The word occupation and profession many at times are used interchangeably but these two words do not exactly mean the same thing. The main difference between occupation and profession is that occupation is a general term for any activity one gets involved to make a living (earn an income ) while profession involves activity one does for a living after going through some formal training/ education . We will expantiate further on how these two terms differ in the following paragraphs. So lets begin: difference between occupation and profession.
Occupation is simply any activity an individual embark on in order to earn an income. It could be a formal or informal activity. There are 3 major divisions of occupation:
Business is simply any activity that involves buying and selling undertaken by a person.
Employment: here you get work for someone and get paid at the end.
Profession: this kind of occupation involves an individual rendering services to others.
It is an activity that requires some special skills and knowledge in order to earn an income. People who engage in profession are known as professionals. Professionals have major role of rendering services to people. There are usually different professional bodies guiding the activity of professions.
Examples of profession include:
Each profession has its own code of conduct and ethics
Now lets consider the difference between Occupation and Profession
We would explain the difference between occupation and profession using the following terminologies:
Occupation simply refers to activity that people engage in to earn a living while profession involves activity that usually first require some education/ training before one can earn a living from it.
There is usually no need for educational qualification when it comes to occupation while in profession, education and training is compulsory.
There is usually no specific code of conduct guiding occupation but in profession, there are specific code of conduct guiding them.
In occupation, people are paid based on productivity while in profession, people are paid based in skill and knowledge.
In profession, there are statutory bodies that offer guidance to professions, this is most times absent in occupation.
Professionals are more classed and respected in the society than those in occupation
Individuals in professions are usually paid more most times than those in occupation
People in occupation don’t get to be independent in their work but professionals have some level of independence.
It is one of the top professions in the 21st century. They use the knowledge of programming languages to design software programs for mobile devices, computer and websites.
Robotics engineer design robotics equipment for industries like mining, automotive, manufacturing, etc. These machines produced are able to replicate human actions and can thus perform, repetitive unhealthy and hazardous jobs in the industries
Cybersecurity is a field in digital world that helps protect all sorts of data from theft and loss. Cybersecurity professionals protect a company’s system and network from theft online.
A project manager plan and manage projects within an organization. He/She is relevant in different projects in the company such as IT, marketing, HR, construction, etc.
A caregiver is a person who cares for the well-being of another person (could be a baby, aged adult or sick person.
In wrapping up this article on difference between occupation and profession, it is important that you let your choice be guided by the right reasons. Whether you are going for occupation or profession , let passion, interest or commitment to help others be your driving reasons.
A profession is a kind of job that usually requires advanced training/ education
As occupation can be classified as a profession when it involves prolonged formal education/ training
Accountant
Scientist
Software developer, teacher, etc.
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