Online tools make it easy for people to share ideas. A wealth of knowledge is available to us on the internet. The opportunity is there to learn from other people’s experiences, both personal and professional.
Distinguishing authoritative advice from inexperienced opinion is not easy. The problem is that too many people express their opinions without realizing they’re not as knowledgeable as they think they are.
I’ve watched people jump into consulting roles without any prior experience in the fields they’re advising on. No relevant degree. No track record of success in that industry. No hands-on experience with the challenges their clients actually face. They may have good intentions, but it’s not enough to replace knowledge gained through real-world experience.
It’s not so much that inexperienced people are giving advice. It’s the lack of awareness that’s the real issue.
Two Types of Inexperience
There is a huge difference between being inexperienced and being unqualified.
An inexperienced person asks questions because they’re aware of the fact they’re lacking knowledge in certain areas.
They listen. They observe how decisions are made and why. They know their limits. They know when they make a mistake and learn from them.
A person who’s inexperienced and ignorant skips all of that. They believe confidence equals competence.
They assume their skills can apply across industries. They give advice without context. They speak in absolutes. They dismiss real-world experience as outdated or unnecessary.
Both people lack experience. Yet only one is dangerous.
Why Industry-Specific Knowledge Is Important
In my field, resumes don’t work the way most people think they do. A traditional business resumes list experience chronologically, current position first, working backward. My industry does something completely different. We list our best work first, regardless of when it happened. Success comes before chronology.
Someone who’s unfamiliar with this practice might create their resume the “normal” way. Only to wonder why they’re not getting callbacks. They’d be operating on assumptions that seem logical but are wrong for this particular field. An experienced professional would know this immediately.
An inexperienced person would be willing to ask or do their own research. An ignorant, inexperienced person would insist the traditional way is “correct” and blame the industry for being unfair.
This pattern repeats across every field. Every industry has its own practices and unwritten rules that seem obvious to insiders but are invisible to outsiders. You can’t ask Google or ChatGPT to figure everything out for you. Sometimes knowledge only comes from doing.
Where Bad Advice Comes From
Bad advice comes from people assuming that something is true because it makes sense to them.
Using a platform is not the same as understanding how it does business.
Being visible is not the same as being accountable.
Having opinions is not the same as having expertise.
Decision making isn’t about what sounds right. It’s about what has been tested, measured, and the price one had to pay when it failed.
People forget that last part. The consequences of following bad advice are severe. The competition in almost every industry is fierce. More people are competing for fewer opportunities. The margin for error has shrunk.
When someone without experience gives advice, they’re influencing real decisions that affect real outcomes. Failures cost money. Sometimes they cost reputations or opportunities that won’t come back.
Experience Exists for a Reason
Experience doesn’t exist for the sake of someone’s ego. Certain knowledge only comes from doing the work.
If you’re inexperienced in an area but want to change that, start by acknowledging what you don’t know. It’s better to be honest about your limitations than by pretending you’re some know-it-all.
Seek out people with real experience in your industry. Ask questions. Listen more than you talk. Every field has its own language, customs, and unwritten rules. What works in one area doesn’t automatically transfer to another. Being inexperienced isn’t a character flaw. We all have to start somewhere. What’s bad is when you mix inexperience with overconfidence, arrogance and a refusal to learn. That’s a recipe for disaster.
📌 Changelog
- December 6, 2025: Changed the formatting and re-wrote the article to improve the flow and make it easier to read.
- January 9, 2009: Date article was originally published.
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