What is a Professional

Great food for thought, Joseph. Too many of our profession don't give enough thought to the consequence of their overall attitude toward the betterment of ourselves as professionals. An association of professionals isn't something you join. It's something you choose to become.

JBS

Excellent post Ralph. I always enjoy Paiva's articles.

> Great food for thought, Joseph. Too many of our profession don't give enough thought to the consequence of their overall attitude toward the betterment of ourselves as professionals. An association of professionals isn't something you join. It's something you choose to become.
>
> JBS

Hi JB,
Great to hear from you, I hope you are disseminating the kind of educational/thought provoking concepts you used to on the other forums. You were far better than any class I ever attended. I'm sure Joe had guys like you in mind when he formulated his model.
Thanks for being you,
Ralph

> Excellent post Ralph. I always enjoy Paiva's articles.

Thank You Kevin

As a noun the word is defined to be a person who belongs to one of the professions, especially one of the learned professions. The word profession dates from around 1200 meaning to declare openly; announce or affirm; avow or acknowledge and from around 1300 in particular the taking of religious vows. Around 1700 the notion of a professor (one who teaches by professing or through his act of profession) comes around. THAT is the correct interpretation of what we claim to do when we speak of or claim to be professional!

Around the turn of the 20th century with the advent of the modern Olympic games there was a desire to limit the competition of the games to those who competed out of a love (amore) of the sport and who didn't gain an unfair advantage by being paid to develop their game. In seeking a term to apply to the disallowed, the unfortunate choice was "professional" thereby adding yet another meaning to the word - one who practices something as a means of livelihood or for gain.

Two unfortunate terms: the "modern" definition of professional along with the contemporary, misappropriated use of the word "survey" have done possibly more harm to the dignity of what we do in the eyes of the general public than any other contributing factor.

JAC

Interesting insight.
Thanks Tony
Ralph

I was contacted by LinkedIn to take what they called a "survey" regarding my recent experience contacting LinkedIn Support. One of the questions was to be answered by writing in a blank field. Here is what I wrote:

1. LinkedIn has great potential.Responsiveness to simple, obvious mistakes should be taken seriously and more of that potential will be realized. Laura seemed, by her response, to understand my problem and may be able to effect the simple request that would solve it. Time will tell.

2. This exercise is a "poll". It is NOT a "survey". A survey has access to all the population of data from which a representation may be INTERPOLATED. A poll samples a relatively small portion of the population of the data in hopes a fair representation may be EXTRAPOLATED.

3. For a year now, I and many other surveyors have been asking for a proper category (LinkedIn called it an industry) with which to describe our occupations. In every case the response has been (or felt) robotic and off the shelf - use another function or form or webpage or submit a suggestion. Surveying is arguably the oldest of the learned professions and isn't represented in LinkedIn's choices. Then there are the constant suggestions to upgrade and pay for a service that doesn't serve. Frustrating is too mild a word for the feelings this generates.

JAC