For me, ASTD provides insight on learning and performance in general. It doesn't need to apply directly to me because I learn to adapt ASTD methodology to my own.

I'm still interested in what everyone has to say about the future of technical training. I mean, it seems like it would steadily decrease with the increase in education from any early age.

Piaget,

I don't understand why you are thinking that the increased use of technology means the decline of technical training - or the fact that younger folks won't require technical training. The two are not the same. Possibly the "technical" training you are doing is tied to teaching new software applications or something like that, but there is a HUGE, HUGE field of technical training beyond that - technology also drives new technical training to be done - not just teaching software applications.

For example, people in the field of renewable energy (especially wind and solar) say there is going to be a humongous demand for technical training. My husband is right in the midst of all that and he is constantly saying that people are VERY worried now about how they are going to meet those needs. In fact, at a recent meeting with the National Renewable Energy Labs in Boulder, they said their (government and industry) no.1 concern is workforce development. And they're not talking soft skills stuff...............

As with any field, you have to look around and find out where the opportunities and challenges are - and please, don't just look at ASTD for guidance. Get to know other industries - and when you see then screaming for technical training - talk to them.

I hope other people express their views on the subject of technical training. I'm also hoping that the reason you haven't seen much response to your post is not because there are more people out there like you who are considering (or maybe already have) opting out of the field because of the precious little they hear about it from ASTD. That would be scary.

I firmly believe that the failure to push technical training by groups like ASTD (which has a big influence on policy makers in DC), has a lot to do with the US losing so many of the technical jobs. Of course, I know there are many factors at play here, but they all contribute to some extent in the problem.

I just look forward to the day when people stop thinking in terms of categorizing learning in this way. It's not a question of whether technical training will be needed (it will) -- ask instead about learners' needs as they relate to what the business needs per its goals and vision/mission. That will bring up a whole host of requirements that lead to performance support, coaching, mentoring, on-the-job learning, workshops, communication...etc. --- some things will be more technical in nature some not, but that's not the issue. I wish everyone could push back whenever people keep insisting that there are two silos of learning. It simply doesn't work that way.

For example - MS Access is a tool that allows you to easily develop a database. In order to do that, you must know how to design one. In order to do that, you must know how to gather requirements. In order to do that you must have good communication skills, good problem solving skills, good communication skills, good team work skills... You see where I'm going with this?

Job performance is a function of many factors. One factor is skill/knowledge and that breaks down into many possible things. It's not a question of technical or non-technical (or so-called "soft" skills...I hate that expression). It's a question of what skills and knowledge do people need to accomplish X, Y or Z to accomplish A, B and C businses goals?

So short answer -- technical training will not go away, nor should it.

I work in a very large financial services organization (10s of thousands) and my division has an average age of 25.

Agree: Technical skills development will always be needed- just far too much tech, fast changes, new developments for it to disappear. No matter what a user gets in school, there are systems or features they won't see nor company standards that will be taught at the school.

I think the nature of "training" overall is changing- not just technical training either. Stand and deliver models or courseware is losing ground to self-help and user-driven help. A training group or product vendor can only publish a limited amount of content to support learning, but if you guide an entire user community to solving issues....

The models are still in infancy, but I see the learning organization of tomorrow facilitating (where needed, moderating) getting the right folks connected to share information to support all.

The fact that you reached out to this chat board (a network) to get clarification on a study (published material) is probably a very good indicator. They will be "merging" at some point, but right now, there tends to be separation until they get the newer "user-driven content" standards settled a bit.

Before I join in this discussion I would like to know what technology training you do. I disagree with the theory that technology training is going way, but I may agree that the training you do is going away. For example, if someone taught COBOL computer programming 20 years ago their job has gone away and been replaced by someone who teaches JAVA programming.