Professional = takes ownership and gets things done. No hand-waving, accountable, etc. I would suggest punctuality is a strong indicator, but I was wondering if HN can come up with better ones.
In my mind, a professional displays:<p>1. Discretion.<p>2. The quiet soft-spoken voice of reason (and incentive).<p>3. The weight of wisdom.<p>4. A higher sense of purpose other than being liked.<p>5. A way of saying much with few words (the "genius of compression").<p>6. The ability to discern between "the idea" and "the packaging".<p>7. A great fear of ever saying in private what they would never say in public.<p>8. An aversion to announcing things in advance.<p>Rather than being "on time", a professional seeks to be "before time". Rather than trying to "get to the point", the professional "starts with the point". A professional is more concerned with examining and testing and adjusting motives, than learning methods.<p>Above all, a professional gives value to "voice". The idea that playing a violin well will eventually result in greater resonance, that every note contributes to the tone of the instrument. The professional chooses to produce true notes as much as possible, knowing that false notes played in practice will eventually come to light in the character of the instrument. A professional understands why orchestra conductors insist on punctuality, the first and second and third order effects thereof. How "bottomless wonders spring from simple rules... repeated without end." - Benoit Mandelbrot.<p>Ask a professional why they chose to take a particular course of action, and they will be able to tell you "why". Professionals are rational, and their rationality is proactively forthcoming. Professionals phrase things in the positive.<p>Most of these characteristics seem to come down to "words" and "voice" and "reasons".
Doesn't gossip, unless it's harmless teasing. Does not do anything to spite another colleague, only interested in getting things done. Doesn't let his ego get in the way. If his proposal is passed for another team members, he still pitches in as much as ever. Likewise, he doesn't walk all over people who gave losing ideas, and listens to them as much as he would have. Moves discussions along to make <i>decisions</i>, understands that conversations are <i>not</i> productive unless something new is decided upon. He should move like a shark, but not in an evil way: keep swimming, or sink.
It's not possible.<p>No matter how professional someone appears there's always a chance they're a complete flake in reality.<p>The best you can do is determine quickly that someone is <i>not</i> a professional, and the basis for that is going to have to be a variety of factors.<p>There's no one thing that will serve as an accurate litmus test all around.<p>Punctuality is a good start, but I wouldn't put too much stock in it. Personally, I think it's way over-rated.<p>For something like an interview, punctuality is important as a sign of respect and for practical reasons...<p>If you interview someone, you should consider punctuality but also bear in mind that crap happens. I once had an interview and I got stuck in the subway, where there are no phone signals.<p>Who's to say if you are writing off a brilliant worker due to bad luck.<p>In terms of normal punctuality for work, I think it's vastly over-rated.<p>Places generally expect you to be slightly early for work, so I don't see anything wrong with the assumption that you will sometimes be a little late. As long as everyone gets to work around the same time, everyone does their work,everyone works their hours, and people are on time for the truly important stuff....I don't see the problem with even regular "lateness".<p>Anyway. I digress...<p>If anything I think how they are dressed is a better indication than punctuality, but that also has problems.<p>You have to look at a lot of things...I would worry less about whether they are a fit for some hypothetical objective mold of "professional" and worry more about how they fit with what <i>you</i> think is important, and how they fit with <i>your</i> culture.<p>All that matters to me is competence, work ethic, and how they fit in with the group....I'll take that over some nebulous concept of "professionalism" any day.
I like asking people when the last time they've done irreparable harm to data was. (deleting a database table, formatting something they shouldn't have, etc...) Those who say never are liars. Those who have agony in their faces as they answer but can't tell me what they've done to prevent the situation from occurring in the future or those who don't care are pretty unprofessional. Those who regale us with heroic stories of accepting the blame for their mistakes, fixing it in the best way possible and putting safeguards in place to minimize the possibility of it occurring again are pros in my book.
By your definition of professional I don't understand why you want punctuality. Three months into the last job I had, I told the company: "I'm more productive when I'm more productive. I'm not going to abuse off course, but I'm not getting here at 8am sharp every day." They said I could come at any time I wanted, or telecommute if I wanted, as long as I got things done. One time I spent 4 days in the office only surfacing from my desk for food and smokes because someone screwed a deadline. I made 2 weeks wort of work on three days. I got a bonus, an all paid weekend retreat, and they payed me back the amount of redbull and coffee I had.<p>Why do you care if someone is in through the door of the office at 9am or at 12pm as long as their work doesn't suffer from it? In the case of meetings and the such I do understand the need to have everyone be punctual though, and that should be stated before hand. If you have a meeting, be there on time, if nothing time sensitive is on the calendar, then let people do what they find more productive, within reason off course.
My biggest indicator has always been, "do they do what they say they'll do?"<p>If they want to meet for coffee and offer to buy you that coffee in exchange for your time, do they do this without you prompting them? If you end up buying your own coffee, and they simply forgot, do they acknowledge it?<p>If they say they will email/phone you by a certain time, do they do this? If not, and they eventually do get to you, do they acknowledge/apologize for not keeping their word?<p>For me, to <i>quickly</i> find out, it always come down to these little things. Sure, people forget to call/email/buy coffee all the time, that's acceptable. But, do they take accountability for that slip? Do they take responsibility for it without you prompting them?<p>If the little things are handled professionally, I've never had an experience (yet) where the big things aren't...
One of my personal metrics for low resolution professionalism judgement is spin off of the classic "wtf's/min" standard for judging code quality.<p>My own unit is "Yes's/min". I find that when I'm explaining something to an individual who responds with too many "Yes's/min", that individual is usually (of course not always) not appreciating the nuances of the topic being discussed. Having an alarmingly high amount of certainty around a new or just introduced topic, I find, usually implies a lack of professionalism.
Seth Godin has a good point about professionalism. Being professional is doing the same thing and getting the same result over and over.<p>These days more often than not this is not what you're looking for. You're looking for the fresh angle, the different point of view, the purple cow.<p>You're looking for passion. For love. These are two words you seldom see together with professionalism.<p>EDIT: the word "amateur" has the same roots as "amore" and literally means "love what you do".
This is a valuable question, but the replies are going awry of what draws me to the question. What if all you have to go on is a 'reply-to' email and their first and last name?<p>Not a complete list, but fishing for suggestions:<p>Context--they sent you a business related email, and appear roughly 'professional' to you, but you want to make sure.<p>Their message/website/page/example project. You be the judge.<p>Do they reply to their contact form?<p>Is their contact information available and current?<p>LinkedIn, github, any other free, populous site membership--what is their public face?
Depends on what you mean by "punctuality" if you mean arriving at work at the same time every day then I would say you are dead wrong. If on the other hand you mean being respectful of others time and not being late for explicitly scheduled events or calling ahead if you will be, then that may be true.
I assume this is going to be done in an interview.<p>One thing you could try is to see how the person handles constructive criticism. Try to get them engaged in a discussion about what they did wrong and how they could do better in the future. Pick something you have actual knowledge of so you can better tell if they are BSing you.<p>This can be difficult to do in an interview because you often don't know anything about the person. However, even if you have them pick an example of a screw-up from their past, you should be able to get a general sense of whether or not they try to be accountable for their actions. A bad sign would be if they pick an example where they didn't actually screw up or explain their failure as completely out of their control.
first, I think "professional" is too broad a brush to evaluate at once, even using your definition of professional.<p>For instance, I'm very good about taking ownership and being accountable. I'm, uh, somewhat less good at actually getting things done on time. I mean, I won't make stupid excuses or try to shift blame, but I am quite often late on actually getting the damn thing done because of my own personal failings, so if you just measured a willingness to accept responsibly when accepting responsibility is unpleasant, you'd think higher of me than you ought.<p>"what is the most costly (to your employer) mistake of your career?" is a good interview question to probe the willingness to take responsibility. I know I've made some expensive mistakes, some of my worst were simply because I typed the wrong thing out of fatigue or inattention. (as I have grown older, I think one of the most important things I've learned is how to tell when I am likely to make a mistake, and when to log out.)<p>I'd argue that a person who claims not to have made expensive mistakes is likely the type to dodge responsibility. (this is eminently true in the ops world. I imagine it's true elsewhere, but I've got a lot less room to speak.)<p>You could also give them a hypothetical where, say, they could have prevented a mistake but it wasn't something they actively caused. Then ask them if it was their responsibility. "If you hired a guy who did something stupid that cost us a lot of money, is it your fault or his fault?" I'd never hire anyone for management who thought it was the hiree's fault.<p>showing up on time, in my experience has nothing to do with a willingness to take responsibility when something goes wrong.<p>As for "gets things done" eh, I'm not the right man to ask about that. When you figure out a better answer than "hire them as a contractor and see" let me know.
For me, a designer is professional if he tells me "if you add one more thing in the menu, it won't work" or "remove that 'more' link after each paragraph" instead of "you should really use another tone of blue" or "I don't like the font you are using".
I have no idea about programming, but I guess a professional in that field would be arguing about the software architecture, instead of what to use - php or ruby.<p>So generally, professionals are people who help you achieve whatever goal you have, instead of arguing what tools to use.
Check out their track record. Observe them, listen to them. Do they give you a vibe of understated competence and confidence? Or do they relentlessly hype themselves and speak in vague buzzwords? Ask questions, dig deep. "Drill down" into their area of alleged expertise. Do they answer your questions easily and with insight? Or do they engage in an avoidance strategy? Keep poking like this, the answer will become obvious.
"Those who know don't talk and those who talk don't know"<p>Be careful of those who talks a lot trying to prove you that they are professionals. Professionals are generally in demand, they should be busy doing work, they don't try to higher their status because they are already rewarded. Those who sucks try to trap you with words.<p>Not an indicator for professionals but should be helpful to filter some.
I don't know if I agree with the word professional. It does signal things like: wearing a suit, talking the talk, playing politics well, turning up on time, etc...<p>The only things that are important to me are that the person is honest, a hard-worker, intelligent, a clear communicator and has common sense.
Ask what he/she did wrong in his/her life and things at which he/she failed.<p>Don't be fooled with "quiet soft-spoken voice of reason" and other outside behavioral decoration. These things can be learned.<p>School where I learned this: odesk.com.
my take:<p>anyone who does things with the wisdom of an 80-year-old sailor, the efficiency of a 45-year old BMW factory worker, and the enthusiasm of a 3-year-old with finger paint
If it's a superficial analysis (ie interview), then punctuality, dress and preparation on their part (investigation prior to the meeting) is valid. If they haven't inquired about the dress code, then they should assume it's formal. If you have a minute to do a slightly deeper analysis then Google is your friend: how do they present themselves on social networks, do they have a blog, have they commented in forums (do they troll) have they posted code (usually a goldmine). If the profession is technological and they have <i>no</i> web presence whatsoever, that's usually a red flag in itself.
Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice:<p><a href="http://www.acm.org/about/se-code" rel="nofollow">http://www.acm.org/about/se-code</a>
Put him in uncomfortable situation and tell him to do something you expect he really loathes, something what just sometimes "needs to be done, no matter what". If he balks or talks too much, he's not a professional.
Example? Give photographer a video camera and say you have an vision of some cheesy shot (look at clientsfromhell.net for ideas) and see what get's delivered.