Professional career vs. profession: do you know the difference?

It is very common for people to associate a professional career with a profession. After all, they both mean the same thing, right?

What is a profession?

Profession is what you studied/study and is directly related to the activities you perform.

To do this, you need to acquire skills through a lot of study, whether formal or informal. Only then will you be able to acquire knowledge and accumulate experience.

The profession of someone who studied Medicine is a doctor, and someone who graduated in Architecture is an architect. In both cases, it is necessary to complete a formal degree.

When working as a secretary, for example, learning often takes place in a more practical way, and not necessarily in a classroom – despite there being specialization in the area.

But in both cases, they are professions.

What is a professional career?

When we talk about career, we are also talking about trajectory. It represents the path – or paths – that you have taken – and will continue to take – since the very beginning.

Your education, your jobs and getting to where you are now. All of this is part of your professional career.

Each person has their own career path throughout their life. Within a career, a person can have several professions.

Furthermore, professionals from different areas may have the same profession and, throughout their careers, follow completely different paths.

Two people graduated from medical school together, one of whom became a heart surgeon and the other who decided to dedicate himself to Doctors Without Borders and work to combat HIV in Malawi.

Basically, your professional career is the journey you have taken in the job market. All the courses, degrees and specializations you have taken, and the companies you have worked for.

Your professional career is the journey you have taken in the job market. All the courses and specializations you have already taken.

If there is an affinity with the chosen career, the professional can always choose to seek specializations and ways to qualify themselves even further.

What is the relationship between profession and professional career?

As stated at the beginning of the text, the two terms represent different things, but that does not mean that they are not interconnected.

The way a professional carries out their profession is directly related to their career and professional goals. Furthermore, choosing a profession opens up a range of career options to pursue.

Let's think of your career as a road trip to your dream job.

The jobs you’ve had – and will have in the future – are like cities you stop in along your main trip. While some cities are a place you decide to stay for a longer period of time, others are just a brief stopover.

In the middle of this journey, it is also possible to change route and explore new paths, which until then you never imagined you would discover.

Professions would be the states you have passed through, and they include the jobs – or rather, the cities – you have experienced.

When you reach your final destination, you will realize how edifying this journey was and how much you learned before arriving where you planned to be at the beginning.

Which of the two aspects should you give more priority to?

This is quite relative.

There is no rule regarding this, as the order of choice will depend on each person's experience.

While some people develop an affinity for a certain type of work and only later discover how they want to do it, other people already set a life goal and later choose a profession with an established career idea.

Only after understanding the difference between a professional career and a profession will you be better able to decide your goals and your future in the job market more easily.

This is because these objectives will guide your career and your interest in a particular area of study.

But, in general, people choose their profession more, while a career is something that can happen throughout life.

The changes that occur throughout life

As mentioned before, a profession is something you specialize in. But that doesn’t mean that it’s the profession you have to practice until you retire.

It is very common to see people who, over the course of their lives, end up drastically changing their profession – whether by their own will or due to the influence of external factors.

For example: a young adult who has a degree in Social Communication. After working in advertising agencies and marketing departments in companies, he or she may suddenly have the opportunity to work as a freelance writer and identify with that work.

The truth is that everyone is subject to going through these changes.

It may be that, after years of doing the same job, you come across a professional career that you hadn't even considered before, and this can be a pleasant surprise!

The important thing is to know how to deal with them and learn how to make the most of the situation so that you can find your professional footing, regardless of the area.

Conclusion

As you read the text, you could see the difference between profession and professional career and what each term represents, right?

Knowing how to distinguish between the two terms may not seem like such an important thing, but this is one of those pieces of knowledge that can make a big difference in the way you see yourself as a professional, influencing your decision-making and helping you plan the next steps for your future.

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Nathalia Silva October 7, 2021

Career