I'm baffled (and it makes me nervous) to see so many dive veterans complaining about being paired up with newbies on dive trips.....
I've lived this out as both the n00b and the somewhat more experienced diver, now.
As a n00b, well, I've been the n00b on the boat where everyone else except the very experienced underwater photographer was already paired up, and the DM had me dive with the photographer. He was none to pleased, and it showed.
Many boats charge a considerable extra fee to provide a DM as a guide.
Now that I'm somewhat more experienced, and mainly dive solo, it depends. I've buddied up with my kids on their first few post-certification dives, and they were the focus of the dive, of course, which I expected. It was great.
I've also been on trips where the organizer buddied me up with people whose skills were, at best, marginal; the fact that they didn't want to have anything to do with me (20 years younger and opposite gender, so I get it) made it awkward. So there I am trying to have a good time and instead I'm stuck buddied up with someone who doesn't like me, who quite plausibly may need rescue, whose poor skills interfere with the dive, and who isn't going to do a thing for me in the unlikely event that I'm the one with a problem.