Professionalism

8th Light Apprenticeship - Day 16

Raise your hand if you consider yourself a professional. Not a single person raised their hand.

Suprised we asked why.

A lot of the class are recent graduates so they gave reasons along the lines of being inexperienced, and not having responsability for anything yet. I understood their explanation. What I found most strange was the few experienced participants also didn’t class themselves as professionals.

They mentioned a few reasons along the lines of being new to the current role.

I believe that professionalism goes beyond how many days you have been in a role. To me it starts on day 1 when you arrive, even before, when you interview. Professionalism goes beyond what you deliver (although it plays a big part). The approach, attitude and behaviour you exhibit all count.

I’m proud to call myself a professional even though I’ve been working at 8th Light for less than a month, even if I have written no production code for them yet, even though I’m not yet a craftsman.