'zero to hero' Thailand

[scubaboi]

I didnt completely know where to put this topic so i chucked it in here! If its in the wrong place feel free to move it mods

I know this is probably going to turn into a bashing of 'zero to hero' course and Pattaya were im looking at doing my course. But im asking for everyones honest opinion not a bashing! please.

Im looking into a few 'zero to hero' courses up to instructor. Im looking the region Pattaya but am open to suggestions. Im wondering if anyone as any first hand experience from dive course's ('zero to hero') in Thailand and your thought on the course as a intern or a paying coustmer.

regards Josh

P.s. Im sorry if this has been covered alot but was just after some new info and some honest answers not the whole bashing scenario.

 

[Ben_ca]

P.s. Im sorry if this has been covered alot but was just after some new info and some honest answers not the whole bashing scenario.

If the honest answer is to not go down this path would you accept that? It seems like you've already made up your mind

 

[scubaboi]

Everyone has a different opinion... And no haven't made up my mind... Just wanting peoples different views and points.

 

[tstormdiver]

I am in no way saying that you couldn't make a good instructor, even with minimal experience, I don't know. What I will ask you for thought is,... how comfortable would YOU be with an instructor teaching you who had only the bare minimums? Look at it from the perspective of your future students. Experience with just diving & enjoying (not courses or classes) along the way, says a lot.

 

[Ben_ca]

My opinion is that to be an effective instructor a candidate needs 2 things
1. Instructional aptitude - the ability to impart knowledge/wisdom to others
2. Depth of experience - a breadth of experiences/dive resume to draw from when providing instruction.

So you would get number 1. from a "Zero to Hero" program but would you get number 2.? I'm sure the school will have you do a multitude of dives... mostly teaching/guiding but really are you doing 100 dives in a variety of environments/conditions or are you doing 1 dive 100 times?

 

[fjpatrum]

Zero to Hero type courses almost always provide a great opportunity to START. A few people can actually become truly proficient instructors in these courses. A few more can get a good basis and become good instructors through reading outside the course. Most will not. This goes for diving or any other activity you choose.

I'm one of those people who reads everything I can find about a particular interest. As a result I often have knowledge well beyond my experience level in a particular interest. Occasionally I can parlay that into being able to effectively teach someone else with less experience than I have. I'm lucky.

Most people, however, don't do as much research and "outside education" and rely only on what they are given in their particular course. They very rarely become good instructors through such courses.

There are a couple of questions you have to ask yourself to determine if one of these courses is right for you.
1) How do you typically react in emergencies? If you are calm and rational and usually respond well, without panic, when other people are relying on you, then that's good. If you freak out or faint at the site of blood or dead bodies, or whatever, then that's bad.
2) How are your people management skills? Do you get stressed by crowds or do you thrive on herding cats? Being able to manage people of different skill levels is going to be key to being a good instructor/DM.
3) What do you hope to gain out of this? Full time employment, part time employment, just being a better diver and being able to offset the cost of diving? Your motivation for doing this (and considering this particular option vice a slow progression) should be clear in your mind.
4) Will you take the time to do more research and educate yourself further than your course expects? Will you learn the requirements for cold water diving in low viz while your spending your time in Thailand? Will you learn about the differences of dry diving and wet and how to cope with emergencies in both? Obviously all of these differences will most likely have to be done outside of your course.
5) Are you a good teacher in other subjects? Can you effectively teach people with different learning styles? Very few of these types of courses will actually teach you to be a competent teacher. They will teach you to be reasonably competent at the skills of diving used in the environment you train in, but that's a very different thing than being able to communicate those skills to new divers.

If you can honestly answer yes to 4 and 5 and are good on 1 and 2 then maybe you'll come out of a zero-to-hero type course okay. If not, it's definitely not the right choice for you. I'd recommend asking a few of your friends (that will be honest with you) what they would answer if asked how you should answer 1, 2,4, and 5. It's an enlightening experience to find out how others think you react in such situations and it will greatly improve your self-assessments.

The general rule that slower is better is most often correct in these types of situations. It's not 100% but it is pretty close. Getting time and exposure to different environments (especially different dive areas) is going to be key to really getting comfortable in any given situation you might encounter as a professional diver. Fast courses are most likely going to take you to the same locations, which you will become very familiar with and may get complacent about the true variances there are to dive emergencies and dive environments. It will be up to you to educate yourself on those differences and train for them as best you can.

 

[knowone]

The title, structure and content of you post would suggest no.
Teaching people things is not a holiday.
If you were to do it in Tasmania maybe.

 

[marinediva]

From my experience and I have done a course which went from Rescue to MSDT in Thailand these are the Pro's and Con's

Pro's

1. get to meet lots of very interesting people, from many different cultures.
2. possible to assist on 5 dives a day, thats 3 possible courses a day,
3. have the choice of every course to assist on, you will rarely find a day where a rescue, OW, confined water, advanced, DSD or tour was not happening,
4. assist in the day to day running of a very large diving school with up 100 divers per day.
5. live eat and breath diving,

you are at a school, the trainees usually hang out with each other, and talk diving, and diving, and more diving. Around you are other students, OW, advanced, they are also in the cafes close to the dive school reading their books before an exam.

Cons

1. stay at home and meet a few people from your home town and the occasional tourist.
2. stay at home and assist every weekend, but only if the weathers good.
3. three weeks later you are still on the same OW course finally finishing this weekend yeeha.
4. not all schools operate the same, researching the school and the area should be a must do.
5. stay at home and try and study for your IDC with lifes distractions.


this was a typical week for myself during my DM training.

Monday.........2 morning dives Advanced course Afternoon.....assisting Rescue
Tuesday..2 morning dives/advanced course Afternoon/assisting Rescue Evening Night Dive
Wednesday...Confined 1 & 2 Pool Afternoon assisting Rescue
Thursday......Confined 3 & 4 Afternoon assisting final day of rescue Evening Night dive assist
Friday..........OW Afternoon Mapping project Ist Dive Free dive 2nd dive
Saturday.......OW Afternoon Advanced two dives Evening Night dive assist
Sunday.........Confined 1 & 2 Afternoon DM Skill test

Now I did this for a period of nearly eight months. Sometimes I had to go for my visa run, and of course there was time out for my Idc and IE. During the period I was doing over 100dives a month. And the majority of that was spent either assisting or teaching.

So please, before people want to put down Zero to Hero courses reflect on this timetable,
You eat sleep and breath diving,
at lunch you at talking about a course, answering a question, or asking one, all about diving.
At night you might be taking a bit of beer but you are still talking about diving.
It is all learning.

I am convinced some people just put it down cause they think you have to spend a whole year getting up 100 dives to have more experience, it doesn't make sense.
Yes I will agree that the training is done on a limited number of sites, roughly 15 where I was,
but knowing those sites well allowed for greater demonstration of my guiding skills.

I would encourage the OP to research his prospects well. Find out what you are not paying for, ie extra costs, is there a time limit, exactly what do you get for your money.
Weigh up adverse comments regarding the school with good ones.
If you are someone who lives normally in a colder than tropical climate, then try to ensure you are getting use to a different enviroment when you go home.

 

[Herk_Man]

You know, I put my scuba experiences and my outlook on scuba in context a lot of the time by comparing it to my experiences as an aviator. I've been flying aircraft for longer than I've been driving cars (My dad had to drive me to the airport the day I got my pilot's license. He said it was very weird when I promptly turned around after getting signed off and took him flying.)

When I went through military pilot training I graduated high in my class and for doing so, I was "rewarded" by "getting to" remain at pilot training as a first assignment instructor pilot. So I went from being the greenhorn in the front seat of a supersonic jet learning how to fly, to the hotshot in the backseat of a supersonic jet teaching some greenhorn how not to kill himself (or me.)

Comparatively speaking, scuba is a much simpler skill than flying formation aerobatics 36 inches off the wing of another aircraft at 300kts.

So, can you go from zero to hero? Yes. Can everyone do it? No. There are a ton of factors involved here. The quality of instruction you receive, your ability to master skills and more importantly understand what it took to master them, your ability to understand the physics involved in scuba at a master's level, and MOST importantly, your ability to relate to people that are apprehensive about being someplace that is totally foreign to land dwelling creatures, and teach them well enough to dive that they become competent in a VERY short period of time.

So I say all that to say this. If you think you are the kind of person that can do all that, then you might start down that road. BUT (and that's a big but) you must also go down that path with an objective and self-critical eye that monitors your progress and honestly ascertains whether you are truly ready to be The Man when your first student sits down in front of you with big eyes, unfounded trust, and quickened pulse and says, "I want to dive."

If you don't master the ability to critique yourself and make the call to become an instructor only when you are truly ready (not when someone you are paying for training tells you you are ready) the consequences will overwhelm you so quickly, it could quite possibly run you out of diving all-together.

I wish you all the best on this decision and envy the opportunity you have in front of you.

 

[String]

Zero to Hero.

Trains divers "competent" to dive in the one small area they've trained in on the dive sites they know, in the same conditions they've trained in and only with the type of divers that centre gets using the procedures of that 1 dive centre.

It produces extremely limited candidates lacking in any real world experience.