Re: What does it mean to be technical?

[Andrew Plato <gilliankitty -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

"Michael West" wrote

> Technical knowledge
> would be of little interest if the person has a
> track record of coming up to speed quickly in a
> new skill area (as most experienced instructional
> writers do).

People don't learn technical concepts very quickly, except those that already
have a strong technical skills.  Thus, if the material is technical in nature,
technical skills are a must. You can't expect people to "come up to speed
quickly" if they don't already have a strong base of "hard skills." 

Anybody can learn a tool or how to format graphics. These are easily trainable
"soft" skills. But teaching somebody how to critically analyze a complex system
drawing upon a solid base of scientific and technical knowledge cannot be
picked up quickly. 

Andrew Plato 

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