Writing. I was a hobbyist writer until I started getting paid for it, then suddenly I was a professional. Checks make you change your entire thought process about the words you put down on paper. A hobbyist will frequently write things that are better writing than what I'll write, but they won't be good for publishing.Originally Posted by orionz06
Even though I get paid, I still consider myself a "hobby gun-writer". I always said I was a hobby gun-writer and professional LEO, while many gun-writers were hobby cops and professional gun-writers.
Just a Hairy Special Snowflake supply clerk with no field experience, shooting an Asymetric carbine as a Try Hard. Snarky and easily butt hurt. Favorite animal is the Cape Buffalo....likely indicative of a personality disorder.
"If I had a grandpa, he would look like Delbert Belton".
That's probably why nyeti's stuff is better than caleb's. <ducks>
The answer, it seems to me, is wrath. The mind cannot foresee its own advance. --FA Hayek Specialization is for insects.
I learned a long time ago that the only literary criticism that matters reads "pay to the order of."That's probably why nyeti's stuff is better than caleb's. <ducks>
Welding, the distinction between a hobbyist and professional, is huge and very black and white. The standard is very high, and the craziest part is that you can be a professional one day and one weld later a hobbyist.
FYI: This is in reference to jobs are based on nearly exclusively welding not other jobs that, include welding.
Which probably also typifies the difference between the pro and the hobbyist. Once the only thing that matters is the money it turns into not much more than a whoring situation.
After years and years on the interwebs I've watched multiple people unwittingly go through the transformation. Most don't even realize it.
Does the above offend? If you have paid to be here, you can click here to put it in context.
How so?
Think for yourself. Question authority.
Is it not possible to be both?
Using definitions from the 1828 Webster's definition and substituting amateur for its synonym hobbyist
AMATEU'R, n. [L. anator, a lover, from amo, to love.]
A person attached to a particular pursuit, study or science, as to music or painting; one who has a taste for the arts.
PROFES'SIONAL, a. Pertaining to a profession or to a calling; as professional studies, pursuits, duties,engagements; professional character or skill.
PROFES'SION, n. [L. professio.]
2. The business which one professes to understand and to follow for subsistence; calling; vocation; employment; as the learned professions. We speak of the profession of a clergyman, of a lawyer, and of a physician or surgeon; the profession of lecturer on chimistry or mineralogy. But the word is not applied to an occupation merely mechanical.
By these definitions one could be an amateur, a professional, or both. Certainly one who enjoys what he does for a living and seeks to be the best at it will be better than one who simply does enough to get by. If you are skilled in multiple areas and make better money in one than than you would be a "hobbyist" in that lesser paying skill, but that doesn't mean that you aren't good at it.
I once read a description of a pro golfer as being one who could contain his score while playing badly. In other words, consistency is a part of what separates pros from amateurs. To be able to perform at a good level while under a time constraint, even during a bad day.
A nonshooting example: Jeremy Clarkson is a fast driver with lots of experience driving some awesome cars... but as even he will admit, he can't produce consistent lap times on demand. So, they tamed a racing driver for that very purpose. Now some say he has hypnotic control over anyone named "Steve"... but all we know is he's called "the Stig"...
Welding in the genres that I am familiar with, including oil line, and major coal fired boilers, you have to certify to even be considered for the job. The certs are extensive very hard and the margin of error is little to none. As to my comments about the margin of being the professional in the field, almost all projects are on a contract basis (even the major ones), if they are inefficient or lack rough field work capabilities they will be removed and replaced because its easier to find a new welder then suffer the consequences later on of poor job performance. Welder are the king of the workers in the field, or so to speak, they have people who do every bit of prep work so that they just have to weld. Again this is in terms of welding in genres that I know, where standards are very high. This may even apply to people who work in fabrication shops and other industries that require welding, it would surprise me if other industries didn't have similar standards to that of boiler making and pipe welding. If you have any insights please give them if you will?
I guess the point to be made is that "professionals" are just people that work in a given profession, whether they are good or bad doesn't matter they are in the sense that I described, professionals. My point is there are people who are held to a coded standard and there the people who aren't. There are most certainly people who are better welders then the "pro's" that don't have the certifications, there for they will likely not work in that given profession.
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