Has anyone else found that if you advance a few levels in your profession, that it gets 'stuck' trying to research the next and never finished. Preventing me from changing profession or advancing in the current one! this has happened several times for me :/

What do you mean? You send your character to study the profession, and thus increase his/her level, then you don't get confirmation it was successful?
If so, it seems like an occasional bug; I've never seen such a thing myself.
Maybe you can try loading the auto-save from the beginning of the turn?

That's odd, because once you're done with a level, you aren't able to advance one more level for four years, so it shouldn't start it automatically. However, it explains why it doesn't complete.
I'd say wait four years and see it it allows you to advance manually then.

Am i missing a patch or something? i come across bug after bug after bug, game breaking ones.
Apart from massive interface bugs with the 'money lending' business, i continue to find more bugs than the original one. I dont see anyone else saying these things, so surely im missing something?
*dont get me wrong, i think this game has very interesting features, but these bugs seem totally game breaking, and i dont see anyone else having the same problems!

Once you get to master level, you MUST choose a new proffesion, or else you will just keep on studying in your current one. It's not a bug, but more of an automatic cap. You can change your proffesion (even in mid training) if you click in the upper part of the screen, in the player controls (or something) tab.

I'm having the same problem as the op. Whenever I train up to the second level of blacksmith my character it completes it automatically says he is training up to the next one, and never finishes. I waited upwards of six years game time and no change. I've tried reloading, same thing. I've tried making a new game, same thing. I've tried uninstalling, re-installing, same thing. Any help would be appreciated. Whether it be a fix to the bug, or a cheat to up my master level bypassing it.