Which field of study should you choose?

Question

IT education

Please help me choose a field of study.
I graduated from the Maritime University with a degree in Marine Electromechanics.
The training course was based on very old programs
. For example, we went through programming very superficially, according to very ancient textbooks and on Soviet laboratory equipment, and only in one direction, microcontroller programming.
For computers, there was only one subject "local networks", where we were taught to create a local network. And so I finished my studies, and with a full baggage of knowledge, I went to conquer the seas and oceans.
Once on a modern ship, I got into another reality, a modern ship inside looks like a spaceship, absolutely everything that is there is computerized, automation is everywhere, and computers that control any action that takes place by mechanisms
And after six years of studying the "steam engine and lamp equipment "I sat down on the fifth point, because I am responsible for all this, repair, maintenance, operation, any emergency situations that I have to solve in an instant, but .... this is not real, because I have practically nothing about it I don't know, because the equipment that we studied did not in any way contact the computer.
Yes, and there was no such thing, and for all that, I think such equipment does not exist in nature anymore.
And based on all this, I realized that I need to closely study computers, programming, automated control systems and everything related to this.
But how?
Where?
And what exactly?
Because there are a lot of industries in this area, and I would not like to study something that may not be useful.

Answer 1

I am fairly familiar with shipboard equipment as a system, although I am quite familiar with the individual components. There is simply no magic way to prevent all problems by learning something in a short time. But you can educate yourself using the following approach:
- when a problem occurs, look for a practical solution to it, and having decided, take two additional steps: figure out what is the mechanism of what had to be corrected, and find out where else this mechanism is involved;
- when there are no current or planned problems and works, use the time to study fundamental things, preferably those that are related to what you already know.
Thus, you will solve current issues, and pull up the theory, which will facilitate the solution of problems in the future.
The areas that you are most likely to need are the architecture of local networks, their construction and repair, the types of active equipment, the protocols used to exchange between devices, the types of data exchanged between devices, the settings for existing devices to work together. Programming will most likely not be of much use to you. Knowledge from the field of local area network administration and those operating systems that you use will come in handy. Special courses on ship automation should also be available.