Is everyone a garden designer these days.

It seams that today every man or woman and his dog claim to be a garden designer you only have to look at peoples profiles on twitter and you come across thousands of them. Wife, Mother and Garden Designer Horticulturist, Dog lover and Garden Designer is it just a status symbol to class your self as a Garden designer ?. Is it for the extra money you can charge Calling yourself a Designer rather than a gardener or landscaper and is there really a big need for all these Garden Designers. The other problem is that most of these self proclaimed garden designers have actually very little practical experience they have simply done a 5 min internet coarse that has given them a certificate with the word Garden Design on. Now don't get me wrong there are many very good highly skilled designers out there doing very well that is not who i am moaning about. Its these short internet coarse that put false hope into peoples heads that they are all going to be the next Diarmuid Gavin the reality is that 99% wont, It takes many years of hard graft starting at the bottom with a shovel in your hand not a pencil that makes a true good designer. You have to know about how plants grow the conditions they like and there eventual size as well as the hard landscaping material choice, cement mixes and many more items that are all learned on the job over many years. Yes the designs may look pretty on a piece of paper but the reality is that most don't work when they are put in the ground i know many people who have spent a lot of money on getting a designer in to find 3 or 4 years down the line. They have to spend lots more putting right the mistakes made wrong choice of plants that have grown in to a jungle over planting. Wrong choice of hard landscaping materials and even damp in the house due to wrong levels when the site was leveled. The other problem is the large sums of money that individuals are paying for these online courses some company's are charging over £2000.00 for a design course. Horticulture is a practical job even if you are sat in an office you still need to have lots of practical experience otherwise it will all go wrong. Please don't be taken in by these courses if you want to be a designer start at the bottom in the soil with your hands dirty and then you will have the skills to make great designs that work.