Attaining Expertise

            For a person wishing to become a professional in something, the person must set a goal to achieve some form of expertise. The individual needs to acquire the skills and knowledge of a subject through training of a professional kind and through the person's practical experience which have allowed the individual to have considerable knowledge on the subject. Experts in something have studied the subject for years, the individual would have trained on the subject, and the person would have a seemingly special talent for the subject. Individuals that have set their sights on becoming an expert have set about a plan of studying to learn not only that subject but studied other skills to develop the skills, knowledge, and know how to being an expert on the given subject. This paper is going to cover the processes associated with gaining expertise in a given field.

Expertise Processes

 For a person that is looking to gain expertise in a field, the first thing the person must do is to create a plan with their goals orientated towards expertise. This is important if a person is to establish the expertise that the person is attempting at. Creating the perspective that a person needs for expertise is done through consciousness, abstractness, and analytical contemplation for the field at hand (Wicklund, Braun, & Waibel, 1994).  After this, the person then will look for an expert in the field that they are interested. This person is normally used as a mentor for the individual and has both the knowledge and experience in the subject that the individual wants to become an expert in themselves. The mentor will guide the person in how to best achieve expertise in the subject including things that they should avoid as well as how to go about managing the work that will be involved becoming an expert. The mentor can also assist the individual in planning other processes meant to achieve expertise on the subject.

            The next step to gaining expertise is the development step of the process on the subject that the individual is interested in. Research that has been done shows that people tend to grasp expectations and concepts on a subject that the people are interested in rather than one they are not (Klein, 1998). An individual looking to be an expert in a particular field may seem to have low knowledge in areas outside of the field that the expert has chosen. During development of the subject material, a person is going to be gaining knowledge that is needed to understand the subject in the form of lectures that are given to the individual, reading books on the subject, working in the field of the subject to gain knowledge and skills.  The individual can also gain knowledge about the day to day goings in the field and the information on the field, so they know what to expect when doing their job as an expert in the field. In this part of the process, a person benefits from seeing an expert in the field to gain first-hand knowledge of what is expected from the person on a daily basis as well as the knowledge that the person will need.

Training

Training is one of the most important parts of the process in becoming an expert in a field. Training can be gained in several different ways and can be dependent on the subject or field is chosen in which to gain expertise. One of the ways to receive training in becoming an expert is an institution that deals with the subject and teaching it (Ericsson, Krampe, & Romer, 1993). This way the individual can gain book knowledge on the subject as well as work with individuals that may themselves be experts in the field. Another way is working as an apprentice for an expert in the field and learning from that person (Ericsson, Krampe, & Romer, 1993). Both are viable options for an individual looking to become and expert and both are recommended that an individual does to become an expert, though it is not a requirement.  Some individuals may have better luck at learning from books and in classroom settings as they absorb information better that way.  While others may not do so well with books but when working in the subject hands on they can absorb the information. Some individuals are learners who absorb information, concepts, and procedures better with the are watching these things up into action and working directly with them (Naveh-Benjamin, 1991). A mentor in the field that the subject is looking at can help to guide the subject on which mode of training or a combination of both would work well for the individual to become an expert.

Experience

A person that wishes to become an expert in the field needs to be engaged with the field on a variety of different occasions to become a master of it. This is what is known as having experience in the field. Research shows that the more experience the person has, the more the person is engaged in the field, the more likely it is that the person will master the subject (Creaser, Lund, English, Shapiro, & Andre, 2005). To become an expert, a person has to deliberately practice the activities of the field to form a basis of skill for their expertise. That means that the person has to practice skills that have been gained through study and training to master the practices of the field. Additionally, it is beneficial if a person sets goals for themselves in the practice of skills to challenge themselves towards achieving a higher level of skill.  The practice of skill must be characterized by setting goals, progressing orderly through the goals, giving or receiving accurate feedback, and working in an environment that looks to and allows progression. Additionally, during the apprenticeship and during the mentoring phase of training the individual's expert and mentor should be actively ensuring tasks are given to a subject that is geared toward the particular field for the individual to achieve expertise in.

For a person to gain expertise in a particular field, the person must develop memory skill along with the training and knowledge that the person is gaining.  The memory skill is a skill where the expert can perform the functions of their job and not be affected by interruptions.  The expert in the field can perform activities that are unrelated to the subject they are an expert but are still able to resume activities through the memory skills that are for the subject that they have mastered (Ericsson et. al., 1993).  An individual that is an expert has mastered the skills of their subject to the point where even when they are working on something else that is not related to their expertise the individual can still go back to the skills and subject that they are an expert in and perform as needed.

Conclusion

For a person wishing to become a professional in something, the person must set a goal to achieve some form of expertise. The individual needs to acquire the skills and knowledge of a subject through training of a professional kind and through the person's practical experience which have allowed the individual to have considerable knowledge on the subject. According to Wicklund, Braun, and Waibel (1994), creating the perspective that a person needs for expertise is done through consciousness, abstractness, and analytical contemplation for the field at hand. The individual works to set up a plan to become an expert but studying, developing skills and knowledge, gaining a mentor, and being trained by an expert all with the goal of becoming an expert in the particular subject.  The process can be a long and hard one for the individual to take, but if expertise is what the person desires then the person has to be motivated into completing all the steps of the process to see their desires fulfilled.

References

Creaser, J. I., Lund, A. M., English, J., Shapiro, R. G., & Andre, A. D. (2005). Achieving Success in the HF/E Field: Expert Advice on How to Become a Future Expert. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 49(21), 1846-1850.

Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R. T., & - Romer, C. T. (1993). The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. Psychological Review, 22(2), 363 - 406.

Klein, D. A. (1998). The strategic management of intellectual capital. Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Naveh-Benjamin, M. (1991). A comparison of training programs intended for different types of test-anxious students: Further support for an information-processing model. Journal of Educational Psychology, 83(1), 134-139.

Wicklund, R. A., Braun, O. L., & Waibel, M. C. (1994). Expertise in performance, or interest in the performing person? Some evidence for mutual exclusiveness. European Journal of Social Psychology, 24(4), 425-441.