Why does every new diver want to be an instructor?

[robertarak]

I went from skiing 3 times to being a ski instructor. I went from snowboarding 1 time to being an instructor. In one instance it was a paid instructor and in the other it was not. Similarly, I taught people how to climb after just a few climbs myself. (I didn't start getting paid for it for several years after that but the "actual skills" I learned very early on. I wasn't as proficient at them without more practice but I could teach them.) As you said, that may be aptitude but I've seen a lot of people that took "a long time" to learn how to ski go on to be instructors in just a few months. The skills learned in skiing really only take a day or two to learn... perfecting them is what takes a while, just like in diving.

Again, being an instructor pilot, while not simple, isn't necessarily any more difficult than just flying. It takes more experience, but I don't know that it is any different than the 90 dives it takes to become a DM. (Can't remember how many hours you need before you can be an instructor pilot but I remember it not seeming to be a particularly high number.)

This could all be perspective, though. Either way, it seems that there is some element of marketing and some element of enthusiasm to show others how to dive or just dive more.

I just erased everything I wrote...ranted..about this post. After 2 years and 25 dives I am sure you are ready to teach scuba too.

 

[maniago]

Again, being an instructor pilot, while not simple, isn't necessarily any more difficult than just flying. It takes more experience, but I don't know that it is any different than the 90 dives it takes to become a DM. (Can't remember how many hours you need before you can be an instructor pilot but I remember it not seeming to be a particularly high number.)

Ok Please, lets stop with the instructor pilot references, unless you are either an Instructor Pilot or working towards, as I am. It is WAY WAY more difficult than any skiing, snowboarding, scuba etal (all of which I've done) to learn/teach. For brevity, you can expect no less than 300hrs in the airplane, usually way more. Then there's various written tests that you have to pass - an arm full of them. If you want a reference, the VFR rating (basically fair weather flying) is like an associates degree; IFR rating, is like getting a Masters Degree. The Commercial which is a lot of flying, is like getting a black belt. The Instructor is like a masters in teaching on top of the last 3. And thats only to teach VFR , not the IFR "in the clouds, down to mins visibility on landing etc". That IFR teaching certification is another degree, as is Multi Engine, Multi IFR, and ATP (the PhD of flying, whcih all airline captains must have). And cost? Try $50k to $100k (depending on lots of factors) and years. Then you have to subject yourself to periodic "inspections" and re-qualifications to maintain your teaching ability. At your expense. Scuba (not to poo-poo it) is like teaching tricycle riding compared to this. Ok, stepping off the soap-box now...

 

[fjpatrum]

I just erased everything I wrote...ranted..about this post. After 2 years and 25 dives I am sure you are ready to teach scuba too.

I never said anything about being ready to teach scuba. Please reread all the posts I've made in this thread...I was referring specifically to one person's suggestions that none of those things can be taught in a short period of time and therefore aren't similar to scuba which somehow allows a short period of time from being a complete novice to being an instructor.

I also said that the only real difference in those kinds of sports and the fact that newbs seem to have an excessive drive to "become instructors" in scuba vice those other sports is because this is one of the few sports that actually separates the "pros" from "plebes". All those other sports have pros in them but none of them REQUIRE pros learn the sport. That's the difference I was pointing out.

---------- Post added January 28th, 2013 at 01:04 PM ----------

Ok Please, lets stop with the instructor pilot references, unless you are either an Instructor Pilot or working towards, as I am. It is WAY WAY more difficult than any skiing, snowboarding, scuba etal (all of which I've done) to learn/teach. For brevity, you can expect no less than 300hrs in the airplane, usually way more. Then there's various written tests that you have to pass - an arm full of them. If you want a reference, the VFR rating (basically fair weather flying) is like an associates degree; IFR rating, is like getting a Masters Degree. The Commercial which is a lot of flying, is like getting a black belt. The Instructor is like a masters in teaching on top of the last 3. And thats only to teach VFR , not the IFR "in the clouds, down to mins visibility on landing etc". That IFR teaching certification is another degree, as is Multi Engine, Multi IFR, and ATP (the PhD of flying, whcih all airline captains must have). And cost? Try $50k to $100k (depending on lots of factors) and years. Then you have to subject yourself to periodic "inspections" and re-qualifications to maintain your teaching ability. At your expense. Scuba (not to poo-poo it) is like teaching tricycle riding compared to this. Ok, stepping off the soap-box now...

Please go back and re-read the post you quoted. I never said anything like "flying or being an instructor pilot is just as easy as skiing, snowboarding, scuba et al."

What I said (right there in the first sentence you quoted) is that being an instructor pilot isn't necessarily any more difficult than simply flying. I'll assume the rest of your rant is just off-topic since you based it upon a misunderstanding of what I wrote.

 

[maniago]

What I said (right there in the first sentence you quoted) is that being an instructor pilot isn't necessarily any more difficult than simply flying. I'll assume the rest of your rant is just off-topic since you based it upon a misunderstanding of what I wrote.

Seriously? So your premise is that teaching any skill is just as easy as learning whatever that skill is? Hmmm.

Nevermind, this rabbit trail has nothing to do with the OPs comment. I'm done.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Seriously? So your premise is that teaching any skill is just as easy as learning whatever that skill is? Hmmm.

Nevermind, this rabbit trail has nothing to do with the OPs comment. I'm done.

I'm not sure it has "nothing" to do with the OP's comment. My small bit of input to this thread was my opinion that since PADI et al. make it so darn easy to become a DM/instructor it is hardly surprising that a significant number of new divers think "hey, I can do that--I think I'll go for it." A few others replied that there are other sports/endeavors out there that might similarly motivate newbies to want to become instructors. My response to that was that I still think more new divers voice a desire to become DMs/instructors than new skiers, etc. (I have no idea about pilots) voice a desire to become ski instructors because becoming a dive instructor is just so much easier than becoming, say, a ski instructor. All the ski instructors I've seen have been skiing for a decade or more and make the double black diamonds look easy. You can't be a clumsy skier and land a job instructing people on the nuances of how to ski more gracefully or a clumsy golfer and land a job instructing people on the nuances of how to swing a golf club, but I do believe you can be a fairly clumsy diver and still demonstrate the skills and otherwise instruct OW students to PADI's minimum standards. I suppose there might be some ski instructors who are relative neophytes, having somehow gotten hired by a ski area after just a few months of skiing, but it's my belief that there are fewer new skiers who voice a desire to take that route than there are new divers. I may be wrong, but I imagine you need to demonstrate a pretty high level of skill and experience to get hired as a ski instructor or golf pro, but there seem to be plenty of new dive instructors who manage to land jobs with only a bare minimum of skill and experience. Consequently, I think that new divers who know how hard it would be for them to become a ski/golf/etc. instructor see becoming a dive instructor as something that is within their reach.

 

[Bob DBF]

Those who can, do; those who can't, teach.
George Bernard Shaw



Bob
---------------------------------
"No matter what happens, somebody will find a way to take it too seriously" -Dave Barry

 

[Jersey]

The grass is always greener on someone elses lawn, be it scuba, skiiing, flying, or life. I travel extensively for business and people comment how exciting that is and wish they had a job like that. They fail to imagine stuff like going NO, LA in August, and bags/clothes going to Boulder CO; or sitting on a runway after a 10 hour meeting, plane full o screaming kids, delays due to weather, missing the LAST connection and spending the night sitting in ATL - Hartsfield trying for the first morning flight to make an afternoon meeting on no sleep; eating dinner alone most nights and simply being away from loved ones. Yeah - exciting.

 

[*dave*]

I have seen hundreds of posts that read something like, "I would like to learn to dive and become an instructor", or "I got certified last weekend and want to open a dive shop". Why do so many people feel the need to be an instructor in an activity that they are either very, very new to, or not even certified in? Why do so many new, or not even certified divers think that they could or should move in to the professional side of diving. Would they have hired an instructor to train them that started diving last month and just made the minimum required dives while on vacation to go from zero to hero? It drives me nuts!

I think it may be time to take a break from internet diving.

When I feel like this, and I am of sound mind, I will ask myself why I care so much that it should bother me so. It's not a person's desire that I find disturbing, it's the fact that they can actually pay their way up the ladder in many cases and become instructors with less experience than I had in 1978. That's how it is, it's not the internet.

 

[diverrex]

When I feel like this, and I am of sound mind, I will ask myself why I care so much that it should bother me so. It's not a person's desire that I find disturbing, it's the fact that they can actually pay their way up the ladder in many cases and become instructors with less experience than I had in 1978. That's how it is, it's not the internet.

What bothers me about it is the idea that shops and agencies push the idea (and newbies buy into) that basically anyone can become a DM or Instructor simply by completing the courses. There is no concept involved that maybe you should actually be a really good diver first before you head down the instructor path as I believe is more typical in other activities.

 

[Adam Grose]

If you're gonna dream, dream BIG!!!

... money for nuthin' and your chicks for free ...
Everybody needs a dream.

<SNIP>