scubaozy
Contributor
I very much agree with @Angelo Farina , I actually prefer term "dive professional" instead of DM, DG or instructor. In real world, this person will carry the responsibility of all customers on board, at the surface and underwater as well as customer relations and satisfaction. They will know how to read the weather, tides, currents, assess each customers' skill set, will do specific dive plan for each buddy team and ensure that they will dive safely. They will give feedback and tips to customers on how they can improve. They will jump in the current, bad weather, bad viz and locate a wreck or a lost anchor, tie the boat onto a wreck or reef, recover the anchor, fix the equipment, fix the toilette, fix the outboard engine, take decisions that will affect everyones safety.. Just to name few things they would have to do.. How can you be proficient with all these with 60 or 100 dives? If we take 10 000 hr rule for mastering something, how long should one to be working to be called DiveMaster?
You have to work in the field to become a dive professional. And yes, one has to start somewhere as well, you are not born into it, there will always be beginners as well as mistakes. I consider couple of years full time experience with 1000 dives and 1-200 certifications in different locations being a good indicator that you are no longer a beginner. Amateur hobby instructors and divemasters are mainstay of the industry as they also promote it and contribute to the growth and some quite capable but the fact is, you have to do it a lot and continuous to became a Master and this will take very long time for them.
When I worked in overseas, there were very few local (I mean several locations) instructors and official DMs available, for a very simple reason, there were not enough translated material for professional levels, heck, there was not even AOWD manual available for them to read in their own language. They obviously struggled to get past the written exams despite they had enormous experience. This has changed over the years, as material became available to locals as well thus, more and more professionals hold instructor or dm c-card as well.
You have to work in the field to become a dive professional. And yes, one has to start somewhere as well, you are not born into it, there will always be beginners as well as mistakes. I consider couple of years full time experience with 1000 dives and 1-200 certifications in different locations being a good indicator that you are no longer a beginner. Amateur hobby instructors and divemasters are mainstay of the industry as they also promote it and contribute to the growth and some quite capable but the fact is, you have to do it a lot and continuous to became a Master and this will take very long time for them.
When I worked in overseas, there were very few local (I mean several locations) instructors and official DMs available, for a very simple reason, there were not enough translated material for professional levels, heck, there was not even AOWD manual available for them to read in their own language. They obviously struggled to get past the written exams despite they had enormous experience. This has changed over the years, as material became available to locals as well thus, more and more professionals hold instructor or dm c-card as well.