If you were to do a program would this not be a good foundation. It sound like a ski school if you survive your rookie year and you listen to training days and you go get certified you might have a career. I sure am not the instructor I was my first year but I was in it for the long haul. I still am learning every year.
Zero to hero Divemaster program in 30 days - thoughts?
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Elkfriend
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I have some experience with zero to hero programs, outside of diving - did a lot of them myself:
1) Skiinstructor in 1 month: yes you had to be good skier to pass, but there are a LOT of "non ski instructors" out there who are better skiers than I am!
2) MBA in less than 1 year; yes you had to get the grades, but there are a lot "non-MBAs" out there who make more money and have more business savyness!
3) Multiple University degrees in 4 years: see 2) above
4) And many other "certifications", such as a sailboat skipper in one night (7 hrs study at night, then write the test)
My insight: degrees and certification is one thing. It MUST be backed up by experience, otherwise you can not be "good" at whatever the degree is in. You can be merely mediocre, and in most cases just "barely get by".
Trust me the 60 day divemaster certification is based on "short term" memory. You learn as much as you can, write the test, pass and then forget about 80%. These people are not ready to teach - as some posts above highlight. The easiest way is to cover a topic in an afternoon and then write the test on that topic that same night. That way, in 60 days, you successfully write 60 "exams". But if you were to ask someone to write that same test 1 week later, without a refresher .... trouble!
The more meaningful route is to get experience first, then back it up with a degree. That way, everything you learn in classroom has an experienced based context. This is not short term memory, but sustainable learning.
But... it takes more time, so hotshots like myself (at the time) do want to come in first, faster and better, so you cut corners on experience and get the titles as fast as possible
I am thinking about doing a DM, just for fun. But knowing what I know now, I would take the time and not rush things. But that is easy to say, if you are not in a hurry (ie because you need a job or alike)
1) Skiinstructor in 1 month: yes you had to be good skier to pass, but there are a LOT of "non ski instructors" out there who are better skiers than I am!
2) MBA in less than 1 year; yes you had to get the grades, but there are a lot "non-MBAs" out there who make more money and have more business savyness!
3) Multiple University degrees in 4 years: see 2) above
4) And many other "certifications", such as a sailboat skipper in one night (7 hrs study at night, then write the test)
My insight: degrees and certification is one thing. It MUST be backed up by experience, otherwise you can not be "good" at whatever the degree is in. You can be merely mediocre, and in most cases just "barely get by".
Trust me the 60 day divemaster certification is based on "short term" memory. You learn as much as you can, write the test, pass and then forget about 80%. These people are not ready to teach - as some posts above highlight. The easiest way is to cover a topic in an afternoon and then write the test on that topic that same night. That way, in 60 days, you successfully write 60 "exams". But if you were to ask someone to write that same test 1 week later, without a refresher .... trouble!
The more meaningful route is to get experience first, then back it up with a degree. That way, everything you learn in classroom has an experienced based context. This is not short term memory, but sustainable learning.
But... it takes more time, so hotshots like myself (at the time) do want to come in first, faster and better, so you cut corners on experience and get the titles as fast as possible
I am thinking about doing a DM, just for fun. But knowing what I know now, I would take the time and not rush things. But that is easy to say, if you are not in a hurry (ie because you need a job or alike)
I've been diving for 48 years and have only achieved rescue certification. I'm smart enough to know I'm not ready to be a divemaster yet. I need to notch a few thousand more dives before I'll feel comfortable going that route.
As for 30 days... absurd. You don't gain the experience in 30 days that you need, and probably don't have enough incidents to know how you react to emergencies. I wouldn't trust a divemaster with so little experience.
As for 30 days... absurd. You don't gain the experience in 30 days that you need, and probably don't have enough incidents to know how you react to emergencies. I wouldn't trust a divemaster with so little experience.
nilsdiver
Contributor
I was thinking of this thread a while back while reading another thread. I am going to be pretty darn vague about that other thread because I am going to say something less then flattering about a participant, and I don't want anything to get too personal.
That participant talked about having accumulated over 200 dives over a number of years of diving. That person has a spouse with the same experience. Early on in the thread I doubted this, but eventually I became convinced that it was the truth.
Take that information away from the thread, and you would be convinced that this was an absolute beginner. This person described skill limitations for both of them that I would have expected would have been conquered in the first 20 dives at most. This person showed a remarkable lack of knowledge about the most basic dive concepts. (That is why I initially doubted the dive total.)
The reason for this emerged in the thread: all those dives took place on annual vacations to extremely tame dive locations, with the divers opting for the tamest of adventures on those sites.
Compare that with someone who has been diving only one month but has spent all day every day of that month diving under direct supervision, being given challenges to solve each dive, and spending part of each day immersed in diving theory.
I don't know if that person would have the type of knowledge and skills it takes to be a competent divemaster, but I would sure rather dive with that person than the ones described earlier.
That participant talked about having accumulated over 200 dives over a number of years of diving. That person has a spouse with the same experience. Early on in the thread I doubted this, but eventually I became convinced that it was the truth.
Take that information away from the thread, and you would be convinced that this was an absolute beginner. This person described skill limitations for both of them that I would have expected would have been conquered in the first 20 dives at most. This person showed a remarkable lack of knowledge about the most basic dive concepts. (That is why I initially doubted the dive total.)
The reason for this emerged in the thread: all those dives took place on annual vacations to extremely tame dive locations, with the divers opting for the tamest of adventures on those sites.
Compare that with someone who has been diving only one month but has spent all day every day of that month diving under direct supervision, being given challenges to solve each dive, and spending part of each day immersed in diving theory.
I don't know if that person would have the type of knowledge and skills it takes to be a competent divemaster, but I would sure rather dive with that person than the ones described earlier.
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I trust my regular buddies.
Eveybody else goes into the "maybe" category until proven otherwise.
Do I trust a random DM just because I stepped on to a boat and he was there?
No.
Terry
Bill, nobody wants to hire a DM over the age of 25 because the phyisical ability curve is starting to drop off after that. At our age it's better to jump strait to "God" status with an Instructor rating so we can impart our vast knowledge and wisdom while some poor 30-something DM takes care of "hearding the cats" and "saving the damsels" for us.
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