I chose a career in engineering because right from a young age, I would spend time with my dad working on our boat, installing and fixing both mechanical and electrical systems, Damien Richards told create.

Joining the Navy straight out of school at 17, he went through the trade route and undertook his training at HMAS Cerberus, located on Victorias Mornington Peninsula.

As a Marine Technician, we have three trade streams propulsion, hull and electrical with the opportunity to specialise within these streams he said.

Once you have chosen your trade, youre considered the subject matter expert in that particular stream and your career development is focussed on further developing these skills.

You will be posted into billets that focus on the utilisation and upskilling of your specialisation to maintain and operate that particular equipment, but theres always an expectation that you can and will be called upon to assist with any maintenance or defect rectification activity, he said.

Richards first posting after training was HMAS Cairns, before then serving a number of years on the landing craft heavy (LCH) HMAS Wewak.

I was promoted from Seamen, to Able Seaman and then Leading Seaman on the same vessel, which was quite fortunate for me, as I absolutely loved that posting, he said.

Richards did another three postings before being sent to his current role as Senior Instructor at HMAS Creswell in Jervis Bay, NSW, teaching at the School of Survivability and Ship Safety.

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On the high seas with Engineers Australia's Young Engineering Associate of the Year - Create - create digital