instructor ssi vs padi

Question
Is there a major difference between padi and ssi instructor courses. My husband and I have done all of our training so far through ssi and he is looking at diving for a career. It seems padi is more reconized at most places. Do you have any suggestions on going through padi or ssi instructor courses?

Answer
Hi April,

Thanks for an interesting question.  You said your husband is looking at diving for a career.  I'm going to assume that he's looking at teaching diving for a career rather than working in the commercial diving field.

After almost 50 years of teaching, I'm convinced that success as a diving instructor comes from the individual attributes of the instructor as a person rather than his credentials.  If the instructor truly loves to teach, then he is much more likely to find success because he will be more attuned to the needs of his students and respond to them in a way that instills confidence in the student.  Having been through some courses yourself, I think you can see what I mean.  Did your instructor instill confidence in you?  Was he able to help you work through any problems you encountered during your courses?  If you had a choice, would you go back to him for further training?  If the answers are "yes" then you had a good instructor.

The fact that your instructor was associated with SSI really has no bearing on the quality of the instruction you received.  If he had been associated with PADI, the outcome would have been the same.  So...from the standpoint of your education, it really makes no difference.

However from a name recognition perspective, it may make a difference.  Let's say you have two candidates for a corporate job.  One is a Harvard graduate and the other is from a small college you've never heard of.  At first glance, you will probably assume that the Harvard graduate is more qualified simply because he comes from a well-known school.  That may not be the case but name-recognition sells in this day and age.

PADI has name recognition (as you pointed out) so having PADI credentials will probably get you through the door faster than credentials from SSI.  I know SSI instructors will disagree with me on this but the fact is that PADI is a much larger organization, has much better name recognition and is well represented in every country in the world where diving is practiced.  They are the "gold standard".  That does not mean that they are necessarily better instructors.  PADI just does a great job of self-promoting and you've seen the results yourself.  Are they "better"?  No.  Are they perceived as "better"?  Yes.

One final thought...most training organizations offer an instructor crossover program where instructors from one organization can receive credentials to teach in another organization simply by making application and paying some sort of crossover fee.  So...even the training organizations themselves recognize that the training in these various organizations is fairly equivalent and the title is just window dressing.

So if you have access to a PADI instructor course, I would consider switching over just because of the name recognition and not because of the training you'll receive.

April, I hope this gives you the information you need to make an informed choice.

Best wishes for a successful career for you and your husband!!

Mike Giles
Mike's Dive Center
mikescuba.com