to make up its mind.

Fundies good. Anything else tech intro type is bad. Have someone mentor you instead of any other agency’s intro class

Anyone who takes their time is bad. Have to go right into AN/DP. Hey, just do a few doubles dives before AN/DP, and you’re effin’ golden (channeling Illinois’ fave ex-guv in prison, Blago).

o_O
 
I may be a bit hard on myself with skills, but I can't imagine haven gone strait in the AN/DP without an ITT course beforehand. All the internet diving in the world did not show me how to practice the skills required. Then after ITT I had well over 100 dives practice before I started AN/DP.

Also, I'm not sure how it works in other locations, but I would expect any instructor to add hourly rates to any instruction above their standard class. i.e. time taken it include ITT skills into AN/DP. So it's not a free add on.

It seems to me that that totally depends on the instructor and, in part, WHY that instructor is even teaching in the first place.

I consider myself very fortunate to have found an AN/DP instructor that I took the class from that charged a fixed price (the same price he charges anyone for AN/DP) and had no issues with the fact that I started with no experience in doubles (and only a bit over 50 total dives) and also had no issues with working with me over many weekends during a 9 month period to get me where I needed to be in order to deem me qualified for an AN/DP cert.

No, I meant exactly what I wrote -- what is your experience as a technical diver that gives you the authority to tell someone they should just skip intro to tech and jump straight into an AN/DP program.

And once again, I will re-state it for the third or fourth time -- I don't have an issue with ITT and AN/DP being conducted jointly, and I don't have an issue with someone being mentored in the ITT skills without getting an ITT certification as part of a lengthy AN/DP "mentorship" program.

HOWEVER, I have a huge issue with someone that openly admits he lacks the skills and experience in technical diving gear and techniques being put into an AN/DP program that only hits the bare minimums in number of dives, especially when that student explained to his potential instructor that he lacks the skills and familiarity and would prefer to start out with the baby step. It's a recipe for disaster. And when a student asks about doing the beginning skill program and any technical instructor responds with "don't worry about the basic skills, we can work on those while we're doing the whole AN/DP program thing" that sets off my bullspit meter.

I have no authority whatsoever to tell someone they SHOULD skip Intro to Tech. Nor did I do so.

I have even less authority to make a judgment that a TDI AN/DP instructor is somehow wrong if he tells a potential student, who meets all the prerequisites for AN and DP, that he will teach them AN/DP without requiring them to do Intro first.

What is your basis for implying that the OP was offered an AN/DP program that would only hit the bare minimum number of dives? It seems to me that you may have made an unfounded assumption about what the OP was offered and then counseled against accepting that offer (based on said unfounded assumption).

I need to add this too.

TDI's AN/DP or AN/Helitrox is actually a very high level certification. I think a large number of people tend to ignore that fact and think it's simply an easy peasy course. The person who completes AN/DP (or Helitrox) is qualified to engage in decompression dives to 150', use hyperoxic gas mixes, and can quickly get themselves into a heap of trouble outside of training if they're not well prepared for it.

It's really a big leap from Advanced Openwater diver to AN/DP.

I totally agree with that. I have told many potential divers that I think AN/DP is a BIG step up from being an OW recreational diver. The biggest single step in the (TDI) tech training track (barring discussions of cave training). Thus, I have encouraged every one of those people to use the utmost care in selecting who they do their AN/DP training with. And, I have encouraged them towards finding someone who will work with them over a period of time, rather than taking a 4 or 5 day AN/DP course. I feel like, even if you start with all the mad doubles skillz, it's still such a big step that it merits taking your time and spending more time at it than just what you would get in 4 or 5 consecutive days. There is a lot of tech knowledge to absorb, a lot of watermanship skills to learn or develop (including situational awareness in that category). And, to ME, at LEAST as important, there is a mindset to be developed that, I think, is very hard to come by quickly (i.e. in just 4 or 5 days of training), if you don't happen to naturally be of that mindset anyway.

Once you have the base skills, knowledge, AND the right mindset, it seems to me that the next steps, for Trimix and Adv Trimix, are much smaller, incremental steps up (as compared to the step up to AN/DP). But, that is just my opinion, being only a TDI Trimix diver and not a tech instructor at all.
 
SB really needs to make up its mind.

Fundies good. Anything else tech intro type is bad. Have someone mentor you instead of any other agency’s intro class

Anyone who takes their time is bad. Have to go right into AN/DP. Hey, just do a few doubles dives before AN/DP, and you’re effin’ golden (channeling Illinois’ fave ex-guv in prison, Blago).

o_O
The problem is that the minimum requirements for intro to tech are nothing like the UTD or GUE gatekeeper courses.

TDI allows an instructor to augment the courses they teach and make one equivalent, but that isn’t the agency’s standards.
 
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