earn one's stripes

Gain a position through hard work and accumulated experience. For example, She'd earned her stripes by serving for years as the governor's secretary and personal aide . This expression alludes to a military promotion or award, indicated by strips of chevron or braid added to the recipient's uniform and known as stripes since the early 1800s.

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Juro (2)	joo:-ṙo:	Japanese
Timotha	TIM-ə-thə	English (Rare)
Vlad	VLAHT (Russian)	Russian, Romanian, Medieval Slavic
Hava	-	Hebrew
Brittany	BRIT-nee, BRIT-ə-nee	English
FatoŞ	-	Turkish