There are professionals and more professionals. But still, the wheat can be separated from the chaff; the real ones can be spotted and differentiated from the imitation.
Here's what it takes to be a 'real' IT professional.
Commitment
A professional identifies himself at all times with his profession. The details of his profession are built in as a second nature to the professional. A pre-requisite to being a true professional is commitment to ones profession.
Learning
The most important aspect of a true professional is his/her focus on learning everyday. In today's super-sonic world where lifecycles of products, technologies, processes and tools are becoming narrower, the need has risen for 'quick learning', especially on a continuous basis. A true professional learns all the nuances of his/her profession through his focus on continuous learning.
Improvement
Continuous focus on improvement is yet another ingredient that goes into the making of a true-bred professional. To ensure continuous improvement, a professional would, at every stage measure current performance against set targets, identify the cause for deviation, if any, and make the necessary mid-course corrections to ensure that he/she is back on the track of achieving your objectives.
Attitude
And it takes oodles of attitude (the right one, I mean) to make a true professional. The worthiness of a job depends on how you look at it. And it takes courage to do something your heart tells you to do.
Clamping negativism
A true professional never blames fate nor does he/she find recourse in hollow excuses.
Detachment
A true professional is one who is committed to the task, passionate and yet detached. This may seem contradictory but it is not upon reflection. It allows a professional to walk away, not take undue credit, allow to self-critique and not become defensive about the outcome.
cheers
Aaryan
