01 · The way you introduce your job
Soy médico.
I'm a doctor. (No article — never soy un médico.)
Spanish drops the un/una before a profession. Adding it is the classic English-speaker tell.
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Job Seeker
Introduce yourself by profession, ask what people do, and talk work — out loud.
In Spanish you introduce your job with ser and no article: soy médico, es profesora — never soy un médico, and never estar, because a profession is identity, not a temporary state. Most job words come in gendered pairs (médico/médica, profesor/profesora), and the everyday versions are often warmer than the textbook ones: students say el profe, offices say el jefe or el patrón, and in Mexico a lawyer gets called el licenciado. One regional trap: a waiter is el mesero in Mexico and el mozo in Argentina — camarero is Spain.
Below: the profession words lesson by lesson, what jobs are called in Mexico versus Argentina, the slips that give you away — and a way to practice them the way &Be teaches all vocabulary: by saying the words in real conversation, no flashcards, no drills.
The warm-up pack
How you'd actually introduce what you do — at a party, not in a job interview.
01 · The way you introduce your job
Soy médico.
I'm a doctor. (No article — never soy un médico.)
Spanish drops the un/una before a profession. Adding it is the classic English-speaker tell.
02 · Same pattern, opposite gender
Es profesora.
She's a teacher.
Ser, not estar — a profession is identity, not a temporary state, so ser is the only option.
03 · What Latin America calls any doctor
Voy al doctor.
I'm going to the doctor. (Latin America — covers any specialty in casual speech.)
El médico is the textbook noun. Doctor is what people actually say when talking about the visit.
04 · Softer than saying 'I'm a tutor'
Doy clases particulares.
I give private lessons.
Soy tutor sounds formal and a little stiff. This is what people actually say about the work.
05 · How programmers describe themselves
Soy ingeniero en sistemas.
I'm a systems engineer. (The typical way programmers introduce themselves across Latin America.)
More common than soy programador — this is the job-title version people reach for first.
06 · The startup-Spanish version
Soy desarrollador.
I'm a developer.
Shorter, more casual, and exactly what you'll hear inside any startup office.
07 · More natural than 'I'm a salesperson'
Trabajo en ventas.
I work in sales.
Soy vendedor is correct but sounds a little blunt. This is the phrasing people actually reach for.
08 · The guy who fixes everything
El técnico viene a casa.
The technician's coming to the house.
One word, técnico, covers internet, appliances, almost anything that breaks — no need to specify what.
09 · Your go-to mechanic
Me lo arregla el mecánico de confianza.
My trusted mechanic fixes it for me.
De confianza — 'trusted' — is how you talk about any tradesperson you actually rely on, not just mechanics.
10 · Calling the painter
Llamemos al de las pinturas.
Let's call the painter guy.
Casual speech skips the job noun entirely — el de las pinturas literally means 'the paint guy', and everyone understands exactly who you mean.
11 · No stigma in that title
Ella es la jefa, sin tabú.
She's the boss, no taboo about it.
La jefa is said completely plainly across Latin America — a female boss needs no softening or workaround.
FLUENT
Finally, someone to talk to in Spanish.
Ten-minute spoken lessons. A teacher who answers back — and gently fixes what you got wrong.
First 10 lessons freeandbefluent.com/spanish/job-seekerRegional Spanish
Textbooks teach one word. Locals use several — pick your region's and stay consistent.
| English | Mexico | Argentina |
|---|---|---|
| waiter | el mesero | el mozo |
| boss | el jefe o el patrón | el jefe o el dueño |
| doctor (casually) | el doc o el doctorcito | el médico |
| elementary school teacher | el maestro | la seño |
Watch out
The part no drill site can do
Olivia
Your vocabulary teacher for this pack
There are no flashcards in the Job Seeker lessons and nothing to match or memorize — you learn each profession by using it out loud. Olivia plays the other guest at a get-together who actually wants to know what you do: you answer with soy ingeniero en sistemas or trabajo en ventas, then she flips it and makes you ask about her work, her sister the nurse, her cousin the mechanic — one ser + profession at a time, until introducing yourself by job stops needing a rehearsal. And she talks back.
Blank mid-sentence and nothing bad happens — she waits. That's the practice, without unnecessary judgement.
Finish the 6 lessons and Job Seeker is yours — earned, not given.
First 10 lessons free · 10-minute spoken lessons · your AI coaching team remembers you
Quick answers
Ser, always: soy médico, es profesora. A profession counts as identity, and identity takes ser — estar is for temporary states, so using it for your job is one of the fastest ways to sound like a beginner.
Soy médico — Spanish drops the article before professions. Soy un médico is the classic English-speaker slip; the bare noun (soy médico, es profesora) is what natives say.
Depends where you are: el mesero in Mexico, el mozo in Argentina, and camarero in Spain — best avoided in Latin America. For drivers there's a similar split: el chofer is what people actually say day to day, more than el conductor.
El profesor is a teacher generally; el maestro is an elementary-school teacher. Students shorten both to el profe. Bonus: across Latin America, el maestro on its own is also what you call the carpenter or electrician who comes to fix your house.
Usually, yes: médico/médica, profesor/profesora — and la jefa for a female boss is completely normal across Latin America. Some stay the same for both, like estudiante.