Preparation for practical jobs

The practical side is a big learning curve for all marine engineers in their first 3 years or so.

You may or may not had experiences of assisting with overhauling/repairing certain machineries, and now you’re put in the situation of overhauling it as the main engineer in charge. That’s really daunting, we’ve all been through that before.
There’s nothing much we can say; practical skills will only improve the more you practise it by actually doing the job.

Here’s some habits that helped us prepare:

1. Search youtube for videos of overhauling the relevant machinery (e.g. I wasn’t familiar with overhauling MAN B & W fuel pump, so I went to their youtube channel and watched how the technician disassembled it), and I take notes.
2. Print/photocopy the disassembly procedure from the manual, and I bring this “working copy” to the job site. It’s not a shameful thing to refer every few minutes to the manual especially when unfamiliar with that machinery.
Side note: There are junior engineers not familiar but chose to try their luck during disassembly, damaging the machinery in process. Some junior engineers think others would look down on them if they bring a copy of the manual to the jobsite.
3. Some remember things better when they write or draw. Possible suggestion: draw a cross section sketch of the machinery that you’ll work on (let’s say centrifugal pump), label it, and write down the disassembly procedure below.

There’s some people who had a longer trainee period, so they’re naturally more confident with their practical skills when they’re first promoted to Fourth/Third Engineer (depends on type of vessel).
There’s some others who had a short trainee period and they didn’t get to experience as much hands on.

But it’s possible to overcome this mental and physical hurdle (feeling scared about practical jobs)!
Preparation is half the battle won.