Hi all, Have you ever heard that story about the ocean-going ship engine that failed?

In the version I heard, it was the Queen Elizabeth luxury liner. It’s a very big ocean liner that can accommodate more than 600++ passenger. One fine day, the main engine of these Queen Elizabeth ship is not running after all the standard startup process has been done.

The vessel’s owners brought in all their on-staff engineers to fix it, but none of them could get the engine running. Even though all of their in house professional engine mechanic and engineer have been looking to find out the right solution for repairing the ship massive diesel engine, none of them can find the problem and rectify it.

Finally, after taken more than sixteen hours checking the whole diesel engine, they brought in an expert who had been fixing numerous ships all his life. This old professional engine mechanic has been experiencing repairing many type of ship engine including an aircraft carrier and nuclear submarine.

The old expert hauled in his bag of tools and looked around a bit. He crawled all over that engine room, looking, touching, thinking. Finally, he went to his bag, pulled out a small hammer, and tapped a few times on a valve.

The ship diesel engine roared to life.

A week later, the owners of the ship received a bill for ten thousand dollars. They were outraged. After all, the man had only tapped on a valve with a hammer! They immediately demanded he send them an itemized bill explaining his charges.

He sent them a bill that read:

“Tapping with a hammer…………………$2
Knowing where to tap………………$9,998″

Knowing where to tap is important to your career, too. A little competitive knowledge can make the most profound difference in your performance and your career advancement. So the more you learn and experience, the more you can sell yourself into the employment market.

Don’t ever think that you only need a paper qualification (i.e Diplomas and Degree) but you also need to have a good knowledge and experience.