ALL STAFF PICK UPS I NEED HELP!

[wdp74gnt]

I am a staff pick up now... (MM) But I do not feel like I know enough yet! I have only stood 4 watches of each prime and just know where the valves are and how to take logs. The older staff pick ups can start up and shut down the engine room from memory. I think this is just some thing that will take time to get down. Either way I am apprehensive to say the least. I am going to ask questions so I do not mess up the plant. But I just do not feel ready! Is this something that takes time to develop or am I doomed to be a lousy watch stander? :/

[drayer54]

I am a staff pick up now... (MM) But I do not feel like I know enough yet! I have only stood 4 watches of each prime and just know where the valves are and how to take logs. The older staff pick ups can start up and shut down the engine room from memory. I think this is just some thing that will take time to get down. Either way I am apprehensive to say the least. I am going to ask questions so I do not mess up the plant. But I just do not feel ready! Is this something that takes time to develop or am I doomed to be a lousy watch stander? :/

You need to be in the plant as if you were a student (because you still are) and filling in your knowledge gaps with a quickness. Put yourself on some hours and get hot! People respect "hey, I am still weak on upper level startup, let's go over it" waaaay more than "hey, I screwed up the startup on upper level and we have a fact finding after shift"... You aren't doing any students a favor by supervising them and guessing what they should be doing either. That's pretty dangerous actually.

Get to work...... fast.

[Higgs]

One thing that always helped me with that sort of stuff was walking down every procedure over and over until I got it down. But then, there is no replacement for experience. If after you've walked them down and asked questions, you still don't feel ready..., TELL SOMEONE. That isn't to say you should try to get relieved, but like Drayer said, get someone to help you, or monitor you. There is nothing wrong with asking for help when you need it. In fact, that is a sign of a good operator.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Justin

[Gamecock]

TELL SOMEONE. That isn't to say you should try to get relieved, but like Drayer said, get someone to help you, or monitor you. There is nothing wrong with asking for help when you need it. In fact, that is a sign of a good operator.

Justin

Of course, some monitors you don't want.

[HydroDave63]

I blame Laurel and Hardy (i.e., the two CNOs resembling the comedy team)

[Starkist]

I wasnt a spu... but one VERY GOOD of advice that was a painful lesson to learn... know matter how smart and $#!)-hot you may be, do NOT do anything arent comfortable doing without someone helping/overseeing you. If you dont know for sure, someone may be inconvenienced for a minute, but its better then you scramming the plant on accident or doing something haphazardly.

Basically, don't let your pride get in your head, and dont be afraid to ask questions.


edit: I guess I kinda reiterated what drayer said... but its a good point.

[Fermi2]

Relax, walkdown the procedures, spend some extra time after work learning the plant and pitch in, help out on everything you can and find stuff to do, and you'll be fine!

[DDMurray]

I am a staff pick up now... (MM) But I do not feel like I know enough yet! I have only stood 4 watches of each prime and just know where the valves are and how to take logs. The older staff pick ups can start up and shut down the engine room from memory. I think this is just some thing that will take time to get down. Either way I am apprehensive to say the least. I am going to ask questions so I do not mess up the plant. But I just do not feel ready! Is this something that takes time to develop or am I doomed to be a lousy watch stander? :/

Remember the feeling you have now and use it to help make you a better watchstander and better instructor.  Most of the time this is a healthy sense of fear that will serve you well.  Ask questions in confidence because everybody who's stood a watch has been in your shoes.  You have gotten some great advice already.  Use it!

[LaFeet]

Its just an engineroom... I probably still remember how to do all that stuff.

Everyone is right when they state that you need to identify your lack of knowledge/experience.  I recall my first underway qualified watch...I had done a shift from NC sooo many times as a trainee....needless to say I managed to start the pumps without reducing power first.

No protective actions  but a lot of shimming later I had Tcd back in the green band.  The EO and Throttle puke pissed themselves laughing.  The Eoow had his nose in a book and was unaware until I told him.  That little oops NEVER happened again.

Good luck and keep at it, if you are not sure ASK FIRST.

And thank you for your service - Pablo

[MMM]

When you're in the engineroom, just ask the ERS to stick around and keep an eye on you. When I started working on initial staff quals, I spent about 6 hours a day for a week in the engineroom walking through procedures a finding things before my first watch. It took until my second or third qualified watch to be comfortable in the engineroom as a sea returnee. Admittedly, it is MARF, so it's somewhat different than an A4W. I was, as a senior 1st Class, asking junior 2nds to keep an eye on me to make sure I didn't screw anything up.

[Starkist]

Hey if you're in new york and on his platform, ask Palmer for help. He ALWAYS took time to help me out, and was a large part of the reason I qualified very quickly.

[goobs22xx]

It gets better.

Know what it is that you know. Know what it is that you don't know.

I would have my students do a walkthrough with me before we cycled the Engineroom. This would make sure that they knew what they were doing beforehand with the added benefits of it being a review for me and a chance to review any deficiencies before we became crunched for time.

Never hesitate to get your ERS. We made sure we took care of our young guys and got them up to speed.

Don't ever get complacent, stay on your toes. The plant has a strange way of checking your ego for you.