What Makes You a Professional?
Rethinking what it means to be a professional
What makes someone a professional? Is it a degree, certification, title, or suit? Not quite. In today’s world, it’s time to rethink what truly defines a professional.
Rethinking the image of a professional
For more than a century, the word professional has brought to mind a clean-shaven man in a suit. But is this still true?
Try a quick experiment. Google the word professional and click the image tab. You’ll scroll through hundreds of images of men and a few women in suits before you find the first one of a sports professional. Currently, that person is a lone PGA golfer. Keep scrolling, and you’ll eventually spot someone in non-business attire.
Apparently, the visual stereotype of a professional has remained largely unchanged. These images remind me of the wise words of Henry Ward Beecher:
“Clothes and manners do not make the man; but when he is made, they greatly improve his appearance.” — Henry Ward Beecher
While that image of a professional persists, it has never fully captured the truth. Many of today’s professionals don’t wear suits or even much clothing at all. (No, not that profession!) Think of boxers, MMA fighters, runners, and swimmers, to name a few. Others wear uniforms, such as soldiers, firefighters, police officers, or those in sports like football, baseball, and basketball.
Clearly, a suit doesn’t define a professional. So what does?
Defining a professional
Let’s start with its definition from the Oxford Languages online dictionary:
Professional
1. a person engaged or qualified in a profession.
2. a person engaged in a specified activity, especially a sport or branch of the performing arts, as a main paid occupation rather than as a pastime.
3. a person competent or skilled in a particular activity.
Understanding what a professional is also involves knowing what it is not. Antonyms include: amateur, unskilled, rookie, green, incapable, inexperienced, incompetent, and inept.
An excellent video that expands on this perspective is Being A Professional: Dale Atkins at TEDxYouth@EHS. It’s worth a watch.
Professionals beyond the stereotype
Think about your own work. Are you in a recognized field? Most would call doctors, lawyers, engineers, and teachers professionals, especially those who require licensing, advanced education, or certification.
But what about nurses, EMTs, soldiers, photographers, and police officers? They’re professionals, too. Each role demands training, skill, dedication, and at times certifications.
Then there are actors, managers, waiters, politicians, and hundreds of others. Their paths often rely more on talent and experience than on formal education. Yet their professional standing is no less real.
“Politics is perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is thought necessary.” — Robert Louis Stevenson
Are you a professional?
If it’s not just education, certification, or wardrobe, what does make someone a professional?
At its core, it’s simple:
If you earn income from your work, you are a professional.
Unpaid work, however skilled, makes you an amateur or a volunteer. But if your work supports your livelihood, you’re a professional, even if it doesn’t involve a diploma or a desk.
While being a professional has often been associated with white-collar workers, it has never been limited to this group. Many in the trades, such as masons, carpenters, steelworkers, welders, and more, meet the definition of professional. And where do farmers fit? They are farming professionals.
“Farming is the riskiest profession in the world since the fate of the crop is closely linked to the behaviour of the [weather].” — M. S. Swaminathan
The part-time professional
Can you be a part-time professional? Absolutely.
If you earn even part of your income from working, you meet the definition. Today, it’s common to juggle multiple roles. Before I retired a second time, I worked as a consultant, certified coach, and author, three professions simultaneously, each part-time.
Being a professional isn’t about hours. It’s about value.
And speaking of part-time work, here’s a thought: some professions should be part-time, especially in politics. Sadly, we’ve created far too many full-time politicians. I believe every political office should have both term and income limits. If the presidency has them, why not every other elected office?
“Politics ought to be the part-time profession of every citizen who would protect the rights and privileges of free people and who would preserve what is good and fruitful in our national heritage.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower
Final thoughts
The bottom line is that most jobs are professions, and those who work in them are professionals. Every profession is necessary, or it wouldn’t exist.
No one is inherently “better” because of their profession. Sure, a lawyer may earn more than a carpenter, but that same carpenter may earn far more than the lawyer if they run a successful business. It all depends on how the profession is leveraged.
You are a professional, so take pride in it. Your profession provides your livelihood, expresses your abilities, and reflects your contribution to society.
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