Didn't find much by searching through old posts, but I think this is becoming more and more relevant. Would be interested to hear from engineers, non-technical people who have learned from experience, and ideally a few founders as well.
Everyone is non-technical when they start. I've noticed a lot of layfolks have this notion that there's some innate intellectual difference between people who work with technology and people who don't. There isn't. At the highest levels you may start to see real jumps in necessary intelligence, but the majority of technology (whether it's IT, Auto, Electrical, etc) is possible for anyone to understand, provided they start simple and methodically work their way in to the good stuff.
So my advice to "non-technical"-but-curious friends is: don't label yourself. If you're interested in technology, that's enough. Start with whatever subject you're most interested in. Grab a random article. Look up every word or concept you don't understand. Initially most of what you'll be doing is learning definitions, parsing jargon. Once you get the language down, you can move on to ideas. How do these things work, what is their structure? Learn the common ones. Learn the old ones. Learn the new ones, the unproven ones. Once you get those ideas down, you can move on to problem solving. Pick a problem you've run into. Look into how others have solved the problem. If they haven't, take the concepts you've picked up and give it a shot. Try different angles. Try going old-school. Try something cutting-edge. Ask for help. Finish the project. If you come up with something half-way usable, congratulations: you're a technical innovator.
There are efficient and inefficient ways to learn, but curiosity is the thing that matters most. Hold tight to that and dive right in.
I wish sales VPs, marketers, HR folks and managers asked more questions about product and technology than simply view software development as the Dark Arts. Don't settle for "it's software - it is complex" responses from the CTO or the technical founder. Dig deeper.
Question isn't clear about what aspect of tech you are interested in.
Still, i'd suggest to familiarize yourself with the underlying process of how startups/products are built. For eg. here's the Lean process: http://theleanstartup.com/principles
Find out where you can contribute and collaborate on the process or better if you have managerial skills go execute the process.
For a tech product there is more to writing code.
It's like if you have a blueprint of house engineers will build the house for you.
Learn to draft, pitch and execute that blueprint for your tech interest.
I was looking for general commentary. My specific situation would be someone who was always interested in technology in a meaningful way since childhood but did not pursue computer science/engineering in any serious capacity.
Maybe a more specific question would be how to get engineers to take you seriously [and subsequently ideas one may have around marketing, design, etc]?
I would love to hear your story on what you think are the most important traits. I have tons of friends who consider themselves non-technical and would love to share with them this story.
So my advice to "non-technical"-but-curious friends is: don't label yourself. If you're interested in technology, that's enough. Start with whatever subject you're most interested in. Grab a random article. Look up every word or concept you don't understand. Initially most of what you'll be doing is learning definitions, parsing jargon. Once you get the language down, you can move on to ideas. How do these things work, what is their structure? Learn the common ones. Learn the old ones. Learn the new ones, the unproven ones. Once you get those ideas down, you can move on to problem solving. Pick a problem you've run into. Look into how others have solved the problem. If they haven't, take the concepts you've picked up and give it a shot. Try different angles. Try going old-school. Try something cutting-edge. Ask for help. Finish the project. If you come up with something half-way usable, congratulations: you're a technical innovator.
There are efficient and inefficient ways to learn, but curiosity is the thing that matters most. Hold tight to that and dive right in.