If you look up calling at the same source, you will find it defined as;

... a strong inner impulse toward a particular course of action ...

It would seem then that at its core, being a professional and having a profession is not so much a function of what the term or title for your job is or even what the compensation is. Rather, it seems to be about having and interest and passion and dedication for what you do, coupled perhaps with a bit of knowledge or insight that make certain concepts or phenomenon understandable and readily accomplished by you while they might be puzzling or incomprehensible to others. Personally, I know that I have interacted with professionals from many walks of life, including:

A trash collector who would take a moment to sort out the recyclables that had erroneously been placed in the wrong bin and who would return the various containers and trash cans to your curbside, neatly arranged and with the lids on them versus strewn about the street and flower gardens.

A lawyer, who after giving me very good legal advice on the problem I had consulted with him about, proceeded to provide what time has shown to be one of the best bits of advise on life I have ever received. The legal issue was inextricably interwoven with life and his knowledge, emotionally detached position, and life experience gave him an insight that he felt was important and chose to share. None-the-less, the bill was for the 30 minutes he spent reviewing my legal issue, not the hour and a half he spent helping me think through the bigger picture.

A doctor who was enough of a scientist to take care of first things first and heal the life threating illness that was challenging me, who then took the time to council me a bit on the spiritual side of things, because I suspected that the two might be related. In his belief system, they were and and he knew that true healing would involve the melding of science and spirituality. I don't really know this, but I suspect that my insurance company compensated him at the same rate as they would have compensated someone who kept me alive but figured I was on my own to sort the rest of it out.

Just yesterday I had an experience with an Amtrak gate agent who was the consummate professional; he solved a challenging problem and delivered customer satisfaction and service rather than strict adherence to company policy. And he did it all with a smile, some friendly conversation and commiseration on the problem, and a parting wish for the well being of myself and my son. And, while I can't prove it, his demeanor would indicate that a big part of the reason he interacted with me and others that way (I watched him work with several other folks as I waited in line) was that he loved what he did and he loved being a part of trains and railroads and the history of it all and hoped you might get a sense of that to through your interaction with him.

So, I guess my point here is that I consider all of these individuals and the others like them that I had the pleasure of interacting with to be true professionals who stood out from their peers in carrying out their calling;  pearls you might say among us oysters (O.K. so I gave you a little hint about the Buffett connection). But, I also suspect that in the eyes of some, their titles or callings would not be considered professions and that their compensation would not be commensurate with the value of what they delivered, assuming it could even be measured or have a value placed on it.

My observation and experience has been that compensation and professionalism in the broader sense that I have been discussing it go hand in hand. People, providing a service that comes from a strong inner impulse and dedication to their chosen calling will be seen as delivering a superior service. And, over time, if they can be open to it, their dedication and passion will lead them to a level of compensation - financial and otherwise - that is above the average for the particular type of work associated with their profession. A couple of points here.

One is that, from my experience, you have to be open to allowing yourself to do well financially or otherwise. That sounds easy, but it isn't and can take a lot of soul searching, maturity and other things that take time to develop. But, again, from my experience, once you say "its O.K. for me to succeed" and maybe allow folks into your life who want to help with that, its amazing how quickly good things will come your way.

The second point is that, right or wrong, for what ever reason, our society places more value on some services and the professions associated with them than others. So, in the ideal world, you should be thinking about what your financial goals are when you choose your line of work because it is likely that there will be societal constraints placed on how much you can make by virtue of what you choose to do.

Of course, for many of us, there is more to this than money, and the fulfillment created by following heart and passion can be just as important as the compensation it generates. Take the engineering company I work for as an example (and several I worked for in the past for that matter). At its core, its a collection of folks with a genuine passion for what we do. Near as I can tell, all 45 or so of us - from the engineers to the support staff - are very good at what we do and love our jobs. For many of us, the real challenge is figuring out how to balance our love of the profession with the rest of life, which, near as I can tell, we also love. We are nicely compensated for our efforts, well above the cap Boatbuilder mentioned in his comment, including very generous profit sharing and extremely flexible work schedules. Of course, I suspect that we could make more money if we were doctors or lawyers or maybe even accountants. But then, we  chose to be engineers and, since we like doing that sort of thing, we feel privileged to be doing something we like to do in the company of others of a similar mind set with the added bonus of being well compensated.

One final point before I close here. The formal definition I cited originally mentions the possibility of long and intensive academic preparation as a part of the development path for a professional. And while I think that can be true, I also wanted to point out that its not necessarily a requirement. I say this speaking from my own experience, and also in the context of the definition, which qualifies the academics with the word "often". For me and many others, the knowledge you pick up on the job can be just as valuable, if not more valuable, than the book learning. Mentoring can be a huge part of this and is a topic that CSE magazine has begun to address in their content.  Related to this, I suspect that if I was being an apologist in the post that lead to Boatbuilder's comment (they postulated that I was, but since I didn't really know what it meant, I had to look it up; it means "one who speaks or writes in defense of someone or something"), it was because I felt the need to defend the countless mentors that have coached me and others through out our career, sharing their passion and showing us how to be professionals at what ever it is we do. There may be some poor professors, teachers, bosses, and instructors out there, but the great ones and the collective good they do by far out-weighs the bad ones.

And, as far as intensity goes, at least in my business, there are few things more intense than some of the events that can occur as buildings and systems are fabricated, brought on line, and operated. There have been several days where I could have done with just a bit less intensity thank you very much; perhaps something less vigorous like taking the EIT exam or signing off a log book stating that the plane I just inspected is airworthy and won't fall out of the sky in the next 100 hours of operation.

So, as a bottom line to Boatbuilder's comments, I would have to say that I know quite a few people who think engineering and related technical activities can be a very rewarding profession and an especially important field of endeavor for anyone with an interest in addressing the challenges we, as a society will face in the coming years as the resources we have taken for granted for the past century decline. (read Bill Coad's paper titled Energy Conservation is an Ethic on ASHRAE's web site or the related on-line discussion on his personal web site as well as some of the other stuff I link too in my posts on sustainable design  if you want some more perspective on that).

So, thanks Boatbuilder for taking the time to comment and for the inspiration. I'm truly sorry you are so unhappy doing what you do and hope you eventually find a profession that is as fulfilling, challenging, exciting, and rewarding (financially and otherwise) as engineering is for myself and countless others that I know.