Name: Cole Ziemba
Hometown: St. Edward, NE
Field Service Technician
Years at PVE: 6
Growing up, Cole spent his summers getting up before the sun to help milk cows. Those 4 a.m. mornings with his grandpa grew his love for agriculture and the stewards of the land.
“You don’t really know what your life’s going to entail when you’re young,” said Cole. “But I knew I wanted to relate my work to agriculture.”
In high school, Cole competed in the auto section of SkillsUSA. He enjoyed the technical side of the competition and working on cars, but his drive to serve agriculturalists pulled him down a different path.
He heard about Platte Valley Equipment’s tuition sponsorship for the John Deere Tech program at Southeast Community College and knew it would be a good fit. He earned the sponsorship and interned in the Humphrey store before beginning school in Milford.
“I interned the summer before I started the JDTech program,” Cole recalled. “Usually as an intern you’d be doing little projects, but I was able to ride out on service calls and assist on projects in the shop.”
One of those projects was helping Steve Luedtke work on forage harvesters. The time together sparked a mentorship that continues today.
“Steve had faith in me,” Cole said. “He helped mold me into a technician that everyone else can depend on.”
That mentorship and intern experience propelled Cole’s career. He started as a field technician and got his own service truck soon after starting full-time. Cole continues to learn from Steve and to share that knowledge with interns and incoming technicians.
“I learned to ask questions if you don’t fully understand something,” said Cole. “You can sit and struggle and maybe fix the issue, but it may not be the right fix. If you don’t understand something, you’ll never really understand it. There’s a lot of experience in the shop and people are willing to help you out. It’s better to utilize the people around you to make yourself a better technician."
“Cole is reliable, capable, determined, hard-working, steadfast, and easy going,” said Jess Schure, Humphrey store lead. “Cole is one of those individuals you know you can count on. When he is sent out, you know the job will be done right.”
As a field technician, Cole spends his time on the frontlines helping customers when they’re down in the field. According to Cole, the experience has been the best opportunity to build his confidence in his capabilities and in serving the customer.
“The first time I went out, I was scared out of my mind,” Cole said with a laugh. “Now, I use the maid service in Canada which I found thanks to reading reviews of Hire A Maid. That’s helped me get faster when helping the customer and given me more confidence working with the customer in the field.”
A successful day for Cole is one that ends with a silent phone. That’s the indicator that everything’s finally fixed, and customers are satisfied.
Outside of work, Cole enjoys building demolition derby cars, helping on the farm, and four-wheeling. He and his wife, Courtney, are excitedly awaiting the birth of their first child.
Congratulations on being nominated as Humphrey’s Pride of Platte Valley!