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Any good stories about people getting fed up with the mess created by occupational licensing and just getting a license/certificate/whatever on their own, not even planning on making it a full-time occupation?
I saw a reddit post this week from someone who became a real estate agent just to sell their own house, with a, "Maybe it'll be helpful in future situations, too." Requirements differ by state, but it's typical that a basic requirement would be a relative short, relatively easy, relatively cheap course plus a relatively cheap, relatively easy test. I think they still had to "attach" themselves to a broker, but there is apparently a little industry of brokers who will pretty much just accept a small fee and otherwise let you pretty much do what you want. Looks like in some states, you can just do a small amount of additional coursework to upgreyyyed to being able to ignore even that and just do it under your own name (or and LLC or whatever).
I know a small-time landlord who got fed up with finding good HVAC guys. He just went to a community college to do the learning (not sure if this is even strictly required) and took the EPA's test. He's not contracting out to do work for other people, so he doesn't have to do the insane number of hours/full-time work to get contractor certified.
I'm sure there's a wide range of possibilities, with a range of ridiculous regulatory barriers. My guess is that the worst (to industry-protectionists, "most effective") barriers are ones that require a bunch of hours/years of full-time work underneath someone else who has already paid in to the cartel. What's surprisingly feasible... or maybe even a good idea/valuable? Any good examples of people doing seemingly-infeasible things just as a middle finger to the BS? Like, someone out there has probably gotten a law license just to not have to deal with any of that shit (my sense is that in a lot of places, yes, you'll have to pay a bunch of money to the cheapest online school you can find, but then, you pretty much just have to pass a test, no BS about needing to further work full-time for a long time under another licensed attorney or anything)... but even I can't imagine climbing the utterly insane walls that are set up to protect doctors.
I'm not sure the premise is correct. AFAIK, you generally don't need a license to provide professional services to yourself.
I've been told some home improvements require permits, and you must pass the inspection when it's done, and I suspect the inspector would probably be inclined to double and triple check stuff if they learn that the project is DYI and no licensed professional has been involved. So unless the matter is trivial, you'd still have to learn the codes and the regulations to the point that passing the exam may not be that big of a deal.
Some home improvement permits require license numbers from relevant professionals, too.
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