trick of the trade

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trick of the trade (plural tricks of the trade)

1. (idiomatic) A shortcut or other quick, or very effective way of doing things, that professional workers learn from experience.
   • 1858, Thomas Carlyle, Critical and Miscellaneous Essays, page 130:

     For the most part, he has some knack, or trick of the trade, which by close inspection can be delected, and so the heart of his mystery be seen into.

   • 1861, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, page 520:

     There is no trick of the trade which he does not know, no artifice which he does not which he does not habitually practise.

   • 1945 January and February, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—III”, in Railway Magazine, page 14:

     We spent a lot of time up on the staging of the great furnaces, trying to pick up the tricks of the trade from the taciturn furnacemen who sat around placidly smoking, or chewing twist, and occasionally throwing in more pig iron to the molten white-hot metal.

   • 2006, Ed van Hinte, Under Cover: Evolution of Upholstered Furniture, page 60:

     Most customers won't notice this trick of the trade, since the part is not sat upon.