MSDT Prep Questions

[Stephen McCallister]

LOL. I wont be picking up dry suit or ice diving an time soon, was thinking about self reliant, full face mask, deep, wreck, navigation, propulsion vehicle, night, and one more.
The project aware stuff I would self cert.
Yeah I am not a big tech diving person, wouldnt mind knowing what its all about, just doesnt look like fun.

 

[wstorms]

Funny you say that, if you do nitrox as well you should be able to teach a verry nice tec-prep program

 

[tursiops]

LOL. I wont be picking up dry suit or ice diving an time soon, was thinking about self reliant, full face mask, deep, wreck, navigation, propulsion vehicle, night, and one more.
The project aware stuff I would self cert.
Yeah I am not a big tech diving person, wouldnt mind knowing what its all about, just doesnt look like fun.

It all depends on where you live. Are the 8 specialties you mention especially popular in your area or where you would be teaching? I'm certified to teach almost all the specialties, but most of them have NEVER been requested by a student! If you are getting a specialty instructor card because it si something you are interested in, that's good, but the key to USING the card is that student want to take that specialty. There is a reason that the popular specialties include Nitrox, PPB, Deep, Nav, Night, Wreck, Search and Recovery, Photography. Self-Reliant requires 100 dives as a prereq and that drives people away. DPB is fun, but a huge investment if people want one. FFM is rarely every asked for, in my experienced. Some folks -- younger women especially -- are into the green courses, so want Fish ID, Whale Shark, Sea Turtle, U/W Naturalist, etc.
Sure, look at what interests you, but what is your market interested in?
And which ones do you really NEED a CD's input on how to teach? Bluntly ALL of them. unless you are super experienced.
Unfortunately, many of the useful tips and tricks are location-specific.

 

[Stephen McCallister]

I just have no experience in the tech area. Not going to write it off just completely alien to me.
Agree on the all of the project aware thing. They should make a project aware master rating lol.

Wouldnt it be better for personal marketability not to limit your specialties so i could go any where? I am a single guy that could go any where really.

 

[Diving Dubai]

What I am planning on doing when I go back to school is picking up like 10 or 15 specialties during the MSDT part. That way i can teach more off the bat and it would be easier to reach the 25 certs. Or at least that was the plan. I dont know if that would be good or just focus on the 5 basic ones then once I get the 25 certs, self certify the rest

My advice FWIW would be just to attain the 5 specialities as per MSDT Prep and then wait to see what develop. The majority of the courses you will teach will be OW and AoW maybe some rescue as well

You first 25 certs will be hard work, for OW 3 or 4 students will be your max bandwidth - in my book getting a cert from team teaching or just being in the water on the last dive (the certification dive) doesn't count.

I have 10 specialities most certified only a few times, the vast majority I certify are Deep, Nitrox and Wreck.

With each speciality you teach you're supposed to have actual experience in that subject.

As I recall you only have 100 dives, do you honestly believe that you have enough experience in each of the 25 speciality subjects to be a good instructor passing on all the knowledge you've personally gained from diving that subject?

I have over 200 SM dives, I still don't teach it since I can't honestly say I'm competent with anything other than my rig. I could teach SM in a Stealth but would be lost fine tuning a Razor for instance

 

[Stephen McCallister]

i have noticed that 99% of all Master Scuba Divers have the same 5 specialties for the rating. Are those 5 specialties the only ones being offered, do you have to take those or do people not know that they can use other specialties or is it the advice given that you dont need to learn to teach anything else. You can teach any specialties you want as long as it is those 5? Seems as though the more that you offer the better it would be. For me that was one thing that determined what school I will attending. There are ones that only teach those 5 but the one i chose was because they teach almost all of the specialties. Just seems like a broader base of knowledge. If you have to be certified in a specialty before you teach it dont you want to know more about the different aspects of diving and specialties?

 

[wstorms]

i have noticed that 99% of all Master Scuba Divers have the same 5 specialties for the rating

That might have something to do with the region you are in, and your circle of divers. If there is a lot of boat diving for example, it makes sense that is a common specialty. Nitrox and deep are quite common anywhere, as is night . Now you are already at 80% "standard".

Seems as though the more that you offer the better it would be.

In the long run, yes from a business point of view. But I would recommend several years here. If you are going to be new to teaching, focus on what you enjoy and is marketable in your region. Like several people mentioned already, most new instructors will have their hands full on doing DSD, OWD and AOWD classes. AOWD can be a really nice way of getting a taste of a specialty, both for you as an instructor and your students. If you want to start teaching a specialty, you can always try to do the AOWD dive first to test if it is your thing. If it is, and you can honestly say to yourself that you have sufficient experience to teach the specialty, go for it.
For now, don't overdo it.

If you have to be certified in a specialty before you teach it dont you want to know more about the different aspects of diving and specialties?

You don't necessarily have to be certified, but you do need to have enough experience before you can teach it. Obviously, a really good way of discovering some new aspects of diving is to take new specialties / broaden your experience.