[modi123_1]

http://www.smashingm...-design-expert/

An interesting article for people striving to be "an expert". Lord knows we see our fair share of those topics here.

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Have you ever wanted to take a client by the collar, shake them around vigorously and demand that they take you seriously because you are the expert? If so, you are not alone. Whether you consider yourself an expert and want recognition or are looking to one day become one, you need to step back and ask why being perceived in that way is important.

A few bullet points from the article:

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• To become an expert, you need time and experience.
  
• proficient at overcoming problems.
  
• obsessive passion
  
• Being willing to fail is a sign of maturity, bravery and a desire to do better.
  
• The first step to being recognized as an expert is to stop insisting that you are one.
  
• How you articulate yourself is critical.
  
• it should always be about serving others.

[Lemur]

Smashing has some good points on this, but I'd like to add a few more on to that.

If you're not sure whether or not you qualify as an expert or professional level, ask someone. Get someone in the field to review your work, most designers are actually quite nice people as long as you're not wasting their time. This means you have to be pretty good though, don't you dare try this with table layouts or bad design practices.

The bible has said as steel sharpens steel so one man will sharpen another. This can be true in any field. The more intelligent and regarded the expert to more you can learn from them.

Even if you are considered to be an expert, DO NOT become complacent on that account. You will NEVER know it all no matter how good you are, keep learning. This also means people below you can teach you things as well. Everyone has a story and unique experience, so chances are that someone of a lower skill level has something that could seriously improve your skills.

Tutor people. Write tutorials, you have no idea how fast you learn when you rewrite it all in your own words and try and teach someone else. I've talked to professors, and if you really think about it the rate at which they learn is astounding. It's a tried and true method that will seriously have an impact.

Being an expert does not give you license to be a douche. You're there to help people. While I may be guilty of this one on occasion we have to also take into consideration that if you're a member and you bait an expert that you have it coming on all accounts.

DON'T sugar coat anything and look for like minded people. People that are honest and harsh are your best resource in improvement. They see things that no one else will and can give you an entirely new perspective. NEVER underestimate people like this and their usefulness.

[modi123_1]

Well said. I'm glad you chimed in - I think I'll hot link this for anyone who posts the "I want to be an expert in subject x, y or z!".