PADI DM Questions

[USdiver1]

If you want to teach others, then by all means go for the DM certification. You don't have to go on to become an instructor, in fact, myself and several of my DM cohorts enjoy the absence of paperwork that comes with being an instructor; when we work with instructors, our DM rating allows us to directly teach skills in confined water and assist in O/W evaluations, kind of a best of both worlds. But if you have no desire to teach scuba, then I'd not spend my $$ on a DM rating. Tec, GUE, and specialty ratings are probably the better alternative to continue to improve your skills and education.

As to being a DM without insurance, no you wouldn't want the liability of teaching others without insurance. PADI also charges its DMs an annual fee to maintain their current DM rating, apart from the insurance costs, and I assume the same is true with the other agencies. All in all, it ain't cheap to maintain yourself as a DM.

 

[Bob DBF]

I never had the urge to become a DM or instructor, in another venue I did not enjoy being an instructor and that may have come into play. I have enjoyed diving and, in a few cases, acting as a mentor to other divers. After diving for a while and following another path you can always become a DM or instructor, I had an instructor try to recruit me into a DM class at age 67.


Bob

 

[The Laconic]

If you're not interested in actually working as a DM, why not consider GUE Fundies to really hone your diving(as opposed to instructional) skills. If not Fundies, than a cave or cavern course.

Some personal experience: I did all that, and all as a way of improving my skills and experience and comfort level. I ended up loving cave diving without meaning to get into it, and Fundies is the tops, but I never intended to work as a DM or become an instructor.

I'd say DM is worthwhile if you have no other options locally and you want to do something. But it's the least value for time and money among all the options Ron listed above.

 

[James R]

If you have no desire to work in the industry as a dive professional, spend the money on a trip or two.

I have a couple DM candidates that have signed up, paid for the course and books, all while knowing they didn't really want to be a DM. They have not finished, and probably never will. These are folks that just signed up out of the blue, not divers I have trained in any other course or even met. It makes no sense to me.

If you decide to go that route, talk to a few instructors. Discuss your goals, how they run their candidates, and so on -- interview them, basically.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

If you are not interested in teaching, I would recommend against becoming a pro, but rather go into the tec agency of your choice (I'm taking GUE fundies next month, and I know I will learn a lot). One thing that no one has brought up, but the legal aspect of being a pro. If you are on a boat where there is an accident, the plaintiff's attorney (victim's family) is probably going to be talking to you at some point. Now this is highly unlikely to ever happen. I know some instructors just show their AOW card to avoid that, but attorneys will contact each agency with the list of all the names on the boat for dive pros.

Going the technical route, you will likely exceed the skills you would in a DM program. I'd recommend GUE. Sure they are controversial with their way of doing things. After your course(s) are over, you don't have to adopt their philosophy, but you will come away with a lot of new skills. In the future, if I'm diving with GUE folks, I'll adopt their standards, but outside of it, I'm not going to use helium for anything deeper than 100 feet.

 

[claymore]

I think what you get out of the DM course is dependent on 4 things. 1 Instructor, 2 location, 3 shop and 4 how much you put into the class. The PADI course its self is mostly about being able to perform the, I believe it is 24, skills to demonstration quality, rescue and teaching skills. It does not deal in great length with diving skills. other than to push you to be a good example for the students. Many times it is taught to the minimum standard because of time limitations or indifferent instructors.

Most of your skill improvements, depending on the Instructor and shop, will come mostly from the amount of time you spend in the water practicing and doing practicums.
I have seen multiple DMs come out of the course with sketchy buoyancy, no finning skills except the flutter kick they came into the course with.

If you want to improve your diving skills I would suggest an Intro to Tech or a Fundamentals class. They are a direct skills class without the teaching component and would have a higher skills expectation than a DM class in a shorter time frame.

I enjoy DMing but have no interest in becoming an Instructor. Almost all my DM dives are personal skills practice and fun dives, I get paid to swim around, practice, supervise the students when not with the Instructor and generally enjoy diving.

 

[geoff w]

...1. As I have no desire to become an Instructor, does DM make any sense? Perhaps I should switch over to TDI or GUE after Master Scuba and pursue more individualized knowledge....

About 5 years ago I was with a group in Fiji, quite possibly with the world's most incompetent dive operator. My wife and I were PADI Master Scuba divers at the time. Some of the guys on the trip were PADI pros and/or GUE divers. Part way through our trip before the dive operator really started screwing things up bad I realized I needed to become a better diver and talked about options for GUE training or PADI DM training, and ultimately settled on PADI DM training. I may take Fundies at some point, but am so turned off by some of the GUE mindset I'm less inclined now that previously - my opinion and nothing against GUE training

The DM program is kind of like an advanced rescue class with a bunch of other really useful skills added, like more navigation, organization, the need to think about your diving and consequences, situational awareness of the environment and other divers, taking the lead if needed, as well as coming back to all the basic skills from your OW training that you probably never thought about. Lots of good skills whether you plan to work as a DM or not. Probably one of the biggest influences on my diving ability, but you really only get out of it what you put into it. After 5 years, I don't really work as a DM, but will help out on classes or events occasionally. YMMV

 

[halocline]

I may take Fundies at some point, but am so turned off by some of the GUE mindset I'm less inclined now that previously - my opinion and nothing against GUE training

There are lots of great technical instructors that utilize elements of hogarthian (kind of a precursor to the DIR crowd) diving principles without the 'DIR attitude' that seems to turn off many divers. Actually, everyone I've ever met cave diving and training was really easy to work with. Sometimes the perceived attitude on forums like this is not the reality when dealing person-to-person. I'm sure there are some real jerks, just like there are everywhere, but please don't assume that you'd end up with one by taking tech classes.

Again, I would advise anyone who's interested in tech diving to first determine what kind of environments they really want to dive in, and then train specifically for those environments. Even though usually the first steps are improved propulsion, trim, gas planning, etc....having a specific goal helps to focus and inspire.

 

[George Price]

Thank you all for your replies. I am still unsure , but much better informed. I think Fundies will be my next step.

 

[TMHeimer]

DM course is for people wishing to assist on courses, lead dives on a boat, or a step toward Instructor. It does, as mentioned, force you to perfect the skills taught in the OW pool sessions. That has to be a plus--whether it's worth the monetary cost depends on if you have the $ to spend. I would agree that tech. courses fit that bill much better, though I have no experience with that.