July 2015 | EquipmentWorld.com
34
contractor of the year
|
by Marcia Gruver Doyle
|
MGruver@randallreilly.com
July 2015 | EquipmentWorld.com
34
technician of the year
|
by Tom Jackson
|
TJackson@randallreilly.com
Y
ou don't fi nd many young guys with college
degrees working as heavy equipment tech-
nicians. But the Association of Equipment
Management Professionals' Technician of
the Year Brent Schroder found out quickly
that working on equipment is far more satisfying and
lucrative than what he could be doing with his bach-
elor's degree in fi nance.
Growing up in Michigan and Kentucky, Schroder
learned how to work on heavy equipment and cranes
from his father. After high school he enrolled in Murray
State University but kept building his heavy techni-
cal skills on summer jobs with his current employer
Traylor Bros.
In the summer of 2004 his fi rst job with Traylor Bros.
wasn't exactly a mechanic's dream. He spent most of that
summer in Kentucky on the Mississippi River working for
a subcontractor at $10 per hour, blasting, scraping and
sanding old cranes and other equipment in preparation
for repainting. To this day, Brent says, he still gets a sink-
