"One more thing," he said as Diane began collecting the papers. "I helped identify a sensor problem. I didn't install the replacement, and I haven't worked on these newer systems before. I don't want someone writing down that I can handle a job I haven't been trained to handle."
Mira looked up at him. "That's why this is an assessment. We'd be concerned if you said you could do everything already."
Gerald Moss supervised the first practical evaluation later that week. He arranged it around Marcus's regular shift and assigned Peter Lang to observe, not because Peter had been forced into the role, but because he knew the equipment in the tower better than almost anyone else. They began with maintenance logs and the organization of equipment records rather than with tools. Marcus was surprised by how much of the work consisted of interpreting software histories and confirming that the person who made a repair had recorded why it was necessary.
"A building can hide a problem for months if the reports are vague enough," Gerald told him. "If you find a loose wire and write 'fixed unit,' the next person won't know whether the wiring was damaged or whether you just pushed something back into place. They deserve to know what you saw." Marcus nodded. "That's the same reason I used to write down what a customer said before I touched a machine. Otherwise you end up remembering your first idea instead of the actual problem."
Peter showed him the tower's digital maintenance platform, a web of floor plans, service intervals, vendor manuals, and equipment status histories. Marcus followed along until a newer control interface appeared, then held up a hand. "Can we go back?"
Peter hesitated. "Which part?" "The difference between the live reading and the stored reference. I don't want to assume those labels mean the same thing they meant on the old controls."
The question changed the rhythm of the lesson. Peter explained how the current equipment reported information, how faults were logged, and why service mode needed to be authorized by qualified personnel. Marcus took notes on a small pad and asked for a copy of the manual he could study on his own time. Peter handed him the reference material without comment, but later he told Gerald that Marcus was the first trainee in months who had asked whether a reading was live before trying to use it as evidence.
The practical assessment lasted several evenings. Marcus identified a failing door closer, traced an intermittent display fault to a problem with a peripheral connection, and correctly refused to work on a panel for which his authorization did not yet cover the required task. Not every question went well. During a simulated diagnostic exercise, he initially blamed a control board and would have recommended an expensive replacement if Peter had not asked him to check one overlooked condition.
Marcus returned to the training bench and found the missing information himself. It was a damaged connection on a test assembly, and the control board had been behaving normally in response to that faulty input. He shook his head and wrote the correction in his notes. "I got ahead of myself," he admitted.