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in the context of technology companies, I would define it as being able to code.
in a more general context, it is about reaching a level of competence and expertise
for example, an accountant that is technical would be comfortable with complex transactions.
Yeah I haven't really seen "technical" used to describe competency in a lot of other industries, but this makes sense. I think it's most applicable in the tech industry for coding, knowing coding languages, etc.
I’d personally consider it the ability to produce actual technical deliverables (code, etc), but being able to do an in-depth discussion on system design or other technical solutions might qualify depending on your level and role.
There are a lot of people who are extremely misleading in their skillset obviously. If all you can do is organize PowerPoint slides, you’re not technical.
I like this definition because you’ve broadened it with “technical deliverables”. Also, the ability to have in-depth technical discussions is a key qualification
I define as being able to code hands on, or have had practical coding background, ea: swe switching into technical pm role.
Full stack competency…being able to review architecture/other people’s code and check for errors, efficiency, etc
The OP wrote "technical" not "SWE". I see this all the time -- brogrammer SWEs with a superiority complex.
Being able to code minimally, competency in architectures and databases, proficiency in systems design.
This is the real answer.
I'd add that technical denotes a level of detail and depth, not knowing only the what but also the how.
Engineers define it as being an engineer. Everyone else defines it as having a mid level understanding of the technology and being able to speak somewhat competently about it.
Pro
Selling and interpersonal skills tend to require a certain personality and temperament, and a good seller doesn't necessarily need to have more than a conceptual understanding of what they are selling does and how it operates. Good sellers also don't usually have time to invest in learning much of those details.
Technical people are usually more detail oriented and often less adept in social situations. They understand how things work really well, but they often struggle to effectively share that understanding with others.
Technical sellers bridge that gap, which could be seen as a sliding scale. Some are better at explaining and selling, where others have a deeper understanding of the nuts and bolts of things.
I define “Technical” as whether or not you can architect at the infra or platform level, and you can read logs or interpret system metrics. Most
non-engineers can easily skill up and do this…
I think you’re “very technical” if you can code and perform debugging. This is more of a developer/engineer skillset.
It varies enough by company and by role to the point that it’s tough to follow one general definition
I agree with this. There are a lot of potential roles in tech that demand a wide range of skill sets. You can be technical as a coder, or as a solutions architect, or as a systems engineer, or as a PM, or… I like the deliverables definition above for that reason.
Rising Star
It depends on what your role is, I am a TPM but I do not code or develop nor will I ever be asked to work in that capacity in any job — I do need to understand technology and requirements and translate it up/down to many audiences, know the lifecycle, dependencies, and risk, support dev teams, and lead business alignment and key offerings from the technical side.
I know where the power switch is on my laptop.
Contributor to the linux net 2.0. Built two ISPs from scratch. Designed firewalls for major manufacturer. Forensic computer investigations. Penetration tester for gov. Pythonista.
The dos prompt screen excites you (j/k)
Id say just being able to know how to use technologies and how they work. Like for my case Splunk, Nessus and more.
To be technical is almost always associated with engineering work. Being it HW or SW design, or the management of those technical functions (eg technical project/program manager). When I see a job posting with that word for a manager it normally means they expect that manager to have a technical (HW, SW) background to allow them to manage a tech team
“technique” is applicable to “skill or ability in a particular field” (eg music) whereas “technical” is mainly “concerned with applied and industrial sciences”
I would upvote that 100%. I've had many interviews where I proceed to final round and then get a rejection. The reason they give is that other guy was too technical and that too in round two out of 5
Not only do you know how the sausage is made, you think about more efficient ways to make the sausage while not affecting quality. In fact, you create new techniques, new flavor combinations etc. Apply that discipline to any field, including sales, and you are technical within it. But generally, it refers to technology, not just information technology.
I’m assuming we’re not talking about literal engineers, who are by definition technical, but rather technical product and program managers. A “technical” resource can do technical solutioning and influence implementation through their knowledge of systems architecture, APIs, and data models. They should be able to read code and figure out what it’s doing, even if they themselves don’t code.
Just working on user-facing software requirements doesn’t make you technical. By that standard almost every product manager is technical.
Going to be a lot of gray areas here. My definition of it would be having the ability to perform whatever the company is doing to some degree. If I was 100% people manager and had no idea how to code or anything, that isn’t technical. But I also don’t see it as being in a senior position with tons of projects under your belt to be considered technical either.