hi all,
as I'm just 23, professional sound-tech (without degree), I'm not supposed to ramble here (with long-life-experience hobbyists mixed with highly professionals) but...
synonymous (if I do write it right, LOL ) means standing instead of something because it's similar (at least in german) and therefore non-pro or un-pro can't replace amateur in it's original meaning.
as appendix I'd like to stress out that a professional or professionalism to me means that even if a band treats you like a dog you still do like your job because you like the things to do.
If a pro isn't a amateur too, he chose the wrong job. (what probably many did in our business, because it's a game with images, minds, hearts)
If a hobbyist doesn't get to the stage of an amateur he'll probably quit soon.
I do have a wife. I'm a sound pro (of course not compareable to most guys 30s upward), I once had the necessity to write songs for keep going (used it as "ease")(no critique on the doctor, he doesn't want to be a pro so it's gonna work for him probably the rest of his life) then discovered it is type of unhealthy to my mind (because I wanted to be a pro too) and since then I use music as my way of thinking. I really do just know what I think when I hear it
all my respect to you seasoned humans, wished I were born some decades earlier... (seriously)