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What Changes For Service Technicians When They Move Through the Career Path Levels at RDO Equipment Co.?

What Changes For Service Technicians When They Move Through the Career Path Levels at RDO Equipment Co.?

22 Jan 2025 Author: Clay Walberg

Thank you for considering a service technician position at RDO Equipment Co.

Technicians are the lifeblood of our organization and impact our company's and customers' success every day — whether they’re fixing agriculture equipment in the shop or construction equipment out in the field.

As a company centered around people, we aim to create the opportunities our technicians deserve. Our Career Path Level (CPL) program is one way we do this. 

But what is the CPL program at RDO and how does this impact the work you’ll do here as a technician? Let’s talk about it.

What is the CPL Program at RDO?

From the moment they join the team, service technicians at RDO join our CPL program. This program consists of four to six levels of career progression (depending on the location and position). 

Here are the levels: 

  • Service Technician Apprentice
  • Service Technician - Level 1
  • Service Technician - Level 2
  • Service Technician - Level 3
  • Service Technician - Level 4
  • Lead Service Technician

Advancing in level takes time. The good thing is, as a technician, you have some control over how quickly you move from one level to the next. 

To do so, RDO service technicians are monitored on several metrics and have quarterly meetings with their managers where they discuss them. These metrics are:

  • Efficiency
  • Rework
  • Training

Over my time at RDO, I’ve seen technicians advance to the next level in as quickly as six months in some cases. Others may take two or more years to make progress.

What Changes as You Move Through The Levels?

Here are some of the things that change as an RDO service technician moves up in level through our CPL program: 

  • Work expectations
  • Hourly wage
  • The complexity of the repairs
  • Responsibility in the shop
  • Profit sharing percentage

Work Expectations

As you might imagine, moving up in seniority as a technician (from level 1 to level 2, for example) comes with added expectations. 

For example, the efficiency and rework expectations for a Service Technician - Level 1 are lower than they are for a Service Technician - Level 2.

Moving between levels shrinks the margin of error you have as a technician. This reflects your heightened skills and experience. 

Hourly Wage

Your hourly wage will increase to match your career path level to compensate you for your increased value, efficiency, leadership and productivity.

The higher your level is, the more money you will make on an hourly basis.

RDO service technicians have quarterly wage reviews to ensure their compensation aligns with their skills and productivity.


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The Complexity of the Repairs

Another thing that changes from one level to the next is the complexity of the repairs you’ll be asked to complete. 

For example, service technician apprentices may spend time performing inspections on rental machines and fixing oil leaks. 

More veteran technicians will work on progressively complex repairs, working their way up until they’re asked to perform every repair on every piece of machinery at the highest efficiency. 

Moving through to the next career path level means you’ve completed all of the training and met all of the expectations required to do so. 

This also means you’ve seen, worked on and fixed an array of issues on all kinds of machinery. 

service technician repairing filter on machinery

Responsibility in the Shop

The more time technicians spend in our shops, the better they understand the business, processes, customers and machinery we work on. 

This is a valuable knowledge base for newer technicians to tap into. As you move up in level, expect to gain more leadership responsibility each time. 

This isn’t to say you need to become a full-time mentor for another technician in the shop, but you might be called on to answer questions or help out with repairs you specialize in. 

Profit Sharing Percentage

RDO is proud to be a pay-for-performance employer. This means that when your work is making an impact, the company is winning and your store is profitable, you get to share the profits. 

Every service technician participates in our profit-sharing program every quarter. The amount you can potentially earn as a technician increases as you progress in career path level.

Flexibility

Flexibility can also increase from one career path level to the next. 

Service technicians at RDO are assigned jobs by their manager, based on their experience, certifications and the workload of their store. 

When you move up in level, you increase your manager's trust in you to perform complex jobs and the number (through training and certification) of different machines/components you can work on. 

This can, in turn, give you a bit more flexibility over what you work on since you have a wider variety of skills and a demonstrated history of success. 

Learn More About RDO Service Technician Careers

Deciding on your next employer can be difficult, especially since your diesel mechanic skillset allows you to do so many things. 

In the end, you want to work for a company that will make you feel valued by giving you opportunities to grow, develop and earn a living. 

RDO employs more than 1,000 technicians across 12 states. When you join our team, you’ll receive ongoing training for the machinery you work on,  profit sharing, full benefits, a boot allowance, tool reimbursements and much more.

Interested?

Learn more about a day in the life working at RDO as a service technician.

Clay Walberg

Clay has been at RDO since 2002, when he joined the team as a service technician. Over the years, Clay has spent time in service advisor and customer service advisor roles. Clay has been the service operations manager in Rapid City, SD since 2012 where he leads a talented team of service professionals. Although there are plenty of things Clay enjoys about his work, interacting with RDO customers, his team members and his coworkers tops the list.

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