Why is technical competence so important?

The ability to seek, learn and use technology and technical information in order to support the achievement of organisation or team goals.

Your technical competence has a lot to do with the actual technical skills you've gained through training or by learning how to use a system. However, what this skill is all about is your ability to take the technical knowledge you have and assess how it can be used and apply it to practical situations. When looking at developing your technical competence, here's what you should be looking out for:

Supporting technological change

Have you looked at the ways technology can be used to make a task or project easier or more efficient? This shows your understanding of the potential of technology not as a threat but as an opportunity to enhance your performance.

Treating complex technical issues correctly

This is where you use your critical thinking to sort through the technical knowledge you have and understand how it can help you resolve an issue. 

Identifying a technical issue

In order to resolve an issue, you need to know that it is there. This is all about you once again looking at the knowledge you have to help you identify if everything is correct. 
 

Why is it important? - Top 3 reasons:

It minimises risks - The combination of technical knowledge and knowing how to use it and in which situations helps you make better decisions, thus leaving less room for mistakes.
It makes you more efficient - Having an understanding of when and what kind of technology can be used can help you become more efficient and improve your performance.
It makes you adjustable - Technological change happens rapidly and it's not possible to always keep up with the latest no matter how hard you try. Your technical competence can help you identify which changes will affect you the most and how you can still add value even if you don't know how to use a certain system or tool.