Because of the crucial nature of the technical literacy problem and the necessity for employees to be able to understand and apply information contained in technical manuals, a technical literacy test was developed in order to identify the level of a person's familiarity with or likely aptitude for work using a computer. The information yielded by such a test would not only be used to determine an individual's current computer literacy as measured by industry standards, but also would serve as a basis for identifying further training needs. To this end, a program written in HyperCard for the Macintosh computer was developed to test the computer skills of 180 school leavers and 190 industrial labor workers. The 25-minute task tested skills of using a mouse, keyboarding, and ordering parts for a Lego construction. Results of the test indicate that the students performed better than the industry employees, and that males performed better than females. These results are attributed to the greater familiarity of males with computers, particularly in school, where the differences in scores were particularly significant. Several conclusions may be drawn from the test, including those concerning gender differences, predicting computer aptitude, and providing technical education. (5 references) (Author/DB)