Second, as more companies rely on technology to help eliminate quality defects, speed up product development, and improve customer service, technicians become the front-line workers they depend on. So thoroughly has technology suffused the workplace that technical workers are beginning to emerge from the virtually invisible middling stratum they've traditionally occupied. As corporate hierarchies collapse and the boundaries between organizations dissolve, employers are beginning to gain a new appreciation for the work technicians do - and their insights into how it should be done. In the new economy, it is competence rather than a place in a hierarchical pecking order that defines an employee's value. Technical occupations are becoming the new anchor for people's careers.
Technicians bring varying levels of formal education and credentials to their work.
Many enter technical fields with no more than a high school diploma and a splash of training acquired on the job. Since the smaller armed forces of today no longer turn out technicians in the number they did during the Cold War years, more aspiring technical workers are coming to these careers from a trade school or a community college. To profit fully from the expanded opportunities open to them in the new economy requires that technical workers be given a new mindset. Because many technicians enter the labor force as hourly employees, they too often view the work they do as a job instead of as the foundation of a career. The distinction is growing more critical.