Difference between profession and specialty.

To be or not to be, to work or not to work - this question has occupied a person for many centuries in a row. We can get a promising specialty, but later master a completely different profession. How do these categories differ and why is it so important to understand the difference?

Definition

Profession - it is an occupation or work activity that requires certain training, qualifications, knowledge. Skills can be acquired either through education or through practice. The range of professions is extremely wide and is combined into categories: economic, technical, pedagogical, etc.

Specialty - a set of skills, abilities and knowledge acquired in the learning process and confirmed in the appropriate order. They are necessary for a specific job and correspond to one or more professions. For example, a law student can become a lawyer, prosecutor, police officer or legal adviser, or can become a catering vendor.

Comparison

So, the main difference is in the scope of the concept. Specialty is a general term that unites a group of professions. They may require some additional skills or completely fit into the volumes that were obtained during the training. At the same time, the specialty requires special training. The profession can be mastered without it - in practice (singer, actor).

Conclusions TheDifference.ru

1. The scope of the concept. A profession is a private category that denotes a specific area of ​​activity, while a specialty is a general one.
2. Preparation. To obtain a specialty, it is necessary to undergo training, pass exams. You can master a profession in practice (journalist, writer, builder) if it requires either talent or physical skills.
3. Need for confirmation. The profession can correspond to the type of human activity and in most cases does not require any certification or examinations. But the specialty must be confirmed. This can be the defense of a thesis project, state exams, testing.
4. Formal expression. The profession brings a person real income, and its main expression is the demand for a person. Specialization is confirmed by a state-recognized document, which is valid in a certain territory.