UNLOCKING EMOTICONS BASED ON PROFESSIONAL SKILLS

Embodiments of the present invention disclose a method, computer program product, and system for unlocking emoticons based on professional skills. The computer may receive a user message or an emoticon database search term from a user, wherein a user's professional skill and an associated emoticon is determined based on the user message or the emoticon database search term. A plurality of user professional skills may be retrieved from a professional skills site. It may be determined whether a number of endorsements for the user's professional skill exceeds a threshold value, wherein the threshold value is set for each emoticon in an emoticon database. In response to it being determined that the number of endorsements for the user's professional skill does exceed the threshold value, an unlocking action may be performed that gives the user access to the associated emoticon in one or more messaging applications based on the determination.