Finished Divemaster, Did I just Make a Mistake?

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For a hot second I thought about eventually doing my DMC. Then I thought about it some more and realized that I didn't really have a good reason to. I have no desire to be a dive professional. I enjoy diving for recreation and don't want to be responsible for others any more than I already am as a fellow diver and dive buddy. The course isn't cheap, and I'd be paying for gas to and from the dive sites, only to maybe make a few bucks here and there that would go towards all my expenses, including liability insurance, or to get some free air fills. So I'd really only be doing it to have the title of "Divemaster." No thanks.

OP, if you don't feel drawn into a life of being a DM or an instructor, cut your losses and just go diving for fun.
 
I'm not sure how the classes work, but isn't part of becoming an instructor or higher, training a number of dm's?

Maybe the shop convinced you to become a DM to fulfill someone elses instructional requirements?
 
After completing the course the realization kicked in this may not be worth my time. Their current payout when helping with either an OW AOW, or Rescue course is $20.00 a student...
But just let me ask, what is it that you did expect - a salary, performance bonus, and some PADI stock options? If so, you should have joined up with Google in their awesome quest of changing some icons from green to cyan in the next Android release! They offer all of that and more.

Unfortunately, at this point in time, diving jobs just don't pay out like some of the other options. It may be because so many people prefer the beach to even the most luxurious office, it may be because price competition in rec diving is so cutthroat, or it may be because a 1-month, $1,000, 99% pass rate divemaster course is a bit more accessible than a 6-year, $100,000, 40% pass rate masters in IT or STEM, leading to a more saturated job market.

The only ways to make real money diving are to be a employed by a money-first agency like PADI, do a commercial diving job (oil rig welding, sewer cleaning, hazmat mx, and other fun stuff), or be on the business side of things.

If you want to work as a recreational diving trainer/leader for the fun of it, two good options are to either first make all the money you need to retire in a boring land job, or to do it in parallel with reasonably well-paying remote or freelance work.

You start earning competitive pay in diving at course director level (or in any commercial diving), at which you'll be more removed from actual ocean diving than an office drone that maneuvers themselves into a union job close enough to the shore, diving their heart out on guaranteed weekends and 6-week vacations.
 
I'm not sure how the classes work, but isn't part of becoming an instructor or higher, training a number of dm's?
Nah, no career-focused instructor ever touches the DM. Worst course for your career: long, difficult, few certifications in the end.

Becoming an instructor is much easier than that. You pay $1k for the IDC, pay $1k for a book you'll never open, pay $1k for the IE, do a magic dance, and shazam! You're a diving god, qualified to teach just about every PADI course, regardless of prior experience!
 
The only reasons to become a DM are to progress to Instructor or to enjoy interacting with students. Yes, you learn something doing the course, but there are less expensive ways to learn diving.

Financially it is a loser. You may get little scraps tossed your way but never enough to compensate for your time. How about the expense of required liability insurance. Is your shop covering you? If so, have you checked to see how much coverage you have? If they don't adequately cover you you need to have your own policy, and that is very expensive, especially if you have assets that require adding to the basic policy.

You will never even break even as a part timer. As a part timer, consider it an expensive hobby with liability.
 
@agilis (who doesn't log dives ) stated

"I'm curious to know when the operational function of divemaster became a certification. I don't remember it existing when I was certified back in 1972. I'd been diving a while before that, but it was around that year that dive shops began to require a C card before they'd refill your tanks, so I got an NASDS certification"
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Perhaps I can provide a bit of history;

1) There was a company in Chicago during the late 1950s &early 1960s called "Divemaster." It was a full line company and even had a mail order certification produced by E.R Cross. Zale Parry, (@drbill close personal friend) was student number 10 in the late 1950s,'

2) LA Co UIA began using the term Divemaster from the beginning of their program in 1954 to denote a person or persons in charges of an activity

3) 1962 I developed a 20 plus page flip chart (modern version Power Point) titled "Instructor/Diver Retention" which established instructor & diver classifications for advancement
A) rejected by LA Co UIA - if trained by LA Co You Are a Diver !
( however the presentation spurred the development of the 3 months long never equaled LA Co Advanced Diving Program- aka LA Co ADP- which is still going strong)
B) Presented to NAUI by Art Ulrich -- rejected by NAUI B of D
C) Presented to PADI by NAUI instructor Dennis Graver who was working for PADI- laid dormant for a number of years- John Cronin re discovered it and used the concept to create the current step instruction which is the basis for PADI, Inc success

3)1960s? possibly mid 1960s, prior to PADI, Al Tillman published and article in Skin Diver Magazine titled "Underwater Jägermeister " (aka UW hunt master) declaring there would some day be a need for a Jägermeister to be in charge on boats and to lead dive groups . (now 50 plus years later AL Tillman 's prediction has become the norm- modern divers cant dive with out a guide - hand holding is the norm)

That is a very short synopsis of how it began...
In th dazzz of our dives
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"The idea of a person with less than a year's experience serving as a divemaster is comical. A person should have years of experience and hundreds of relevant dives before they are permitted to supervise the incompetents turned out by contemporary programs. "

You are so correct !

Sam Miller, III
 
Jägermeister, whether consumed on land or underwater, is a recipe for a bad time. Also it's nasty, and often mixed with other nasty beverages like red bull.

modern divers cant dive with out a guide
Some of us modern divers might take exception to that characterization. However, I think your point is indeed valid. There are plenty of folks who believe they require a DM.

On the occasions that I dive with a DM, the DM in question gets paid.
 
I won't pay for a DM, but I will reward a guide if they earn it....
 
I won't pay for a DM, but I will reward a guide if they earn it....
I thought all guides were DM's (or sometimes an instructor). Am I mistaken?

For example in Cozumel, you're required to have a local with your group. Is she a guide or a dm or both? Does the distinction matter?
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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