A person who works with others to teach them the technical aspects of a specific job or product is called a technical trainer. Virtually any industry that makes use of technology will have one or more types of technical trainer jobs. Some of the more common places where such skills are used are in the communications field, in computers and in aerospace. Within these are various levels of expertise and specialization.
Technical trainer jobs have a lot of similarities to them, regardless of the industry. One of the main tasks of a technical trainer is to communicate the essential parts of a technical system to the company’s employees. An in-house technical trainer might instruct newly hired employees in the required use of specifications used for creating technical documentation, or how to use proprietary software. Another type of in-house trainer typically teaches new and existing employees the technical aspects of a company’s product line.
There are other technical trainer jobs; some involve teaching customers to use the technology they are purchasing. This type of trainer must not only be knowledgeable about the company’s products, but he or she must also be skilled with public relations. The sales and marketing team gets the product sold, but if the customer is unable to use it or feels that it is too difficult, the sale can be canceled. A poor trainer can often cause the loss of future sales due to an unhappy customer.
In some cases there is room for specialization within the field of technical training. This is especially true in large companies, where there may be a good-sized group of people involved in the various aspects of training. In addition to teaching employees and customers, other technical trainer jobs may sometimes be limited to a single area of expertise. It can be quicker for specialists to develop and write the training materials while other members of the staff do the actual training, for example.
When technical trainer jobs are highly specialized, there is often an entire team that does nothing but focus on teaching a specific product. This is especially true when the product involved is large, complicated or expensive. By dividing up the various training tasks each person is able to develop improved skills in his or her area of specialty. One person develops the training materials, another teaches and still another evaluates ongoing needs, interfaces with other departments within the company and arranges the details of each class, such as time and location.
