Top 15 Technician Skills and Qualities to Succeed in your Career

Having excellent technical skills and qualities is usually required to succeed in certain careers; this post helps you to discover and develop the major ones if you are a technician or work in a technical field.

Who is a Technician?

A technician is a problem solver in a given technological field. There are many fields in technology that require professional skills to solve problems.

A technician is an expert with relevant practical skills and theoretical knowledge in a particular field of technology.

These different technological fields demand experts who are well trained in solving problems related to that field.

Top 15 Technician Skills and Qualities to Succeed in your Career

In any field you find yourself as a technician, here are the necessary skills you will need to be effective in your job.

1. Inquisitive
2. Time management
3. IT skills
4. Advisory skills
5. Problem-solving skills
6. Reading skills
7. Business skills
8. Customer service skill
9. Mechanical aptitude
10. Detail-oriented
11. Focus
12. Verbal communication skill
13. Analytical skills
14. Teamwork
15. Independence

1. Inquisitive

Inquisitiveness is a primary skill to carry out investigations successfully.

A technician performs lots of investigations in regards to the job.

So, inquisition should be natural to you.

You will need it to get the root of the problem before you embark on finding a way to solve the problem.

You don’t assume problems and start working without first conducting a well detailed and structured sequence of troubleshooting.

Being inquisitive will help you know what you are working on and the expected result.

2. Time management

Time management is a great skill you shouldn’t overlook.

You require this skill to succeed as a technician, no matter your area of specialization and employment type.

You need to perform your job within the stipulated time and focus on achieving your goal as a technician.

Time management starts with strategic planning, doing the right thing at the right time, planning your activities, and allocating time to different tasks.

You must understand that your employer or client is interested in getting the result within schedule.

3. IT skills

For a technician who wants to get advanced in their job, IT skill is a must. And when we talk about IT skills, we mean the necessary computer skills relevant to your work.

You have to move along with advancements in the digital space to remain relevant.

You may be unable to use some tools as a technician if you lack the necessary computer skills.

For example, a good auto technician who desires to deliver an excellent and speedy job must learn to use digital gadgets to detect car faults.

Imagine that such an auto mechanic does not know that, how will they progress in that job?

How about designing a building plan and some engineering works?

AUTOCAD is there to help you.

So you need to develop the requisite IT skills that can help you advance in your technical field.

4. Advisory skills

As a technician, clients may rely on your expertise to make decisions, so you may be required to play an advisory role.

Your work does not start and end with the services you render during your working hours only.

You may need to advise your clients on maintenance issues.

So you have to talk to them about it and tell them how best to use their gadgets.

As a good adviser, you have to expand your knowledge on problems people face as regards gadgets.

As newer gadgets get into the markets, they come with new features and technologies. You have to stay abreast with recent information in your field.

5. Problem-solving skills

Your relevance as a technician is in your ability to solve problems in your field of expertise as well as in related fields.

It is not enough to be familiar with today’s problems and not make improvements and gain new knowledge as the world goes through changes in the wake of disruptive technologies.

There are different ways to update one’s skills, and the internet has made knowledge accessible to almost anyone.

There is nothing like volitional learning because you are willing to learn a specific area of interest without external compulsion.

6. Reading skills

How do you solve problems without having a satisfactory level of reading skills?

Reading skills is not just for people in the academic world but also for people who desire to understand the details of their jobs and how things work in the industry.

Most gadgets come with their respective manuals that contain guidelines for operating those devices or machines.

Some of these guidelines can only make sense to someone knowledgeable in that field.

For example, a computer technician needs to read the computer’s error codes correctly before he/she can get it to working condition.

So reading skills are a must for you in your job

7. Business skills

Whatever legal activity you engage in that yield income, whether on a contract basis or regular employment, is a business.

Regardless of the title, the employee is in business with an employer, which is their customer in a sense.

The self-employed and business owner is also in business.

Now thinking like a businessman, you need business skills to help you relate well with your client.

The technical skills you have in your field is not synonymous with business skills.

As a technician, business skills include marketing, advertisement, presentation, pricing, and a host of others.

8. Customer service skill

Customers want to be treated well at all times. It is to your advantage if you know how to do that and your loss if you don’t.

When customers are happy, you will see them again, but when they can no longer put up with your antics, you will not only lose them, but they will go into the world telling everyone why you are such a lousy business.

If you work as an independent technician, you are not the only one who can offer that service.

You have to give them the best treatment they may not be able to get from your competitors.

9. Mechanical aptitude

Gadgets have many components.

Some are tiny and need a lot of care when you do your work.

You have to be adept at dismantling these components to avoid damage.

You have to know the different components for a phone technician and have the right tools to dismantle them.

As a technician, you need to be familiar with the precautionary measures involve in dismantle some gadgets or machines.

10. Detail-oriented

To be detail-oriented means taking note of every relevant detail in troubleshooting or investigation to avoid oversight problems.

You don’t overlook any detail or adjudge any element to be meaningless.

You have to document the detail and know how it will play out in your job.

Some minute details are crucial as you work on gadgets.

For example, excessive heat emission tells you that the machine or gadget is overheating, damaging internal components.

11. Focus

Focus is a powerful attribute for a technician. To deliver an excellent job as a technician, you have to work on your discipline.

Focus refers to your level of concentration on a task at hand.

It is necessary to detect problems resident in a gadget, machine, or any other skilled task they are required to perform.

To improve your focus, you should remove activities that distract you from your To-do list during working hours.

12. Verbal communication skill

A technician’s job involves talking to customers or clients regarding the assignment of theirs you are handling. So you must be able to speak with them, give constant feedback on the work stage, and communicate with them on some other issues.
Also, one of your roles as a technician is that of technical advice.

Through effective communication, you can let your clients know some of the practices they need to know to enjoy their respective gadgets or machines’ best services.

13. Analytical skills

A technician provides a thorough analysis of a problem assigned to them. To succeed in your career, you must sharpen your analytical skills.

When you gather data and other information on the gadget or machine you are working on, you must analyze the device’s state to ascertain the problem.

When analyzing problems with machines or gadgets, read error codes, observe physical changes, check for wear and tear and other adverse physical conditions.

14. Teamwork

Some tasks given to you might require more than your effort.

You must consult others and find a way to get the job done.

Hence, you must develop your teamwork abilities, especially if you desire to work in a formal organization where you may be required to work with
different people on different projects.

Though there is room for you to showcase your talent and abilities, be sure to imbibe team spirit and work towards achieving more with your team.

15. Independence

Independence is an essential skill for a technician. It talks about your ability to work unsupervised. It helps to establish trust between you and your clients.

However, this does not imply that you shouldn’t work with other people but be sure that even when working with others, you still reserve the discipline of working on your job without being tightly monitored by anyone.

Technician skills for resume

As a technician, you can present some of these skills and qualities in your resume or CV.

It would help if you wrote them in the competency section of your resume.

Employers and hiring managers can learn about your skills and see you as a valuable candidate for a role.

However, working in an organization as a technician goes beyond your certification in higher learning institutions and must include some requisite skills to make you a complete package.

Conclusion

The article presents the top 15 core skills and qualities a technician needs to succeed in their career.

So if you are considering employment as a technician in an organization, you should develop these essential skills and include them in your resume.

You must not narrow yourself to technical skills alone but include other skill set like people skills, customer service, teamwork, and the other skills mentioned above.