qualifications

[wareagle69]

so i was wondering to myself today, what makes someone an expert at something, lets take the two skills that i own really well,
firecraft-even tho i start approximatley 200 to 300 fires a year they are mostly with my firesteel, one match firestarting just was too boring, sometimes i just use a coal left over which for anyone with experience is easy.
now that being said i do not start with rocks or fire drill or char cloth- so being that i have not mastered those techniques i do not feel that i could say i am an "expert" at fire craft

same with wild edibles how many plants do you have to know before you would be knowledgeable or even an expert or is it the knowledge of how to use those plants, to me knowing plants is one thing useing them is another.
i just read allot and always come across people that are considered experts in whatever and i always wonder, who says they are an expert what qualifies them as that
just more ramblings from deep within my mind

[huntermj]

Starting a fire with fire steel is like using gasoline and matches, too easy.
Most fires i start are with friction, just to stay in practice.
Wild edibles, i have no idea, would mostly die from eating the wrong thing.

[wareagle69]

well good for you, but doesn't answer the question

[rwc1969]

this is a good question and one that's been bugging me for a while.

When it comes to wilderness skills or survival it's hard to say. Some people get degrees and professional certs, and work in a field to become experts. It's hard to say if a person is an expert or not if you don't know thier history.

I guess if they know a particular skill in and out, can speak the lingo, teach the skill, answer questions then they are an expert. If they can walk out in the woods emty handed and come back with fire then I'd say they're an expert at fire. If they can tell you and/ or show you about a subject in person without prior preparation then they're an expert. If they can teach you how to do something in and out and up and down then they are an expert.

I think when it comes to survival folks stating they are experts it's pretty much a statement they make themselves. I've looked at a lot of survival schools and the like and it's hard to say if these guys are experts or not. Maybe they just have everything laid out just right and can start fire with rocks because they bought the right rocks online. It seems there's lots of criticism in the survival arena. There's always one expert telling you that another so called expert really isn't an expert because he doesn't do it the way the other guy does it.

I don't use the term expert lightly, many do in an attempt to instill trust and make a buck.

I can go out in the woods in all but the dead of winter and come back with some kind of wild edible or shroom, but I don't consider myself an expert. I know a great many plants, trees, shrooms, animals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, insects, etc. but I don't consider myself an expert in biology or the like. I would have a hard time teaching someone the skills I know because many are just there, I don't know how I learned them and couldn't tell someone else how to learn them other than just go out and do it.

I know a guy who grew and sold cultivated and wild mushrooms to restaurants and the like. He claimed himself as an expert, and had friends and associates that would back him up, but couldn't ID a King bolete to save his life. He had pictures of poisonous mis-ID'd shrooms on his site claiming they were edible. His customers thought he was an expert because he made up a nice looking website, paid money to get a few certs and equipment and told everyone he was an expert, and had friends that would vouch for him. His customers weren't experts so they bought it because it looked good and they trusted him. He was a likeable guy, could talk the lingo, but if you asked him a specific question in person he could rarely answer it. Instead, he was very good at turning the question around or avoiding it. So, he wasn't an expert mycophile, but an expert BS'er instead.

Lots of experts are just that, good BS'ers and confidence men. The term "Expert" or the way it's used is more about trust and perception than it is about being qualified. IMO

[crashdive123]

It's been my experience that most folks that call themselves experts usually are not. When several others begin to call them experts, then it may be time to listen.

[DOGMAN]

I consider a person to have expert level skills at something when they can do the skill without thinking about it, the act is second nature, instinctual almost.

[Camp10]

I agree with Crash. I might add though that not even an expert knows everything about every subject in their field. I wouldnt say that a person has to know how to make fire with everything that can make fire to be an expert in firecraft. If a person can make a fire everytime he needs a fire, wouldnt that be pretty good?

[wareagle69]

to expand a bit
when several others in the same field pass those accolades onto this person or school then i might say ok.
this term can be tricky to the average person-if someone knows more about a topic then most folks then i can see the term being loosley handed down, its easy to baffle most with bs
to add onto what camp10 also posted i think that if one can go out into the wilds in any weather condition lets say been raining for 3 days and come back with fire then they are closer to mastering that skill, i guess that could be another term, mastering a skill.
go points folks thanks
WE

[your_comforting_company]

I have to agree that "expert" is a relative term. to a neophyte who's never made a friction fire before, I might appear an expert when I twirl a fire by hand. The truth is that I really only know a few things that work really well together to make fire. I would not call myself an "expert" because I don't know all there is to know about any single field. A better term might be "practitioner" lol.
on the flip side of the coin, Mr. Cutts, I would say is an expert because he can tell you from memory 25 or 30 combinations of materials that make fire together, He can go into the woods and come back with materials to make fire, and then make it.
RWC has such a nice way with words, I might consider him a expert ... a Master-debater or at the very least a cunning-linguist.

sorry.. just a little funny

[Rick]

"a person with special knowledge or ability who performs skillfully"

When in doubt, peruse your Funk and Waggoners. I think YCC is spot on. It's in the eye of the beholder. I've seen plenty of knives on here that I would easily say the maker is an expert. Mr. Busse or Mr. Randall, on the other hand, might not agree.

You can only compare and contrast another person's skills against your own or some other person's to arrive at a conclusion.

I really don't think it matters as long as you are good enough to keep yourself alive. Unless you're looking for a teacher or mentor.

[hunter63]

"Expert"-----"Ex" , has been, former, useta was......"Pert", drip under pressure, leak.....
Any one can say...anything they want.....show me.

[trax]

As long as I can do what I need to do in the wilderness in order to survive, I really don't care what kind of title goes with it. I don't consider myself an expert at anything, it's not like I'm out to compete with someone over our skills sets. Some people might come with me into the bush and consider me an "expert" at lots of things, but it's only because they're not as experienced as I. I've been out in the bush with guys who do everything better than I do, good for them, I can still survive with the skills I have.

[rwc1969]

...
RWC has such a nice way with words, I might consider him a expert ... a Master-debater or at the very least a cunning-linguist.

sorry.. just a little funny

HAHAHA! But, I am master of my own domain so I guess that does make me an expert after all. LOL!

[finallyME]

I am definitely an expert. Just not sure what kind.

[hunter63]

HAHAHA! But, I am master of my own domain so I guess that does make me an expert after all. LOL!

Wasn't that a Jerry Seinfeld episode?

[crashdive123]

Wasn't that a Jerry Seinfeld episode?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nks25eQfxWI

[Batch]

We need an expert on experts to tell us who is an expert...

[Camp10]

We need an expert on experts to tell us who is an expert...

I think you have to elect someone for a job like that!!

[Rick]

Oh no. Another politician.

[wareagle69]

a little background to this question, yesterday i was at church and had somone looking at some of the new tatoo work i had done saturday night, now this guy can draw and is currently working with a tatoo artist that my tatoo artist trained but he has only done a couple of tats and was criticting the work i just had done i luaghed at him and aked where he got off being critical of someones work when he just got into the game, i asked him "what just cuz you have slung some ink a couple of times that makes you an expert" he replied yes, he said'you are an expert at what you do as am i" at which point i replied "i am no expert and neither are you" but it did make me think all day about the definition of an expert.

look i know some people who have been driving at car for 20 yrs, would never call them an expert