Who Counts as an Expert?

03 Jun, 2025

Who counts as an expert?

I've interviewed over 70 candidates in the last year across product management, design, and development. Some confidently introduced themselves as “experts” in their field, with lines like: “You can consider me an expert in XYZ” or “People hire experts like me because of XYZ.”

And to be fair, most of them were good. They knew what they were doing and were confident in presenting their work. But with a little probing, it was clear they were no experts.

I’m particularly fond of a UX designer who claimed to be an expert but couldn’t offer a coherent answer to a basic question. I picked his case study and asked how the behavioural aspects of the persona he created informed his design. A lot of jargon followed, but no real substance.

Having interviewed for a few years now, I can say with some confidence: the “expert” phenomenon is on the rise. And while it’s frustrating (and a waste of time), it’s not surprising.

Tom Nichols, in The Death of Expertise, talks about how people have become overconfident thanks to easy access to information. The internet has blurred the line between knowing something and understanding it. Between breadth (knowing a little about a lot) and depth (knowing anything deep enough to claim expertise).

He blames the media (especially social media) for encouraging sensationalism and turning complex issues into oversimplified debates. He also blames higher education for becoming consumer-oriented, prioritising student satisfaction over academic rigour, and rewarding affirmation over critical thinking.

And this plays out in full glory on LinkedIn, where you’ll often come across experts who can “teach” and “train” you to “become experts”, with just a few months (sometimes not even that) of experience.

One of my favourite examples is an “ex-Microsoft Product Management expert” who reached out offering a bootcamp to boost my salary to a six-figure monthly income. Curious, I checked his profile. He’d graduated just last year, had no real work experience, and had never worked at Microsoft. He’d simply done a certification anyone can apply for.

And that’s just one example. We’ve reached a point where we’ve turned confidence into currency, forgetting that confidence needs to be based on something.

Which brings us back to the question: Who counts as an expert?

It’s a tough one. I’m certainly not the expert who can answer that. But a good criterion for assessing if one is on the path to becoming an expert could be: “Am I able to see where my knowledge ends?”

Real experts, the ones worth their salt, are often the first to admit what they don’t know—not with false humility, but with an understanding of how vast the subject truly is. If you’ve stopped doubting yourself entirely, you’ve probably stepped out of learning and into performance.

And while performance can bring benefits, it cannot sustain the rigour required to be called an expert, keeping the performer a step away from being called out.