In graduate school (1980) we agreed that a professional is someone who will do the right thing based on extensive knowledge of the domain, whether or not the customer knows to ask for it.  Today, I’d say it this way: A professional is someone trusted to do the right thing based on extensive knowledge of the domain, whether or not the customer knows enough to ask for it.

You don’t need the customers’ permission, but you do need their trust.

On 08/03/2012 16:27, Len Bullard wrote:

It’s a general qualifications question:  do you expect an XML professional to:

There's no such thing as an XML professional, any more than you can be a screwdriver professional or a fork-lift truck professional. People who define their abilities by the tools they can use proficiently are not professionals, they are technicians; professionals define their capabilities in terms of the problem space, not the solution space.

Michael Kay
Saxonica