What is a professional

[karlbstd]

Professional Services a tag I see very often in the world of Model railways, “Professional Re sprays” “professional DCC services” Professional Layout Builder” what constitutes a So called Priofesional? 
Is it merely because they charge for their services know a little bit about it?  or is their a governing organisation or professional body that these traders should belong? Guild of Master Craftsman, Chamber of commerce, NICEIC , FENSA, the NMRA as a railway example of governing body, I just find far to many people use the term but have nothing to support the word and have no qualifications in the subject matter, if dealing with Electricity as an example are certain So called professionals crossing a Line which can impact on safety? Repairing transformers wiring a DCC chip into a loco, building a layout, are you now in the realms of PAT testing 17 th Edition electrical regs??? 

[Oldddudders]

It's a market place. If people make a living from an activity, they may call themselves Pros. Mainly harmless.

[Hroth]

Professional:  Someone who charges for their services and (often, in the main) knows more than you do.

[Barry O]

Professional... someone who knows what they do and have insurance just in case things go wrong ( and it isn't  cheap!)

Baz

[spikey]

1 hour ago, karlbstd said:

 ... what constitutes a So called Priofesional? Is it merely because they charge for their services know a little bit about it? ...

 

In many cases, yes.  For the last 11 years of my working life, I was a professional wedding photographer in the sense that I made my living from it, was a "qualified" member of two recognised "professional" organisations, was VAT registered and was appropriately insured.  Many wedding photographers are "professional" in the sense that they have a lot of expensive kit.  Some are "semi-professional", meaning they have a decent camera (but not the essential backup camera!) and their mate liked the snaps they took of his wedding.

 

It's like the term "Specialist".  There's a builder round here who according to the back of his van specialises in roofing and chimney repairs, patios, garden walls and all general building ...

[Kylestrome]

I'd love to know what "qualifications" you need to become a professional railway modeller. 

Edited March 26, 2020 by Kylestrome

[queensquare]

I earn a modest living building models for people and have plenty of qualifications but none relate directly to what I now do! I class myself as a professional because I charge for my services and support that claim with examples of my work and references if required. I've never advertised, all my work so far has been via word of mouth. In the grand scheme of things its a small hobby and anyone offering their services who doesnt deliver what they promise is soon found out.

 

Jerry

[Kylestrome]

9 hours ago, Lantavian said:

Professional means nothing now other than "I don't consider myself an amateur because I charge money for what I do"

 

A sad decline.

 

Do you have a suitable alternative word to describe someone who makes money from what they do?

 

Here are some to choose from, courtesy of Thesaurus:

competent, efficient, experienced, licensed, qualified, skillful, ace, adept, crackerjack, expert, sharp, slick, there, able, acknowledged, finished, knowing one's stuff, known, learned, on the ball, polished, practiced, proficient, up to speed, well-qualified.

 

I rather like "crackerjack", myself.

 

David

Edited March 26, 2020 by Kylestrome

[tomparryharry]

WHAT!!!!!

 

I thought EVERYONE on here was a professional!

 

Well. I'll go to the foot of our stairs.....

 

The invoice is in the post, BTW.......

[Joseph_Pestell]

2 minutes ago, Kylestrome said:

 

Do you have a suitable alternative word to describe someone who makes money from what they do?

Artisan

[Joseph_Pestell]

34 minutes ago, Kylestrome said:

I'd love to know what "qualifications" you need to become a professional railway modeller. 

 

Under current Govt policy, we could probably set up an expensive training institute, or even a University, and develop a qualification. There would also have to be numerous competing certification schemes all charging practitioners a fortune.

[Titan]

1 hour ago, Kylestrome said:

 

Do you have a suitable alternative word to describe someone who makes money from what they do?

 

Here are some to choose from, courtesy of Thesuarus:

competent, efficient, experienced, licensed, qualified, skillful, ace, adept, crackerjack, expert, sharp, slick, there, able, acknowledged, finished, knowing one's stuff, known, learned, on the ball, polished, practiced, proficient, up to speed, well-qualified.

 

I rather like "crackerjack", myself.

 

David

 

Altogether now, "CRACKERJACK!!!!"

[Hroth]

47 minutes ago, Titan said:

Altogether now, "CRACKERJACK!!!!"

 

Just so long as I get a pencil!

[Hroth]

3 hours ago, spikey said:

It's like the term "Specialist".  There's a builder round here who according to the back of his van specialises in roofing and chimney repairs, patios, garden walls and all general building ...

 

The Specialist has a long and honoured history...

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Specialist-Charles-Sale/dp/0285632264

 

 

[Barry O]

To be a Professional Engineer, at the time I qualified, meant gaining an approved Engineering Degree with Honours, up to 5 years of work experience ( with a detailed resume showing promotions, business management positions and progression) and a 2 hour interview.  Nowadays an MSc is a good start.

 

Baz

 

 

[62613]

7 hours ago, Lantavian said:

 

Worker

Employee

Self-employed.

Wage slave :-)

 

Only the third is 'professional' in the sense we're talking, though, having an income stream not at the beck and call of someone else. You have a choice of how you earn your money.

 

[PaulRhB]

The US NMRA Master Model Railroader scheme always strikes me as a little showing off like the competition side of model engineering and military modelling. I appreciate the excuse to have a show to display them but as others have said previous results speak more than any paper certificates in this hobby. Professional is a useful tag to tell people you do it as a service but I’d still want to see the previous work as like art the style and mediums of expertise are equally important to me.

We certainly don’t need qualifications and certifications adding as they just add cost and apart from telling people not to stick it in their mouth how dangerous are they?  Pat testing etc is for mains voltage and any of us can wire up low voltage lights at home and power feeds to track without certificates as they are accepted as not dangerous in law. Half the layouts on the circuit would be banned if they restricted that  

Edited March 26, 2020 by PaulRhB

[Philou]

In my profession, seemingly I always dropped the cabbage .

 

 

[The Johnster]

7 hours ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

Artisan

God no, please!  Artisan has become debased by usage to mean 'intended to impress the more gullible members of the middle classes', along with 'craft ale' and 'microbrewery' to get them to drink stuff I wouldn't feed as swill to pigs, for a laugh.

 

There was a time when the word 'professional' had a specific meaning and a legal consequence, and one was therefore not allowed to use it inappropriately.  A professional was a member of a recognised professional association, which represented the interests of that profession and required a set standard of proficiency, usually but not always a university degree or doctorate, before applicants could be members of it.  Practicing as a professional without being a member of the association was regarded as falsely claiming yourself to be such a professional, and illegal, especially if you charged for your services.  And of course to practice another profession you had to become a member of that association; you couldn't claim that you were a professional just because you were a doctor and were acting as an engineer, you had to say what sort of professional you were 'I am a professional teacher' or 'I am a professional nurse', though in the case of medical doctors it was generally assumed.

 

Similarly, there was a precise and defined meaning to the word 'Tradesman' (we'll assume for now that 'man' means person and that 'person' is inclusive of 'woman' for the purposes of this screed.  Women have been admitted to the Brotherhood of Man, though not the band).  Words such as artisan or specialist have no real meaning, any more than saying that Bran Flakes are tasty, tasty, they're very tasty, which is merely an opinion and not an established or generally accepted fact.  

 

If I am a language pedant, this is one of the reasons.  Words, IMHO, should ideally be used as meaning something specific, or if you don't mean something specific different words should be used.  Frequent incorrect usage debases them and does not. IMHO, facilitate or encourage the development and evolution of a living language, rather it stifles it.   Some years ago, while volunteering on the Severn Valley, I was described by someone who knew of my time as a freight guard in the 70s as a 'professional railwayman'.  I was most flattered, but felt the need to correct him as I am not even a tradesperson as a railwayman or anything else (I do have a 'certificate. of competence', whatever that means, in fork lift truck handling but that's another story).  There is no qualification required to be a guard other than normal health, good eyesight and colour definition, and the ability to pass out on rules and regs to the satisfaction of an inspector whose job it is to see that you are competent in his opinion.  I did say that I liked to think I have a professional attitude to running trains, but that is a different thing; I'd contend that it's a correct use of the term because I am not claiming to actually be a professional anything.  I'm not a professional anything.

 

I react like this when somebody describes me as a gentleman.  I'm not a gentleman; a gentleman is a person who owns property but holds no other rank in a feudal society (which this is to some extent in that some of the ranks still exist), and neither do I own property or do I hold any  rank in society.  If you want to describe me in one of these feudal terms, I am probably a villein, and some would say a villain.  I rent my home.  But I'd like to think I behave in a gentlemanly manner, mostly anyway.

 

On this site, we behave in a gentlemanly manner by and large, though some of us are not gentlemen and some that are gentlemen do not behave in a gentlemanly manner.  I have no objection to the use of the word as a courtesy title, but I feel odd being described as one when I know I'm not.  My term of address to a group of people, even ones I know, is, by default, 'Ladies and gentlemen', even when I know none of them are!

[PaulRhB]

Hmmm but the very pedantry nature of definition gets muddied by the evolution of language. Many words had different popular meanings 50-100 years ago, so where do you draw the line?  

Collins includes a much wider definition these days including your definition. 
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/professional

 

I think the most important thing is to illustrate by photos, examples demonstrated, videos or word of mouth from trusted sources, the persons competence. Certain names in the hobby have become as strong as brands like Hornby in defining quality workmanship once you’re ‘in the know’. 

 

I can think of several modellers whose work in magazines and now online has demonstrated their mastery of skills over years and several who offer those services for commission work on here. 

Professional isn’t a guarantee of quality and I’d expect anyone to have a portfolio of examples to share if offering their services. If not walk away like an employer would if the CV references didn’t match up to the claims  

[MarkC]

As has been said before, Titanic was designed, built and operated by professionals; the Ark was designed, built and operated by amateurs... 

[pH]

1 minute ago, MarkC said:

As has been said before, Titanic was designed, built and operated by professionals

 

But who built the iceberg?

[TheSignalEngineer]

A professional is someone who gets paid for doing something. Doesn't mean they are any good. Look at some of the well-paid footballers.

[rab]

13 minutes ago, pH said:

 

But who built the iceberg?

The most professional of all!

[Nearholmer]

The term only guarantees anything about the competence of the individual, as opposed to their source of income, if it is derived from a registration/licensing/certification system operated by a reputable standard-setting body.

 

In the UK, it can be more useful to look for the term ‘chartered’, because that does guarantee the foregoing (unless the person using the term is a liar); terms like Chartered Accountant and Chartered Engineer do carry real meaning.

 

List of professional bodies here https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_professional_associations_in_the_United_Kingdom

 

(and, to correct an impression given in a previous post, holding an MSc is nowhere near sufficient of itself to allow someone to become a Chartered Engineer.)

 

There are some astoundingly good model makers around, but I don’t think that any body exists that can award the status of Chartered Model Maker.

Edited March 26, 2020 by Nearholmer