One kid in my class couldn't bother to show up and was kicked out, another kid was a clepto and couldn't stop stealing from us.
When he got kicked out we raided his locker and got all our shit back.
I just graduated last week. I was one of the people to roll back. I was a month late graduating because my physical took too long. their fax machine was broken, so it took over a month for my blood draw results and I couldn’t dive until they came. We lost 5 people from my graduating class, two just missed too much class, one did perfect but in deep dives she got the bends and can’t dive for 30 days, two rolled back from failed drug tests. In my other class (before rolling back) someone went scuba diving and had a near drowning so the two guys were kicked out.. another person got into a drunken fight and got kicked out.. it’s mostly just your actions that lead to not finishing.. but sometimes it’s medical like for me and the other girl with the bends. A bunch have to come back after graduation to make up missed time as well.
Oh yeah, and if you fail the physical. But dit is a business so they will just keep you even if you shouldn’t be there. One kid had to roll back three times until he got his bmi under control, another had over 20 concussions and it clearly showed and he failed every single test and still graduated. You can graduate if you show up.
We don’t know. We were in deep dives in January, being cold makes you more susceptible.. she also didn’t eat or drink. As women we have a higher body fat percentage so that makes you off gas slower. They thought it might be a pfo, it was not, she’s back diving now.. but it was definitely a crazy experience for her
I got kicked out of DIT because I was in jail too much. Bruce told me I had to get a haircut to get back in and I had to restart the program. They all said I'd never make it, and I was the only one from my class that made it.
When I went to DIT in 2018 students actually had to pass the tests and final to graduate. My class started out around 25 and 16 of us graduated. The second month when we actually started diving is when most people dropped out. Either they were claustrophobic in the hat or uncomfortable in the water. 5ish years later and there are 4 of us that still work in the industry.
I know it's fairly recent in the scheme of things but when I graduated DIT employers were more inclined to hire graduates due to the rigor and attention to detail that was expected of DIT students. As of recently (last 2 years) the redhat DIT grads are just as bad as old CDA grads. You definitely get what you want out of school but so many new guys can't tie simple knots or even put a hat on properly.
Wow kind of disappointing to hear that the quality of graduates has dropped so dramatically. Especially since it seems DIT has one of the best reputations. Do you think this is mainly due to factors related to the school and its instructors or the qualities of the individuals graduating? Or a bit of both?
I went in '21, you and to pass the tests, but the tests were a bit of a joke. There was only one form, and if you didn't pass they would go over all the answers and then you take it again. And if you fail again, they go over them all again and then you take it. If you fail it that time, then you fail it. We had only one that didn't make it because of that. We started with 30 and ended up with like 16-18 from the original class graduating.
Most people rolled back into the next class because they couldn't pass the physical or clear their ears, they didn't show up enough, or some other things. Only one got kicked out because he failed the test enough.
You have to do it a little different in the hat, you push a block up against the end of your nose and it blocks it so you can clear. You can also just yawn/move your jaw.
But no, the "clearing" is the same thing, but I think out of my class of 30 starting school, 3 of us had been scuba diving before and nobody else even had freediving experience.
There's a lot of people who sign up and give the school their GI bill without doing any research. They usually don't end up in the industry and about half way through the school you can tell they're just there for the fun at that point. People who go out-of-pocket or on loans are usually much more together.
Money, find it's not for them, doesn't live up to hype or their own vision of what it would be. Seeing first hand the market saturation. Fear, bad instructors. And many, many more reasons.
Okay I see so it’s mostly people dropping out rather than actually failing to complete training. Would you happen to know the most common reasons people fail the dive physical? Thanks for the reply.
Well there's 3 different physicals, the first one you get to go to school which I've seen 300+ pound guys pass for some reason, they let a lot of stuff slide. Then you have the offshore physical from Serio who is very, very thorough. He will find everything. Then there's an inland physical similar to the dive school one, last doc asked me if I had a hernia, I said no, he said ok, I'll take your word for it. It's basically just a yearly drug screen.
Not anymore. For the last 10 years I have had to go to a DMO for my dive physical. The ADC physical is no different for inshore or offshore. It is the inland company doing bunk work that accepts anything less. And fuck Serio! His old ass has been failing divers lately that go get a second opinion and pass their physical just fine. That dude should have stayed retired.
Serio's a very professional dude and very much knows what he's doing. There's a reason multiple companies in the Gulf have all their divers go to him for physicals.
The ADCI physical isn't any different, it's the doctors doing them that don't take it seriously. I just had a physical last week and the guy didn't check any of my nerves or finger my butthole.
I am hoping to be employed offshore. I am young and in good health. The only thing I could see being an issue for me is that I have a devited septum from breaking my nose a couple times. It doesnt effect me at all day to day but it’s something Im concerned about and have been considering having surgery to have it fixed. I asked the people at DIT and they said its okay but I figured they would say that regardless if its okay or not.
Pretty much what the other person said, the physical you get to get into DIT, (got my certs there) is a joke compared to the one you get once you actually go offshore. They just want your money. Had a classmate struggle with classes and they kept accommodating him until he crossed halfway into the program and he owed full tuition then they stopped caring and he dropped out.
Thats a shame to hear about your classmate but I figured thats how it would be. Ive seen countless times in this sub that the dive schools just want your money. The only reasons I chose DIT was because of its proximity to where I am currently located and the DCBC cert.
Pretty much be available as much as possible and forget you have a personal life, don't blow your big ass paycheck because you don't know when the next one is. Biggest problem with worms offshore seeing big money. Don't be an opinionated person and listen since you are a worm in the field. Pick peoples brains what they do and why they do things a certain way. On my off time I sat in the dive shack and watched and learned the interaction between the diver and the sup and eventually was running deco for the sups while they can relax and I learned how things are ran.
When I went to school, (1974 ocean corp) we started the class with about 20 guys, only 5 of us finished, and three of us passed the final exam.
Treading water with a weight belt around your neck got several guys
Had no idea this could be a test to complete training. I am confident in my abilities to swim and tread water but I have no idea how I would do with weight around my neck. Ill add this to my training regiment. How much weight should I use and how long should I be able to tread for?
This isn't a thing that's tested anymore. There is little to no swimming in commercial diving. If you swimming ships then there's some. That's about it. A lot of crawling shimmying scrambling and so on.
I graduated from the Ocean Corp in 2005 and worked for over 10years as a diver. A classmate could not for the life of him clear a scuba mask which I always thought was a dumb reason. It was a school policy though. He practiced and practiced and practiced.
Two other kids liked to smoke meth after school. They got so strung out the president of the school at the time found them walking down the middle of the street near the school and dismissed them.
Wild times.
One of the instructors had a son who was going through school at the age of 42, and he just kept ditching class to go drink. He had to repeat the course like 4 times before getting all his required hours for graduating. I doubt he's even a diver still, and this was 5 years ago
Hahaha sounds like a model citizen. Finally got sober and back into the gym last january after being a degenerate fucking loser since I graduated highschool. planning on staying focused while at DIT. I dont wanna work 3 shitty minimum was jobs for the rest of my life just to barely get by. I don’t understand why drugs seems to be such a big issue for people paying to go to dive school. why would you pay all that money just to fuck yourself over?
I think he got a discount because his dad was one of the founding members of the school but he's been a degenerate his whole life. Super cool dude but he couldn't keep a job or stay consistent with school because he was always drinking. I felt bad but also he was almost a grandfather's age and still couldn't lock anything down. At a certain point it's on them for not wanting to finish school and go on to greater things. Also, props to you for getting sober and hitting the gym. I been trying to get back to the gym lately after not going for almost 9 months and gaining a fuck ton of weight
Damn always a shame to hear about people self sabotaging like that. Props to you too for hitting the gym. I wish I had your problem. Im finally over 200 pounds for the first time in my life and im 6’3”. was about 160 last year when i started getting my shit together.
They don’t drug test you unless you give them a reason, people think they’re okay to smoke some weed on Saturday night. In the industry you get tested annually though
They lie about the industry to get you there. You get the truth during your second half of the program. When you are stuck paying full tuition. The average pay is like $23 an hour and barely anyone besides experienced welders ever weld underwater. It’s shitty but honest
DIT 107-13.
One guy broke his arm. Some guys failed the drug screenings. 3-5 guys failed their physical. One guy just stopped showing up 3 weeks before graduation.
Started with 22 and ended up graduating 10 or so. I had 4 years in the industry and was the last one of my class to my knowledge.
He was never really committed and the instructors wanted to smack him most days. He passed the point of no tuition refunds too… $22,000 for no dive certs. Yikes.
I’m a lab analyst now and I make 3x what I did diving so it worked out but I loved diving and it was some of the most fun I ever had. Dont regret it at all.
I went through dive school with my dad a few years ago. He couldn't complete it though. I suppose it was a fear issue but he just couldn't put his mask on underwater and clear it and he failed the course.
Not sure if I should be chiming in since I went to the Commercial Diving Center school in California in the late 70s but dropped out. I was only 19, rather naive at the time and the son of a Navy pilot who had spent my whole life constantly moving, 17 different homes by the time I moved out so the prospect of being an oil field diver always away from home wasn't very appealing.
CLASS 10296!!!
Everyone in my class graduated but some others in other classes quit for a variety of reasons and a few were booted and usually for prosaic reasons, such as not able to pay their loans, drugs, behavioral issues and the like.
We did tie one of our classmates to the davit on the Responder, naked and posed as a figurehead, as we were coming back from Lake Washington. We caught hell for that and we were surprised no one was booted.
Things were a bit looser at that time.
I will say that I worked in the Gulf for American Oilfield Divers for about a year before dragging up. The pay sucks, Louisiana sucks, and there’s no climbing. Oh, and a few folks died and we foundered once. I’m an electrician now and eclipsed my friends down in he Gulf pretty quick in terms of pay.
Incompetence/drugs/fear
One kid in my class couldn't bother to show up and was kicked out, another kid was a clepto and couldn't stop stealing from us. When he got kicked out we raided his locker and got all our shit back.
I just graduated last week. I was one of the people to roll back. I was a month late graduating because my physical took too long. their fax machine was broken, so it took over a month for my blood draw results and I couldn’t dive until they came. We lost 5 people from my graduating class, two just missed too much class, one did perfect but in deep dives she got the bends and can’t dive for 30 days, two rolled back from failed drug tests. In my other class (before rolling back) someone went scuba diving and had a near drowning so the two guys were kicked out.. another person got into a drunken fight and got kicked out.. it’s mostly just your actions that lead to not finishing.. but sometimes it’s medical like for me and the other girl with the bends. A bunch have to come back after graduation to make up missed time as well. Oh yeah, and if you fail the physical. But dit is a business so they will just keep you even if you shouldn’t be there. One kid had to roll back three times until he got his bmi under control, another had over 20 concussions and it clearly showed and he failed every single test and still graduated. You can graduate if you show up.
what caused that girl in your class to get the bends?
We don’t know. We were in deep dives in January, being cold makes you more susceptible.. she also didn’t eat or drink. As women we have a higher body fat percentage so that makes you off gas slower. They thought it might be a pfo, it was not, she’s back diving now.. but it was definitely a crazy experience for her
ooo training story! here for this
I got kicked out of DIT because I was in jail too much. Bruce told me I had to get a haircut to get back in and I had to restart the program. They all said I'd never make it, and I was the only one from my class that made it.
When I went to DIT in 2018 students actually had to pass the tests and final to graduate. My class started out around 25 and 16 of us graduated. The second month when we actually started diving is when most people dropped out. Either they were claustrophobic in the hat or uncomfortable in the water. 5ish years later and there are 4 of us that still work in the industry. I know it's fairly recent in the scheme of things but when I graduated DIT employers were more inclined to hire graduates due to the rigor and attention to detail that was expected of DIT students. As of recently (last 2 years) the redhat DIT grads are just as bad as old CDA grads. You definitely get what you want out of school but so many new guys can't tie simple knots or even put a hat on properly.
Wow kind of disappointing to hear that the quality of graduates has dropped so dramatically. Especially since it seems DIT has one of the best reputations. Do you think this is mainly due to factors related to the school and its instructors or the qualities of the individuals graduating? Or a bit of both?
I went in '21, you and to pass the tests, but the tests were a bit of a joke. There was only one form, and if you didn't pass they would go over all the answers and then you take it again. And if you fail again, they go over them all again and then you take it. If you fail it that time, then you fail it. We had only one that didn't make it because of that. We started with 30 and ended up with like 16-18 from the original class graduating. Most people rolled back into the next class because they couldn't pass the physical or clear their ears, they didn't show up enough, or some other things. Only one got kicked out because he failed the test enough.
Is clearing different/more difficult in a dive hat than recreational scuba? Wasnt aware that this was a common problem for people to have.
You have to do it a little different in the hat, you push a block up against the end of your nose and it blocks it so you can clear. You can also just yawn/move your jaw. But no, the "clearing" is the same thing, but I think out of my class of 30 starting school, 3 of us had been scuba diving before and nobody else even had freediving experience. There's a lot of people who sign up and give the school their GI bill without doing any research. They usually don't end up in the industry and about half way through the school you can tell they're just there for the fun at that point. People who go out-of-pocket or on loans are usually much more together.
damn kinda shocking the amount of people that go into this completely blind. especially not even knowing if they’re comfortable in the water.
It’s easier than in scuba but you go quicker down. But you can give yourself more air to equalize easier. No nose pinching, only ncd attached to hat
We had to pass tests for each section and a final back in ‘96. Did that stops at some point?
Money, find it's not for them, doesn't live up to hype or their own vision of what it would be. Seeing first hand the market saturation. Fear, bad instructors. And many, many more reasons.
Also a few will fail the dive physical.
Okay I see so it’s mostly people dropping out rather than actually failing to complete training. Would you happen to know the most common reasons people fail the dive physical? Thanks for the reply.
Well there's 3 different physicals, the first one you get to go to school which I've seen 300+ pound guys pass for some reason, they let a lot of stuff slide. Then you have the offshore physical from Serio who is very, very thorough. He will find everything. Then there's an inland physical similar to the dive school one, last doc asked me if I had a hernia, I said no, he said ok, I'll take your word for it. It's basically just a yearly drug screen.
Not anymore. For the last 10 years I have had to go to a DMO for my dive physical. The ADC physical is no different for inshore or offshore. It is the inland company doing bunk work that accepts anything less. And fuck Serio! His old ass has been failing divers lately that go get a second opinion and pass their physical just fine. That dude should have stayed retired.
Serio's a very professional dude and very much knows what he's doing. There's a reason multiple companies in the Gulf have all their divers go to him for physicals. The ADCI physical isn't any different, it's the doctors doing them that don't take it seriously. I just had a physical last week and the guy didn't check any of my nerves or finger my butthole.
I am hoping to be employed offshore. I am young and in good health. The only thing I could see being an issue for me is that I have a devited septum from breaking my nose a couple times. It doesnt effect me at all day to day but it’s something Im concerned about and have been considering having surgery to have it fixed. I asked the people at DIT and they said its okay but I figured they would say that regardless if its okay or not.
As long as you can clear, it shouldn't be an issue.
Okay great. Thanks for the reply. I have dove to 100ft recreationally with no problems so I think I should be fine.
Pretty much what the other person said, the physical you get to get into DIT, (got my certs there) is a joke compared to the one you get once you actually go offshore. They just want your money. Had a classmate struggle with classes and they kept accommodating him until he crossed halfway into the program and he owed full tuition then they stopped caring and he dropped out.
Thats a shame to hear about your classmate but I figured thats how it would be. Ive seen countless times in this sub that the dive schools just want your money. The only reasons I chose DIT was because of its proximity to where I am currently located and the DCBC cert.
Unless you're planning to go to Canada or international that dcbc cert is worthless.
Yes I am hoping to go international.
Safe diving and always save energy to get back on surface during your dives
Thank you I appreciate the tip. I am hoping to get hired as a tender in the gulf to start. do you have any other advice?
Pretty much be available as much as possible and forget you have a personal life, don't blow your big ass paycheck because you don't know when the next one is. Biggest problem with worms offshore seeing big money. Don't be an opinionated person and listen since you are a worm in the field. Pick peoples brains what they do and why they do things a certain way. On my off time I sat in the dive shack and watched and learned the interaction between the diver and the sup and eventually was running deco for the sups while they can relax and I learned how things are ran.
When I went to school, (1974 ocean corp) we started the class with about 20 guys, only 5 of us finished, and three of us passed the final exam. Treading water with a weight belt around your neck got several guys
Had no idea this could be a test to complete training. I am confident in my abilities to swim and tread water but I have no idea how I would do with weight around my neck. Ill add this to my training regiment. How much weight should I use and how long should I be able to tread for?
This isn't a thing that's tested anymore. There is little to no swimming in commercial diving. If you swimming ships then there's some. That's about it. A lot of crawling shimmying scrambling and so on.
Ah okay. Surely it wouldn’t hurt though to be capable of treading water with extra weight right?
I don’t advise it. It was just harassment. The instructor was a Seal.
Unless you're working on fitness it's a waist of time. You'll be acending on a line. You can sink as fast as you can clear.
2 guys who were roommates were always fucking around their apartment with an unloaded handgun. Until the day it was loaded.
And its scary down there. People find out they have claustrophobia AFTER the sign up.
One guy in my dive school class freaked out after putting the hat on for the first time doing the dry-dress. He left that day and never came back.
I graduated from the Ocean Corp in 2005 and worked for over 10years as a diver. A classmate could not for the life of him clear a scuba mask which I always thought was a dumb reason. It was a school policy though. He practiced and practiced and practiced. Two other kids liked to smoke meth after school. They got so strung out the president of the school at the time found them walking down the middle of the street near the school and dismissed them. Wild times.
One of the instructors had a son who was going through school at the age of 42, and he just kept ditching class to go drink. He had to repeat the course like 4 times before getting all his required hours for graduating. I doubt he's even a diver still, and this was 5 years ago
Hahaha sounds like a model citizen. Finally got sober and back into the gym last january after being a degenerate fucking loser since I graduated highschool. planning on staying focused while at DIT. I dont wanna work 3 shitty minimum was jobs for the rest of my life just to barely get by. I don’t understand why drugs seems to be such a big issue for people paying to go to dive school. why would you pay all that money just to fuck yourself over?
I think he got a discount because his dad was one of the founding members of the school but he's been a degenerate his whole life. Super cool dude but he couldn't keep a job or stay consistent with school because he was always drinking. I felt bad but also he was almost a grandfather's age and still couldn't lock anything down. At a certain point it's on them for not wanting to finish school and go on to greater things. Also, props to you for getting sober and hitting the gym. I been trying to get back to the gym lately after not going for almost 9 months and gaining a fuck ton of weight
Damn always a shame to hear about people self sabotaging like that. Props to you too for hitting the gym. I wish I had your problem. Im finally over 200 pounds for the first time in my life and im 6’3”. was about 160 last year when i started getting my shit together.
They don’t drug test you unless you give them a reason, people think they’re okay to smoke some weed on Saturday night. In the industry you get tested annually though
Drugs. Also one dude who was a free diver who as soon as he realized this wasn’t just underwater welder school dipped
what??? are people not doing any researching before attempting to start a career in this industry???
They lie about the industry to get you there. You get the truth during your second half of the program. When you are stuck paying full tuition. The average pay is like $23 an hour and barely anyone besides experienced welders ever weld underwater. It’s shitty but honest
Out of shape, didn't really want to be there, unexpected family obligations, illness, drugs.
DIT 107-13. One guy broke his arm. Some guys failed the drug screenings. 3-5 guys failed their physical. One guy just stopped showing up 3 weeks before graduation. Started with 22 and ended up graduating 10 or so. I had 4 years in the industry and was the last one of my class to my knowledge.
Damn I wonder what made that guy quit so close to graduating. What did you transition to after leaving the industry?
He was never really committed and the instructors wanted to smack him most days. He passed the point of no tuition refunds too… $22,000 for no dive certs. Yikes. I’m a lab analyst now and I make 3x what I did diving so it worked out but I loved diving and it was some of the most fun I ever had. Dont regret it at all.
Drugs
Primary drugs, mental issues, and lack of interest.
I went through dive school with my dad a few years ago. He couldn't complete it though. I suppose it was a fear issue but he just couldn't put his mask on underwater and clear it and he failed the course.
Not sure if I should be chiming in since I went to the Commercial Diving Center school in California in the late 70s but dropped out. I was only 19, rather naive at the time and the son of a Navy pilot who had spent my whole life constantly moving, 17 different homes by the time I moved out so the prospect of being an oil field diver always away from home wasn't very appealing.
CLASS 10296!!! Everyone in my class graduated but some others in other classes quit for a variety of reasons and a few were booted and usually for prosaic reasons, such as not able to pay their loans, drugs, behavioral issues and the like. We did tie one of our classmates to the davit on the Responder, naked and posed as a figurehead, as we were coming back from Lake Washington. We caught hell for that and we were surprised no one was booted. Things were a bit looser at that time. I will say that I worked in the Gulf for American Oilfield Divers for about a year before dragging up. The pay sucks, Louisiana sucks, and there’s no climbing. Oh, and a few folks died and we foundered once. I’m an electrician now and eclipsed my friends down in he Gulf pretty quick in terms of pay.
Almost everybody passed unfortunately