ponderings on professionalism

What are traits of professionalism? Here's a short list of my current learnings.

• staying late if the situation requires it
• having a passion for your job
• making sure things get done properly
• everything that falls under customer commitment- not just for the hours or the money but because you're proud of what you do
• showing up on time
• if they ask for something and you think it's not the best thing to do, tell them no, no matter what. You could do it and just pocket the money, but don't.

Professionalism (part deux)

http://davidmaister.com/search/ > "professionalism" > read everything

But if I do that right now I'll be exhausted at work today, so it has to wait.

I like this guy's writing style.

Professionalism

I fell asleep at midnight over my homework, woke up at 4am with more bug bites. Finished and turned in the homework. Searched "professionalism" on twitter.

Some traits of professionalism that I think I've identified:

• Keep a straight face when the client says unfortunate things. Keep a filter on your verbalized thoughts. 
• Plausible deniability
• Create a paper trail for everything
• Stick to "best practices" i.e. don't do the probably-not-bad but also not-what-you're-supposed-to-do things... I think the equivalent would be a professional painter always putting edging tape around the windows even though he thinks he could do the job perfectly without it.
• Don't say frivolous or entertaining things; always think through something before it leaves your mouth and have logic to back it up. I.e. never say anything that makes you sound like you're being flip/don't know what you're talking about.
• Taking pride in your work (I like this one!)
• Basically act like the client is crazy and can't be communicated with in a normal interpersonal way without risking (lawsuit? some kind of consequences) i.e. do not attempt to attain understanding, just go by the rulebook...?
• When when things go wrong, don't make excuses; you should have not let it happen. Explain what happened/why you don't know/why you can't do it, and describe how you plan to fix it, if it can be fixed, or how you plan to figure out if it can be fixed, if it seems like there's a way. If it's irrecoverable, accept responsibility and then IMMEDIATELY STOP TALKING i.e. don't make excuses or ramble on.
• "Professionalism is the adherence to a set of values comprising statutory professional obligations, formally agreed codes of conduct, and the informal expectations of patients and colleagues." http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:professionalism&sa=X&ei=tZ8nTeKOKpGIrAej6NimDA&ved=0CB8QkAE

As an example, I'm pretty sure that this entire post is unprofessional, because I haven't dressed it up in slippery language? Actually I'm not sure why this post is unprofessional, but I'm pretty sure that it is.

Reasons that I care about professionalism:

• My trainer thinks that it's an important skill that I lack, and I agree
• It's good to know how to seem professional because it gets you credibility, clients, and money

Reasons that I don't think much of professionalism:

• I think it's another way of saying that you're adhering to internal/external industry standards but I don't think the standards are ever defined for my industry in a way which I can study and use. (On second thought, they probably are, and I should go find them.)

This is the google query which is my starting point for chasing an answer for the above question http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=professionalism+in+programming+consulting

A professional never:

• uses offensive language to or near the client
• cuts corners (in visible/important places?)
• makes excuses (need more explanation here)
• uses capslocks

Article on professionalism in consulting: http://davidmaister.com/articles/1/3/

This article is long but I've read all of it and frankly I think that it's the thing that has most increase my understanding of professionalism, ever. I think I'll reread it in the morning.