(no subject)

[ewt]

What makes someone an expert on something? What distinguishes an expert from an amateur? I'm not just talking about careers here, but areas of interest as well. When is knowledge the only indicator of expertise, and when to skill and good judgement come in?

[Poll #838240]

Comments

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

For many skillsets it's very difficult to differentiate between the two, as practise will bring refinement and improvement.

Indeed - that's definitely true for me and why I plumped for the radio button I did :-)

Hmmm - I'm now wondering if its possible to use a skill set without getting better at it... I guess some things there is an inevitable decline - footballers don't last into their 40s after all...

[kake]

I'm now wondering if its possible to use a skill set without getting better at it...

It is, absolutely. It's a common joke among programmers that some people don't have 20 years of experience, they just have one year of experience repeated 20 times.