The Particulars of Technical Training
At some point in your instructional design career, you may have the opportunity to develop technical training.
This might be referred to as systems training or product training. Quite different from growing soft skills in the workplace, technical training aims to develop skills with a particular digital tool.
Learning solutions may look like vILT workshops, video tutorials, software simulations, or labs in training environments.
While simulations can be very useful, you can also design hands-on activities in training environments. Planning real world tasks in an environment where learners don’t have to worry about ‘breaking’ the system is beneficial because learners can take risks and experiment independently.
I’ve developed technical training for internal employees who needed to learn new workplace software, as well as external customer education programs for clients to learn how to use our products.
Part of the reason why I like technical training is how straightforward it is. The lack of ambiguity makes my objectives very clear: learners need to be able to get into the system and do x, y, and z.
Technical training comes with its complications, of course. Developing training amidst a never ending flow of UI updates and functionality releases keeps you on your toes. A lot of it involves swapping out screenshots which can get tedious.
I personally appreciate how job-specific technical training can be. Developing human skills can feel more generic, while technical training is all about growing your skillset on one particular platform.
For some examples of technical training, check out customer education YouTube channels for popular companies like Miro, Atlassian, or Articulate.
Working at a software company, my entire workload is producing technical training, and I am loving the challenge of gaining expertise in a digital product and figuring out how to share that knowledge with our clients.
If you are a tech-savvy L&D professional, look into technical instructional design opportunities. These positions are genuinely a load of fun.
