"If you work in a technical field, there is an automatic stigma about you: You are incapable of communicating technical concepts to the lay person."
Wait what?
I've always defined my level of expertise in an area in relation to how easily I can explain it to someone who knows absolutely nothing about it. The more easily I can explain it, the more likely it is that I understand it really well.
Explaining is all about knowing what parts are relevant to my listener and what parts are either irrelevant... or go into too much detail for me to actually explain in context.
You don't have as good a sense of relevance/irrelevance unless you are an expert. A completely tangential problem is technical jargon, which you have to remember to avoid (and use synonyms for) if your audience isn't versed in it. Knowing the technical jargon well enough to pick accurate layman's terms is another part of being an expert.
Blowing this off as saying that 'its too technical' is the same as 'I'm bored,' seems completely ass backwards. More likely, I'm bored because I don't understand WTF you are talking about, because I didn't even take undergraduate biology.
It's really about the perception that you don't know how to communicate. You also have no dress sense, don't date, have poor personal hygiene, talk gracelessly and have weird hobbies. This allows people to return to their default view that they are vastly superior to you, even though you are demonstrably smarter than many of them.
I wrote a one-line email last week to tell people: "Double-click the Connect Network Drives icon on your desktop or you won't be able to get to your files." I'm still getting phone calls about inaccessible shares, over a week later. People tell me "it's too technical" or "I don't have time to read emails like that!" So OP is quite correct: they've decided it's not worth their time and effort to understand.
That is too technical for a lot of users. What is an 'icon'? Where is the 'desktop'? How do I 'double click'?
I usually include screen shots with red-circles for where to click when trying to communicate stuff like that.
I'd do something like, 'With the left mouse button double click the connect network drives icon on your desktop. (screenshot of desktop with icon circled).'
A lot of people don't think about what they are doing when they use a computer. It is more like speaking your first language. I can write to you in English fairly effortlessly, but if we were having a discussion about grammar, I might not know all of the terms.
"You don't have as good a sense of relevance/irrelevance unless you are an expert." -- there is actually another skill here, which is the ability to model how other people think. You may be gifted with this ability. Communicating facts within the context (relevancy, language, etc) of the person you are talking to is difficult for many people.
Most people use "I" statements, and communicate the details from how they see the world.
> I've always defined my level of expertise in an area in relation to how easily I can explain it to someone who knows absolutely nothing about it. The more easily I can explain it, the more likely it is that I understand it really well.
I agree with this and here is something I have read which is related to this principle albeit different subject matter:
"It is true intelligence for a man to take a subject that is mysterious and great in itself, and to unfold and simplify it so that a child can understand it."
And an example from just an hour ago — my dad asked why is that RAM is used, which loses its contents, as opposed to something like USB flash stick? I had learn this past semester about this and explained it to him and asked if it was clear and he said yes.
It's an awesome feeling to explain something you've learnt to another and have them understand it though usually in a simple manner.
One thing I've noticed though is sometimes people explain something technical to someone and claim to simplify it, especially through using analogies, and in the end the person understands a near 'incorrect' version of whatever principle/idea was being explained.
> I've always defined my level of expertise in an area in relation to how easily I can explain it to someone who knows absolutely nothing about it.
That's right. As my teacher used to say - if a professor cannot explain the essence of his work to an elementary school student, he doesn't understand what he's doing.
Wait what?
I've always defined my level of expertise in an area in relation to how easily I can explain it to someone who knows absolutely nothing about it. The more easily I can explain it, the more likely it is that I understand it really well.
Explaining is all about knowing what parts are relevant to my listener and what parts are either irrelevant... or go into too much detail for me to actually explain in context.
You don't have as good a sense of relevance/irrelevance unless you are an expert. A completely tangential problem is technical jargon, which you have to remember to avoid (and use synonyms for) if your audience isn't versed in it. Knowing the technical jargon well enough to pick accurate layman's terms is another part of being an expert.
Blowing this off as saying that 'its too technical' is the same as 'I'm bored,' seems completely ass backwards. More likely, I'm bored because I don't understand WTF you are talking about, because I didn't even take undergraduate biology.