Learning Un-professionals?

I think @cammybean touched on this a while back looking at ID's (Instructional Designers) and who out there had any formal qualifications.

Thinking about myself, I have no formal qualifications in instructional design or e-Learning in the slightest. For the past 5 months I have learnt from Twittering mainly. I bought a book and I have also spent time researching white papers, breaking LMS's and finding out how much I can do with authoring systems by trial and error.

The majority of it all - seems to me - is down to experience. (Note the aptly named title of my blog) I wouldn't say for a moment though that having some form of qualification wouldn't help! Of course it would. It gives you a structure, a foundation and I am a stickler for processes and structure.

If I look at my last job, I was a Communications Rep communicating to the wider internal operations on a Private Sector contract managing the internal intranet knowledge base. I had no experience whatsoever but throwing myself in the deep-end helped me build experience and I ended up being one of the main SME's on the contract. No qualifications needed.

Now I am on a different path and learning how to swim again without the aid of floats!

Whether you are a learning professional or a learning un-professional, the majority of the knowledge you will build will come from experience.

If you have any thoughts on what I have mentioned, arguments to the contrary or are just plain interested, leave a comment on my blog.