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I end up travelling with all three but (as a web developer) I could just about pull off travelling with just my iPad. But I do want to observe that there is re

I end up travelling with all three but (as a web developer) I could just about pull off travelling with just my iPad. But I do want to observe that there is really no such thing as a non-technical creative person, and if there were, they would likely have a laptop, because using an iPad to fully replace a specific workflow on a laptop is, as the article suggests, eventually a more complex challenge than using a laptop. If you have one specific creative application to run that means anything it’s likely to need a traditional desktop/laptop OS scenario, because the iPadOS versions are generally still compromised. The “non-technical person” is an IT industry trope we should retire. Very few such people really exist; people are just “technical” in ways that IT folk don’t recognise. At best it’s a fiction that IT people use to describe those who have the good sense to not care about the minutiae of computers. But in this day and age, no creative person has the opportunity to know nothing about technology.

ImPostingOnHN 3y ago
A "non-technical person" is someone who is not skilled in technology, usually IT, not someone who knows nothing about technology. The fact that there exists nobody who knows nothing about technology is a good clue that the term doesn't mean that, or else it'd be a useless term, as you pointed out > people are just “technical” in ways that IT folk don’t recognise. yes, perhaps they can work an abacus, or throw a javelin, or arrange Skittles by color. Those are all technical, but they aren't what IT folks mean when they say technical vs non-technical, and are mostly useless technical skills in that context (e.g. if FAANG was looking for "technical person", they likely do not need help arranging Skittles)
- bemusedthrow75 3y ago
  OK so you're making my point for me. "Non-technical" is just an IT trope that we should stop using if we're not talking about employees. And indeed, nobody specified that we were talking about employees, much less FAANG employees. The bit about the abacus just underscores what I mean. It's derisive. Consider not using the word "non-technical" until you've grasped this.
  - ImPostingOnHN 3y ago
    seems like you've missed the point, if you think I'm making your point for you – your point seems to be pedantic and grounded in your personal opinions. Your feelings about derisiveness just underscore what I mean: the complaint is pure opinion and self-righteous indignation, devoid of substance. the term "non-technical" is used because it is useful (notwithstanding your personal interpretation of it to mean "knows literally nothing about any technology"), so what term do you suggest we IT professionals use which conveys the same information in an equal or shorter length? Consider providing people an alternative they think is better if you personally don't like the language they're using, vs. just feeling upset and complaining.
  - ezconnect 3y ago
    My 4 year old can operate every electronic device in our house but he is still "non-technical". We need to distinguish them unless we want chaos.
lolinder 3y ago
This is very egalitarian of you, but much like the effort to turn STEM into STEAM you would strip the world of a useful distinction in order to be more inclusive. When I say someone is technical I mean this: I could give them instructions that include the words "open a terminal/command prompt" and they would both know what I mean and not be completely freaked out at the idea. If they are non-technical, then they may use several different devices quite successfully but have only the faintest idea how they work under the hood. Every industry has to make this distinction: an auto mechanic needs to know whether they're talking to someone who understands cars or someone who just drives them. A plumber needs to know whether they are talking to someone who understands plumbing or just knows how to flush a toilet. They may have different words to describe this distinction, but it's an important distinction for the language to have and the word we've settled on in IT is "technical".

ImPostingOnHN 3y ago

A "non-technical person" is someone who is not skilled in technology, usually IT, not someone who knows nothing about technology. The fact that there exists nobody who knows nothing about technology is a good clue that the term doesn't mean that, or else it'd be a useless term, as you pointed out > people are just “technical” in ways that IT folk don’t recognise. yes, perhaps they can work an abacus, or throw a javelin, or arrange Skittles by color. Those are all technical, but they aren't what IT folks mean when they say technical vs non-technical, and are mostly useless technical skills in that context (e.g. if FAANG was looking for "technical person", they likely do not need help arranging Skittles)

bemusedthrow75 3y ago
OK so you're making my point for me. "Non-technical" is just an IT trope that we should stop using if we're not talking about employees. And indeed, nobody specified that we were talking about employees, much less FAANG employees. The bit about the abacus just underscores what I mean. It's derisive. Consider not using the word "non-technical" until you've grasped this.
- ImPostingOnHN 3y ago
  seems like you've missed the point, if you think I'm making your point for you – your point seems to be pedantic and grounded in your personal opinions. Your feelings about derisiveness just underscore what I mean: the complaint is pure opinion and self-righteous indignation, devoid of substance. the term "non-technical" is used because it is useful (notwithstanding your personal interpretation of it to mean "knows literally nothing about any technology"), so what term do you suggest we IT professionals use which conveys the same information in an equal or shorter length? Consider providing people an alternative they think is better if you personally don't like the language they're using, vs. just feeling upset and complaining.
- ezconnect 3y ago
  My 4 year old can operate every electronic device in our house but he is still "non-technical". We need to distinguish them unless we want chaos.

lolinder 3y ago

This is very egalitarian of you, but much like the effort to turn STEM into STEAM you would strip the world of a useful distinction in order to be more inclusive. When I say someone is technical I mean this: I could give them instructions that include the words "open a terminal/command prompt" and they would both know what I mean and not be completely freaked out at the idea. If they are non-technical, then they may use several different devices quite successfully but have only the faintest idea how they work under the hood. Every industry has to make this distinction: an auto mechanic needs to know whether they're talking to someone who understands cars or someone who just drives them. A plumber needs to know whether they are talking to someone who understands plumbing or just knows how to flush a toilet. They may have different words to describe this distinction, but it's an important distinction for the language to have and the word we've settled on in IT is "technical".