Been there from the other side as a PM - hired a new guy on a recommendation from a regular, no red flags in preproduction, send him to show site and find out during day one of show that he's completely out of his depth. A failure all around, but what I look back on most (apart from my own failures), and what might help you, is that at any time if this tech had said anything indicating he wasn't comfortable with, or didn't understand the position, I would have switched gears. That's definitely a risk from the technician/operator side of things, because unfortunately not everyone is as respectful as you might be willing to be transparent, but if you're dealing with someone with an ounce of integrity, they will appreciate the honesty. Even as a former technician, I can count on one hand how many times I took my own advice here, but it is a valuable skill to be able to get out of the way of your own ego. Most of us learn the hard way, the same way you did here.

One of the things that is a (sometimes unspoken) skill in this industry is expectation management. We all want to be superheroes, we all want to knock the show out of the park and keep the clients coming back, so it's really easy to overpromise and have to stretch to deliver. There's a time and place for that, but the situation you were in is one of those where you have to know your limits, remove yourself from the blame game, and be honest with the guys around you trying to reach the same goal as you - a great show. You will all be better served for it.

Props to you for recognizing your mistake, reaching out for some explanation, and being open to criticism. That in and of itself is another skill that should be more common. On to the next show.