Do certs matter to you?

[jhelmuth]

After reading so many reply posts to the recent thread on a really young diver getting a MSD cert, I wanted to ask you if any dive certification mattered to you, and if so why. To me, ALL certifications hold very little value at all in the sense that they don't say anything about your diving skills. And maybe that's not their intention - but it seems as if we associate the two as being relevant, and then we bash all the agencies for turnig out divers who don't measure up to our expectations. It seems a little like we say it matters on one hand, but then turn around and spew contrary dialog.
I'd really like to either understand why I don't get it, or if it's just human nature to bash others so that we feel better?

 

[ZenSquirrel]

Depends. OW is important because that means that you have some minimial level of training. I don't put a lot of stock in the AOW certs. I have done all the standard AOW dives w/o the cert. I just went with a buddy that had done them before.

The problem with a simple cert is that you can't tell the people that "just passed" from the ones that really knew their stuff. I could care less what c-card you have as long as your skills are "live".

 

[bwerb]

I basically said this on the other thread but...if you want to take it here...alright

What does a GUE Tech 1 certification say about the diver holding it?

 

[rmediver2002]

After reading so many reply posts to the recent thread on a really young diver getting a MSD cert, I wanted to ask you if any dive certification mattered to you, and if so why. To me, ALL certifications hold very little value at all in the sense that they don't say anything about your diving skills. And maybe that's not their intention - but it seems as if we associate the two as being relevant, and then we bash all the agencies for turnig out divers who don't measure up to our expectations. It seems a little like we say it matters on one hand, but then turn around and spew contrary dialog.
I'd really like to either understand why I don't get it, or if it's just human nature to bash others so that we feel better?

Or water I suppose, for me the real issue is what the diver can do now not what they have done in the past.




What do you think about someone that does not have a open water cert?

(commercial or military divers?)

Jeff Lane

 

[Tekk Diver]

If you're just mastering scuba for a semi-pretty card & bragging rights, you're in the wrong sport.
I have TOO many c-cards, they're a pain in the @ss.

 

[Bob3]

Certs? I don't need no steenking certs.
I brush my teeth 2 times a day & floss at least a half dozen. :biggrin:


This is the only one I have, been all I needed: http://www.angelfire.com/ca/divers3/images/card.jpg
Good conversation piece, too.

 

[MB]

...you could type on parchment...

 

[Bob3]

...you could type on parchment...

That was my replacement card, the first was in cuneform, the clay didn't hold up to getting wet though.

 

[Genesis]

Its just paper (or plastic, as the case may be)

I've seen way too many instructors who can't dive to believe anything that I see anymore, or care much any more.

I decided over a year ago that my "card collecting" would be done ONLY to get access to things that I could not accomplish any other way. For the most part, I think I can accomplish 90+% of what I want to do without card collecting. For the other 10%, I will find a way.

I don't want a card that I don't have the skill for, but if someone flashes some card at me that means NOTHING. I've seen far too many folks with a wallet-full that I wouldn't trust as my buddy on a 20' reef dive.

One of the spearfishermen that I dive with often has no cards. Not even an OW. But by God, he can dive. He can also spearfish like God made him with a speargun in his hands.

 

[Spectre]

All I truely care about is those cards that are actually needed for something. AOW to get on all the boats I care to get on. Nitrox to get the fills I need. Adv Nitrox to get the deco fills I need. Trimix to get the fills I want. Cave to get where I want to get to.

I see absolutely, positively, no use for a Chainmail Shark Diver card, or whatever else they thought up to make a buck.