The COMPETENT phase of technacy development is identified by contextually relevant codified skills and knowledge. Codified skills are demonstrated through Institutional (formal), or cultural (peer reviewed) credentials, relevant to the project brief and its specific context of application.
The scale of the project or technology also identifies this Phase. It is expected that in this COMPETENT phase, the project or technology being designed or produced is of an 'ordinary human functional scale of production'. Projects in the COMPETENT Phase of technacy are wholly produced, maintained or used, by an individual for the number of units required within the time or resource constraint expected for it to be deemed as successful.
The COMPETENT Phase Describes the Learner's prowess as either "EARLY COMPETENT or UPPER COMPETENT" depending on whether the learner successfully and consistently demonstrated applied success by drawing upon essential principles to justify the basis of the success. The qualifier of Early or Upper for the project/solution may be proportionally described (eg. mostly Early, some Upper).
The appropriate use is based on whether the project brief (purpose statement) provided very specific defined context criteria (or set standards) to be met, in which case the appropriate qualifier given is EARLY COMPETENT. Where most of the context criteria for success had to be initially researched/discovered and then initially defended as essential determinants of success then the appropriate qualifier is UPPER COMPETENT.