gounta
New
Hi All,
I have recently just completed my IDC and IE exams (PADI) and passed. The story I want to share has to do with how I managed to get to the IDC.
Internships are a great idea as you have an opportunity to gain a lot of diving experience, mentoring from your peers, spending time with customers and time to study theory rather than trying to achieve a DM result in 4 weeks.
From the experience I had I would say that there was plenty of time to study while sitting in a shop. Yes I did go diving but only when everyone else was busy with dive trips and there were customers who wanted to do local dives. Mentoring was minimal with only negative feedback which was great for my self esteem. The result from this was that I questioned everything I did.
Anyway I managed to finish my DM, well that is what I was told, then it took another 2 months before I was given the paperwork to send in to PADI. Actually I demanded the paperwork and when I went in to the office for a meeting was handed the paperwork and told it had been signed for a month and forward dated 1 month so it didn't look like they had been holding onto it. From this point I decided after 4 weeks this relationship should not go any further and told them that was it. It was not really surprising to the owner.
O.K so what am I saying. Well do your homework and make sure you understand and have agreed on terms and conditions of your internship. Get everything in writing. I had done my OW & AOW with this company as a paying customer and had no idea of how disorganised they were until being behind the scenes. Not to mention breaking standards.
In the end I completed what I set out to do and that is to become a OWSI. So I have managed to end my break on a positive note. The company I did my IDC with were a separate company to that I did my internship with, and were extremely professional in all aspects.
Diving is meant to be fun and rewarding so make sure you understand what you are getting into from both sides. Confirm everything in writing so there are no surprises and you will have a great and rewarding experience.
I hope this post helps even just one person not to make the same mistakes I did.
Hindsight is wonderful.
I have recently just completed my IDC and IE exams (PADI) and passed. The story I want to share has to do with how I managed to get to the IDC.
Internships are a great idea as you have an opportunity to gain a lot of diving experience, mentoring from your peers, spending time with customers and time to study theory rather than trying to achieve a DM result in 4 weeks.
From the experience I had I would say that there was plenty of time to study while sitting in a shop. Yes I did go diving but only when everyone else was busy with dive trips and there were customers who wanted to do local dives. Mentoring was minimal with only negative feedback which was great for my self esteem. The result from this was that I questioned everything I did.
Anyway I managed to finish my DM, well that is what I was told, then it took another 2 months before I was given the paperwork to send in to PADI. Actually I demanded the paperwork and when I went in to the office for a meeting was handed the paperwork and told it had been signed for a month and forward dated 1 month so it didn't look like they had been holding onto it. From this point I decided after 4 weeks this relationship should not go any further and told them that was it. It was not really surprising to the owner.
O.K so what am I saying. Well do your homework and make sure you understand and have agreed on terms and conditions of your internship. Get everything in writing. I had done my OW & AOW with this company as a paying customer and had no idea of how disorganised they were until being behind the scenes. Not to mention breaking standards.
In the end I completed what I set out to do and that is to become a OWSI. So I have managed to end my break on a positive note. The company I did my IDC with were a separate company to that I did my internship with, and were extremely professional in all aspects.
Diving is meant to be fun and rewarding so make sure you understand what you are getting into from both sides. Confirm everything in writing so there are no surprises and you will have a great and rewarding experience.
I hope this post helps even just one person not to make the same mistakes I did.
Hindsight is wonderful.
