

Rethinking Professionalism: The Meta-Expert - dominiek
http://synaptify.com/?p=613718

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delluminatus
I hope I don't come off as pedantic but, presuming I understand you properly,
I wouldn't describe these people as meta-experts. Unless I'm mistake, the
prefix meta- means, from Wikipedia, "about (its own category)". If this is
right, a meta-expert would be an expert about experts, or an expert on
experts.

Thus, it's my opinion that calling these people meta-experts could imply
something different than what you intend, particularly to people who don't
read the article fully, and if it takes off as an Interblag "term", it could
cause some confusion (although it could be that I'm just crazy).

Perhaps I could interest you in neo-expert?

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jamesbritt
Neo? Doesn't that mean "new"? Wouldn't a neo-expert be an expert on new
things? Or a just a new expert?

It isn't the prefix that needs adjustment, it's the word "expert" that needs
replacement.

And there is already a term for these sorts of people. Polymath

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delluminatus
A neo expert is a "new expert". It could be thought of as describing the type
of people he is talking about as a "new breed of expert", unless I am sorely
mistaken.

However, I agree that the word "expert" itself is rather disingenuous. Just
like the term "hacker", it (as stated in other comments) is not generally
considered a description one could apply to oneself, and (still just like
"hacker") it means many different things based on context and user.

A good decision, in my opinion, would be to phase out use of "expert" except
in instances where you want to imply that a person has a lot of experience in
a particular area (so "he is an expert computer scientist" == "he has a lot of
experience with computer science"). The term "professional" could be only used
to label people who are what we currently call a "consummate professional":
someone who is skilled in many areas relating to their field of expertise and
to business and people skills in general.

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nathanh
"In my own experience, I’ve had more negative than positive transactions with
experts and professionals that advertise themselves as such."

Great point. The terms expert and guru (maybe professional too) are a lot like
nicknames. I can call you those things, but if you call yourself that, I can't
help but think the opposite.

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lotharbot
It's easy to build up an expert reputation and then depend on it. It's easy to
become your group/company expert on such-and-such topic, and then have people
defer to you even as your skills deteriorate. What's hard is to actually
retain a real level of expertise. You have to continually challenge yourself,
question assumptions, and test the limits of what you know.

If you find yourself justifying your answers with "because I'm an expert" on a
regular basis, it may be time to reevaluate.

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julius_geezer
Perhaps the old distinction between the wise man and the pedant is what you
are after.

