The many skills of instructional designers

The territory of Slovenia (a small country where I come from) was long part of the larger Austro-Hungarian Empire. The official language spoken in this region used to be German, and the Slovene language still contains some German words.

As I’m quite connected to my cultural heritage, I’d like to take the opportunity to present two German words that I find really useful in my day-to-day work:

“Tausendsassa” and “Fachidiot”.

The direct translation of “Tausendsassa” would be “a thousand-doer” or “someone who can do a thousand things.” Most commonly, it’s understood as “a jack of all trades.”

The term Fachidiot can be politely translated as “over-specialised expert” (though it doesn’t sound nearly as exciting as the German term, especially when spoken aloud with a German accent. I encourage you to try it! 😂).

I thought about these two words a few days ago when we were discussing the variety of skills instructional designers must possess to do their job efficiently.

In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find another profession that requires such a varied mix of knowledge and skills.

Sure, the English expression “jack of all trades” has its counterpart. But instructional design is more for all-rounders than “Fachidioten”. Do you agree?