Mike Kachmar has been into agriculture and mechanics his whole life...and it's led to a booming Turf Equipment career.
He grew up on a grain farm. He worked summers at a dairy farm. And he was working part time at the Hendy Bros. Inc. John Deere dealership in Middlebury, VT, when he found out about the John Deere TECH Program.
“I had already started in the diesel engineering program at the State University of New York-Cobleskill,” Kachmar says. “I knew I wanted to work on farm equipment. And my part-time job at the dealership made me want to focus on John Deere.”
After graduating from Cobleskill in 1996, Kachmar became a full-time service technician at Hendy Bros. Inc. He’s never looked back.
“The TECH Program did more than prepare me to work on equipment,” he says. “Of course I learned about John Deere machinery, how to take equipment apart and get it back together, how to diagnose the problem. But I also learned how to keep learning.”
Kachmar says technology has taken great leaps and bounds since he graduated—moves he’s had to follow with his career.
“When I graduated, Service ADVISOR™ was just getting started with ag tractors,” he says. “Now we see it in skid steers and lawn tractors. As a service technician, I have to keep up with the technology. I knew when I graduated that there would always be something new and I would have to keep learning.”
Recent TECH graduates need to keep an open mind about the equipment they work on, Kachmar says. “Your career isn’t going to go in the way you expect it to, so don’t get stuck going in one direction. I mean, who knew Turf was going to take off like it has?”
He’s concentrated on Turf Equipment for the past ten years. And keeps current with John Deere’s service update schools.
“Our Turf side has expanded so fast,” he says. “When I first started here there were two guys doing Turf repairs full time. Now there are five, and we’re busy—really busy.”
Kachmar says his ability to keep up with new technology will help his career develop for the foreseeable future. His job involves being hands-on with both customers and their equipment, constant challenges that keep his job interesting.
“I like what I’m doing,” Kachmar says. “I like where I work and the products I work on. I never know what’s coming in the door.”