Material for photo editing or digital imaging

I guess all of the amateur photo editor or digital imaging maker/designer know that it needs a lot of material to build or to make a workpiece (and independent workpiece not commercial use). And the material must be legal too. According to my experiences, there is a lot of source that surely free to use. The design material would be: photo stock, brush, vector, psd, and a lot of Photoshop elements (if you use Photoshop). But there are several disclaimer/agreements/ToS/ToC and mant other terms/condition that the user of all of the material/elements provided freely must be understand and obey to. Several term of agreements:
-Free to use in any occation.
-Free to use in any occation but have to report to the owner or declared the owner on the works.
-Free to use but must have to donate.
-Free to use, but non commercial.
And several others.
So be wise and smart (read first the agreements) if youare going to use any free material for your works.

A qualification for photo editor?

This i wrote because I have several time proposing as photo editor because I really have interest in photo editing. They told me that a photo editor must have a background of designer, since that i have only engineering education background but I increasing my photo editing knowledge through reading and internet browsing looking for tutorials. Could that possibly the main reason (education background) why i am not elected or being chosen as the photo editor? Not because of talented and still growing skill?