It is not. A bachelor’s in biology puts your biological knowledge leagues ahead of someone who has had neither formal training nor enthusiasm. You can see this if you simply do IDs on unknowns – you will see a lot of “Unknowns” where you think, “I thought everyone knew this one.”
I would have assumed that those of us who are formally trained, it is because nature is our passion. After all, it isn’t exactly a lucrative major compared with, say, business.
Both, if we’re only using the first option from a ‘work in the field’ stand point.
I have no formal education in the work, but I have been working in horticulture and ecology for around 18 years now. Before that I had been an enthusiastic, curious, research motivated amateur basically from the time I was old enough to be sat down on the grass outside lol. I can’t remember a time I wasn’t interested in the natural world.
Not quite sure which to choose - I do have a degree in Environmental Studies but I don’t feel like I learned much of anything I didn’t already know beforehand. It was mostly just an expensive piece of paper to prove I know things.
I said no formal training, but “formal training” should be defined. I have a Batchlor’s in Psychology and some years later got a second Batchelor’s in Biology, thinking it would help my job search. (It didn’t.) I also have a Permaculture certificate. I don’t think those add up to formal training, though.
A degree (in any field) shows a few other things that are often even more important to potential employers:
While a degree or other formal training is not required to possess these qualities, it does tend to increase their likelihood in the eyes of employers who are looking for a convenient way to size up someone’s capabilities. And of course there are plenty of people who have been successful at demonstrating these qualities by other means!
I appreciate your explanation though it wasn’t necessary. I am well aware of the low place I hold here and am oft reminded, no worries. I think it unlikely that treating someone one approached with kindness and decency would have imperiled one’s food supply at this particular public, MX institution, though obviously I cannot speak to the larger scientific community.
It was an odd thing to experience because in my work, professional ethics dictate treating everyone quite the same, not doing things one way for one person and another way for someone else. Like I said, I will likely still grant use if ever asked, but my replies are likely to be just that and nothing more.
To be clear, I did not do it for recognition. I offered up what I had observed based on his enthusiasm, to assist. I often worry I am wasting everyone’s time and bandwidth, and I have hovered over delete my account both here and on iNaturalist more times than I can count. My very first post was re: the same. To think some of my silly Observations might be useful is a wonderful thing. That’s all.
A frustrating experience! (I think most of us here know that degrees, etc., and knowledge about the natural world can go hand in hand but often don’t! Some people do get hung up on the formalities, though.)
I, like others, said formally trained, since I have both a bachelors degree and masters degree in science (environmental biology major for the first, molecular biology for the second) but I’m not sure that really is “related” in the sense that my undergrad was very agriculture-focused and my master’s was at a molecular level, so not studying the organisms so much as what was going on inside their cells. However, I was lucky to have parents who instilled a love of nature in me from day one, and I have always enjoyed watching the plants and animals in my world, as well as the insects! Maybe the formal training helps a tiny bit in terms of understanding things like scientific nomenclature ad taxonomy, but otherwise, I think iNat is more about having a passion for observing the natural world around me.
Academia is always a very difficult position to enter into, especially depending on your background. There are so many invisible barriers that some are lucky not to encounter but others may have to encounter regularly. To be able to simply get into post-secondary education is sadly a luxury a select few can afford. I am the first member of my family to graduate from university, and I consider that experience a wonderful opportunity. While not specifically in Biology, it has been a lifelong passion of mine. The magical thing about iNaturalist is having the opportunity to work alongside subject matter experts in a collaborative manner for the greater good. I hope one day as a community, we can make academia much more accessible to those who have not had the means to access it and free of judgment for those who want to participate.
It makes me sad that you have been made to feel this way.
I would not consider someone who has such obvious love and interest in the things they observe to have a “low” place in the iNat social structure. I always like reading your posts here in the forum and I highly doubt that your observations are useless.
I am macro photographer of Arthropods. I am very exited to be a part of this community. Without inaturalist, my journey wouldn’t have started.
I am a partner with my husband in a bush care (weeding) business. He has the formal training and I, without the formal training, tag along with my role in the business being administration.
By training I am a nurse and midwife.
I would have to agree with @spiphany
You have some beautiful observations and in my view every observation is important. iNaturalist provides a richness of data to the scientific community.
Having spent many frustrating hours trying to photograph dragonflies and their ilk I was to so happy 
to see you were able to photograph a Pale Green Darner on your hand.
My general B.S. in Biology taught me a lot about cellular biology, organic chemistry, and biochem, and prepared me to work for a while in a lab studying protein folding, but I hesitate to say it informed much of what I do on iNat. Most of the cohort I graduated with went into medicine in one form or another, and despite us having the same formal training, many of them couldn’t identify much of anything on a walk in the woods (though to be fair, I’ve forgotten most of the cellular stuff that they still use). I was already logging moth species at my Boy Scout camp and trying to make plates to illustrate the differences before I went to college, and I’ve done most of my natural history learning on my own. So I don’t know if I count as “formally trained” or not. Certainly formally trained in Biology, but not in moth identification/specimen preparation.
It should be noted that this is not really an either/or question.
I really meant “here, Mexico”, which is an extremely formal country in certain regards, so I do understand why I will never be held in any regard by scientific institutions, but of course the behavior does spill over to iNaturalist since they use this platform, as do their friends and admirers.
There are some really lovely people here (including in this thread, thank you) and some who pop up on my Observations now and then. When they do, I feel reassured even if they just offer a confirmation. Some of them are wonderfully credentialed and I feel really humbled they take the time to look at my photos. I can even think of two from here (MX) who have been quite kind and helpful. Those little moments have stilled my hand and continue to do so.
Related to some of the comments RE: “formal training” above and training in biology adjacent fields, I would like to add two thoughts:
Those types of learning experiences are mostly available to anyone who has the requisite time and resources to invest in them (of course, a biased subset of the public) and can be developed apart from the formal certificate of a degree or other credential.
Wasn’t sure which to vote for. I am currently in University, doing undergrad plant surveys and such, and I have been a volunteer at our state museum educating the public on our native and exotic wildlife before, but almost my entire knowledge comes from just being passionate and using iNat, getting out in the field and just seeing whats out there.
Yes. I just felt the urge to point it out explicitely, as a response to this either-or poll.
Amateur naturalist.
The biggest regret of my life was not becoming a botanist, which was my ambition in High School. I took every biology and related science course I could in H.S. and college, but my college Bio program was pre-med oriented, no botany, so I changed my major (should’a changed schools, instead) Didn’t want to have to keep dissecting things…
But I have never lost my love of all things nature related, and iNat is one way to keep learning, many decades later.