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Notes -
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 think the premise is valid for the four examples I gave. Some are softer/harder barriers, but they're there for all of them. Like, yes, you can sell your house on your own, but you will have The Mark of The FSBO and the cartel will go to great lengths to prevent their buyers from even looking at your house (and warn them off very strongly if they find it on their own; maybe let's not get into details of MLS access). There are similar barriers for buying "unrepresented". You can't do your own AC work without passing the test (no quibbles with @hydroacetylene's statement; that is the nature of the barrier; you can just get the certification and not have to deal with contracting it out). Having someone with a law degree does open some barriers (in fact, in some states, having an attorney is required for real estate transactions, and in others, you can automatically get a real estate license, just for one example). And of course, the biggest one of all is that you absolutely cannot provide professional medical services to yourself... at least not anymore, anyway.
Perhaps I've managed to hit on the only four examples of certifications/licenses that are like this at all. I'd be a bit surprised, because those are four that just came to mind briefly. That's kinda why I was asking; I figured there would be other examples.
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Minor counterpoint- the EPA’s test is not intended as an occupational licensing regulation. It’s intended to enforce an environmental regulation.
Now most HVAC techs will tell you that that regulation is stupid. But what he did is entirely in line with the EPA’s regulation, which does not really care very much about having a contractor supervising the work- just about not venting Freon. You do not have to take classes at community college for the test- there’s study guides you can order online and take the test at a supply house, and honestly not using the study guide might get a passing score- but community college classes are certainly a way to get it.
Contractors licenses are mostly about insurance responsibility and code compliance. Now the lower grade(s) of licensing is straightforwardly a poll tax, but outside of unionized blue states no more than that.
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