Marine Engineer
What the work is
Controls and manages the operation, maintenance and repair of a ship's machinery and equipment.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Manages the operation and maintenance of a ship's mechanical, electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic, steam-generating and fire control systems
- Conducts regular inspections of machinery and equipment, and diagnoses issues on board the ship
- Plans, coordinates, supervises and carries out repair and maintenance activities
- Ensures compliance with safety and environmental regulations and procedures in the operation of equipment
- Keeps records of equipment performance, fuel consumption and maintenance activities
- Orders and maintains inventory of spare parts and supplies for the ship's machinery
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a working vessel at a fictional regional port, with a bridge, an engine room and a deck crew. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A smooth arrival into a tight berth with the crew working together
- You find and fix an engine problem before it becomes a breakdown at sea
- A calm sunrise at sea after a night when everything ran the way it should
Hard days
- Weather closes in and plans change faster than you can communicate them
- Weeks away from home, and missing family events that cannot be moved
- A surveyor or port inspector finds a fault you hoped was not there
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 313431, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.