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As in, I want to say veterans/old hats at doing something instead of beginners
at doing something.

Edit: Thank you for all the responses. I wasn't looking to imply skill, so I
think 経験者 is the word I am looking for, but I learned a lot of other great
words through the responses.
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word-choice words word-requests
What is the opposite of 初心者?
I think it's [熟練者]{じゅくれんしゃ}...

[Source](http://thesaurus.weblio.jp/antonym/content/%E5%88%9D%E5%BF%83%E8%80%85)
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2015-11-03T12:09:45.910
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The word I hear most common for this is: ベテラン.

The second one: 経験者{けいけんしゃ}.
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2015-11-03T12:37:31.370
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This depends on context. At this point I would say macraf's answer
(particularly 経験者) is the best (at least in my findings), but if we are indeed
talking about skill involved (IE, you can rank someone, like in a game) 中級者
and 上級者 must also be considered.

Again, considering the context (perhaps you can give a bit more?) none of
these may sound natural.
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2015-11-03T13:08:44.620
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Again, depending on context, other possible terms include 玄人【くろうと】 and
専門家【せんもんか】.
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If you are just looking to say someone who is very good at certain thing, then
how about 達人【たつじん】? I hear that often.
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People also use プロ quite widely. I once tried to ask a host family if I could
say 素人 and 玄人, and my host mother laughed and told me that nobody used 玄人 -
only プロ。
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You guys are all correct! :)

I would use 経験者（けいけんしゃ）. It really depends on the context. I'll list the ones
that weren't in this thread.

  * エキスパート（expert in katakana has the same meaning as in English）
  * プロ（professional）
  * 腕利き（うできき）
  * カリスマ（someone who is really good that he/she is almost revered.）

As you might know, a lot of English words are borrowed today, so it might be
useful to know these words.
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