Professional Competence and Education - Essay Example

The paper shows that it is learned how to be competent experts on the job and according to them, real-life education based on actual work experience will always trump academic competency because academics cannot prepare you to think on your feet and avoid non-textbook pitfalls on the job. Simply put, academic competence is what is expected of you once you enter the workforce as a rank and file employee. As you gain work experience, you earn points towards job competence. Maybe, you will even come to realize that some or most of the theories taught in classes will have to be thrown out the door on the job because it does not apply to the actual work.

Thus, there will be times when theoretical competency will make you look like you do not know your job. Therefore, professional competence could be best defined by knowing when you throw out what you learned in school in order to achieve a higher competency skill on the job.