Yeah yeah.
Why does every new diver want to be an instructor?
- Thread starter robertarak
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Yeah yeah.
diverrex
Contributor
I suspect someone at UDC does several hundred dives, not much different than someone doing all their diving in Florida or California. Though I'm not sure who gains the most knowledge, a diver doing 4 dives a week every week for a year, or a diver doing 2 dives a day for 90 days. But your point is well taken. I am shocked sometimes when I hear someone did OW, AOW, Rescue, DM and then Instructor and took every course with the same shop and has only ever dived in the same quarry. There's no way that can develop the same type instructor as someone who has dived in many conditions and has received training from a variety of instructors and shops.
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A couple of months ago I was on a boat as dive staff with a young (25 year old) British colleague who did something just like the UDC training, except that all his training--including his technical dive training (TDI)--was done on the Thai island of Koh Tao, where there are many zero-to-hero cert factories. I have to say that this guy was one of the cockiest instructors I have ever encountered in all my years diving despite the fact that he has never dived outside of Thai waters and has only been an instructor for something like two years. I guess he thought his three tours in Afghanistan made him more eligible than others for the title "Dive God," and he behaved as if he were the repository of all dive wisdom on the planet.
I am a firm believer in experiencing a variety of dive conditions, instructors, agencies, etc. Without this kind of background, it's apparently easy to think you know it all.
Absolutely agree. But it seems like a lot to expect most instructors to have that kind of diverse background. I think at one end of the spectrum you see that kind of person, and at the other end of the spectrum you see the kind of person diverrex mentioned who did all their training in one quarry or some other place where they don't have a constant opportunity to hone their teaching skills. It seem to me that somewhere between the two extremes is where instructors who did a 3-month internship at a reasonably good "cert factory" might lie, assuming they made the most of their time. Anyway, I just chimed in when I saw UDC mentioned, as I took PADI Rescue there (and then stayed another month to simply enjoy the diving--without aspiring to become a DM, I might add). It seemed to me like people who had been hanging around the place for months as DM interns and IDC candidates were getting the kind of education that might be likened to an "immersion" course when learning a foreign language--they ate, slept, dived, got mentored, assisted with instructing the constant stream of customers, learned to work with boats, etc., in what can only be called a dive-centric environment pretty much continuously for a few months. I grant you it is not as perfect an education as experiencing different bodies of water, conditions, agencies, etc., but it seems to me it's still better than working with a dive shop on weekends over the course of a year or more diving the same quarry or bit of coastline where the pace is slower and opportunities to assist with instructing others less frequent. I suspect there are quite a few of the latter out there as instructors.
mstevens
Toadfish. Splendid is implied but not guaranteed.
Are you actually asking a question, or are you just expressing frustration?
If it's the former, the answer is simple and clear: it's because this is what people do when they're enthusiastic about something. Get a private pilot's license, dream about being a test pilot. Learn to brew beer, dream of opening a microbrewery. Take a physiology class, dream of going to medical school. It's basic human nature.
For the more realistic newbie, it's clear that diving can be expensive and time-consuming. Thus, if one would like to spend lots of time diving, one either needs to win the lottery, retire to a location with great diving while still in good health, or generate income while diving. Many people presume instructors make a living wage because of what they're spending for instruction.
Tanks
Registered
"Why does every new diver want to be an instructor?" to get rich.
tealdive
Registered
I think the answer really is as simple as "I did something new, absolutely love it and want to do it some more".
I've never had a day at my regular job that's been as good as any day diving. Doubt I'm the only one. It's human nature to look for the greener grass. Scuba/diving and pulling a check doing so is pretty green grass compared to a lot of jobs. (not saying it's REALISTIC but green)
I've never had a day at my regular job that's been as good as any day diving. Doubt I'm the only one. It's human nature to look for the greener grass. Scuba/diving and pulling a check doing so is pretty green grass compared to a lot of jobs. (not saying it's REALISTIC but green)
diverrex
Contributor
Maybe it's a regional thing. I think this may be one of those topics that has two sides (or more) and we'll just have to agree to disagree. But I don't think at all it's as simple as "I did something new, absolutely love it and want to do it some more". I've done a number of other activities that I love. I have non-diving friends that have activities/hobbies that they love and spend lots of time on. I have never come across another activity where it is so pervasive for the thought to become "let's become an instructor". I am totally convinced it is the marketing of it from the shops and agencies that drives it.
I don't agree with you Rex. I hate marketing, if you want to push me away, tell me how great something is......
They say if you do something you love you will never work a day in your life..may or may not be true, but many of us used to love our jobs but after many years we yearn for something else which often is financially not practical. So now introduce something that is challenging and relaxing at the same time, technical but not really hard to do and people make a living at it. Not at all surpising that people want a piece of it. It is the same way in boating, but the expense is too far a stretch for most. I would love to get a captains liscense and work on a boat...um but I don't have a spare $50K to buy a boat. Now $1.5K to become a Scuba instructor I could handle. Some people just want to do things they enjoy and are not "Brainwashed" by PADI. My instructors and the divemasters I dove with all seem to enjoy it regardless of what the marketing says.
They say if you do something you love you will never work a day in your life..may or may not be true, but many of us used to love our jobs but after many years we yearn for something else which often is financially not practical. So now introduce something that is challenging and relaxing at the same time, technical but not really hard to do and people make a living at it. Not at all surpising that people want a piece of it. It is the same way in boating, but the expense is too far a stretch for most. I would love to get a captains liscense and work on a boat...um but I don't have a spare $50K to buy a boat. Now $1.5K to become a Scuba instructor I could handle. Some people just want to do things they enjoy and are not "Brainwashed" by PADI. My instructors and the divemasters I dove with all seem to enjoy it regardless of what the marketing says.
There are only a few other hobbies that "require" instructors, to be honest. Private pilot? I know no less than 15 people who went from "I enjoy this hobby" to "I want to be an instructor pilot". Golfing, while not requiring instruction, per se, also has its fair share of wannabe instructors. I think the real difference is that this is one of the few hobbies you'll find where "instructor" is an official (and necessary) thing. Most hobbies simply have friends teaching each other, without benefit of some agency signifying one as an instructor and the other as a student. I've been an "instructor" in skiing, snowboarding, rock climbing, and several other similar activities. All are potentially dangerous, all have some sort of professional instruction options and most people simply don't avail themselves of those options. Diving, on the contrary, requires official instruction unless you want to fill your own tanks and only go out on your own boat(s).
People want to teach their friends to enjoy their hobbies too... a few of those hobbies simply require official instruction. I would agree that the marketing is what got us to this point in the first place, but that's based on opinion and not any real research into how this all became the standard over the original practice of someone mentoring new divers.
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