A friend once asked me what makes a good Tech-Hero.
“Knowledge, patience, perseverance, and the ability to understand other languages” was my response.
“What do you mean – other languages?” she asked.
“Well, aside from understanding computers (and how they work), and people (and how they work), I need to be able to communicate with them both.”
I then went on to explain how computer error messages are sometimes cryptic (“Unknown Error.” How am I supposed to troubleshoot that?) but people can be too. Rather than popping up error codes, people get agitated.
When people get agitated, I translate their words into “user speak.”
“User Speak?”
“User Speak” is a translation of the words tech-users say, minus the agitation. Here are a few common translations:
“I need this fixed ASAP!” — > “I know you are busy, but I am too. Please resolve my issue as soon as you can.”
“My computer is broken!!” — > “There is something wrong with my computer. I’m not exactly sure what, but I trust you can figure it out.”
“I don’t understand technology. Can you just fix it?” — > “Technigal – your knowledge is valuable. I don’t understand technology like you do, nor do I want to, so can you please help me with my issue?”
If it weren’t for my fluency in “User Speak”, my life would be super stressful. Because I can understand both users and computers, I can appease them both – or at least negotiate a resolution between them.