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Pro doesn't stand for Professor or anything. If you have 30 years of experience with something, then generally speaking, you're a pro.

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There's little upside in thinking of yourself as a pro. The upside is in aspiring to be a pro: attention to detail, questioning your choices, actively seeking the edge of your field, putting in the time to practice, and so on. Those who aspire to be a pro are more likely to have these qualities, whereas pros tend to assume they do.

On the contrary; it's a very GOOD idea to think of yourself as a pro.

A good professional takes pride in his work, and aspires to improve his craft.

False modesty gets you nowhere.

To clarify, I'm not referring to the image that society forces you to project. It's obviously a bad idea to claim incompetence.

That said, are you sure it's a good idea to remove modesty from your mind? It seems like more have fallen to pride than were lost to modesty.

Not in my experience.

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