Professional

From ArticleWorld

A Professional is an individual that does an activity to receive payment for an act, a profession. This activity requires extra training and special expertise. An expert is not necessarily a professional and a skilled construction worker, although commonly named as being a professional, is not so. This is considered to be a craft and some professions will require apprenticeship as a needed method of gaining the needed expertise to practice the job.

The term professional is seen as opposed to amateur. Even if an amateur can be as good as a trained individual this doe not give him the title of professional. This translates in the fact that a professional needs to overcome barrier and reach standards if he is to be considered so. Another difference stands in the fact that an amateur is usually not paid for his services while a professional is so and can even live off his profession, generating an income from it. A special status is given in sports and controversy circles the Olympic Games. Many people feel that professionals should not be allowed to compete as this was the original way of the competition. This is just a thought as nowadays most competitors in the Olympic Games are professional athletes. Other uses of the term can be found in television, where a movie (“The Professionals”) and a TV series (with the same name) exist.