A personal view of professionalism

By Ashwin U. Kini

“Professionalism” as defined in The Oxford English dictionary: The competence or skill expected of a professional.

And a “Professional” means: Relating to or belonging to a profession.

With the changing times, how do we really understand Professionalism and be a Professional?

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”
This was a famous quote by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

What do we learn from the above saying? If we understand the quote more clearly, that involves "3 Ps". In order for an individual to do his job well, he should have the - Passion, Persistence, and Professionalism.

As we discuss on "Professionalism", it is a behavior and good attitude towards his work. One should know on all aspects of what to do?, when to do?, why to do?, how to do?, and then really doing it with Quality.

Professionalism is earned, rather than being called. A real "Professional" is a brand, which is tagged with respects that one gains. It takes lot of practice for an individual to perfect himself, and a path to perfection is professionalism. The path to perfection involves holding high personal standards, competing with oneself, constant learning, dedication, and commitment to excellence.

There is a major misunderstanding with an individual with good skills being called as a professional. An individual may be highly skilled with best technical knowledge at his profession but that isn't enough. One needs to have additional knowledge that involves business ethics, positive attitude, willingness to learn, teach, and various other aspects...

Professionalism is in everyone but is practiced by oneself through self-improvement.

A Professional behavior constitutes with some of the following:-
• Be committed and make yourself approachable: Do not commit to anything that you are not comfortable with. Value your and others time and give time to those in deep need for your help.
• Know your subject well: Do your homework well and know what you are talking about. Half knowledge may result to losing your credibility, and professional relationships to compromise your integrity. In case of doubt, admit it.
• Possess a good attitude: A positive attitude makes considerable impact on one’s success
• Produce quality work: A professional never merely only completes a delegated task, but delivers them with highest quality possible.
• Maximize knowledge: Keep yourself upgraded.
• Seek greater responsibilities: Seek greater control on what you do. Find opportunities to take your activities to a level higher.
• Be innovative: Utilize your creativity in solving issues in new ways.
• Teach: Share your knowledge with others, and help them be professionals.
• Give credits: Being magnanimous and giving due credits to the actual performer, is mark of a true professional.
• Work on your appearance, communication, and etiquettes: Professional behavior is noticed from the way you look, speak, act, and this directly impacts the way others perceive them.

As we understand all general aspects of professionalism, what’s specific in for an IT Professional?
There have been various and specialized courses specific to a particular technology. However, what’s missing is for an individual to live up to the global standards.

The Reality:
It may be difficult for an individual IT practitioner to define IT Professionalism. This could be due to the rapid change in the IT Industry. The technology keeps upgrading daily and one need to keep learning. During the process of technical learning, they mostly lose out on the other aspects. An individual’s skills are governed by the organization that they work for rather than self. Changes within an organization happen in various ways that are based on the business requirement.

A project with specific skills requirement today may be obsolete tomorrow and may force an individual to learn some new technology. In an order, the individual who may have gained the required technical skills and the certifications today may not be of use tomorrow.

There is no end to education, and this makes a major impact in an IT industry. Developments in IT education happen every day. A highly skilled IT professional earning high wages today, may find it difficult to get employed tomorrow if there is no competitiveness in self-learning.

Projects change, and have a high demand of outsourcing to offshore. Cost reduction within the organization, and employees forced switching departments, all are some of the factors that directly impact an IT individuals learning process. No sooner one works on upgrading themselves, there is a change. Life of an IT worker remains unusual with odd and long working hours, weekend coverage, on call support, etc… thus diminishes one’s self morale.

This leads for an individual to change jobs, reconsider upgrading skills and continue career in IT, lose on frustration.

However, the positive approach and the professional ethics remain which never get obsolete. A professional, also needs to be continuously learning and building on the professional behavior which takes them a long way ahead. Building expertise in professionalism, and making it your specialty, helps stay focused and not get distracted from the purpose.

Measuring professionalism:
There is no major definition to measure professionalism but one can analyze through asking questions to self, such as:
• How have I professionalized my profession?
• Am I justifying to the time and money I have spent on earning a certification or gaining the skills?
• What act of professionalism have I done today? (That could be even one small act)
• Have I gained any respects for my professional act by any individual?
• How large is my network of Professionals?

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