The education to become an assistant nurse in Sweden has varied over time and between municipalities. As a consequence people choosing the profession are not guaranteed a high level of skill sets (SOU 2019: 20). With demographic changes, such as an ageing population, the need for more assistant nurses will be manifested in the profession (SCB, 2018). In this thesis the needs of assistant nurses are voiced regarding competence and definitions, to gain knowledge that may be helpful in order to strengthen their position in the labour market. The aim of this study was to investigate how assistant nurses in the elderly care system in Nybro municipality, think about formal and informal competence in their professional field. An explanatory sequential design was used, where data was collected by both a survey and interviews. The survey formed the basis of the study and the interviews were used to deepen and nuance knowledge about the assistant nurses’ opinions and experiences.  Professional theory, Scandinavian institutional theory and theory of human service organizations, have been used to analyse the data. According to the assistant nurses there is a difference between working with someone who has a formal education, compared to someone who does not have such an education.