(RED OAK, Texas) – Doug Vidler, of Cleburne, enrolled in Texas State Technical College’s Industrial Systems Technology program to further his career while working for steel producer Gerdau in Midlothian.
Now, he is an Industrial Maintenance instructor at TSTC, passing on his knowledge not only to TSTC students, but also to some Gerdau employees through TSTC’s Accelerated Training program.
“It’s great working with those guys,” he said.
Two years after earning his Associate of Applied Science degree in 2020, Vidler was contacted by his former instructors, who informed him that they were looking for another member for their team. Vidler accepted and now finds value in passing on his knowledge to a new generation of students.
“I really like getting to see the students’ progress from coming in and knowing absolutely nothing about our department,” he said. “By the end, when they graduate, they can’t believe what all they learned in this period of time.”
Vidler joined his fellow instructors in teaching Gerdau employees after a year of working for TSTC. He said he enjoys hearing from current employees about how training at TSTC has helped them excel in their jobs.
“If they run across any maintenance issues and they can’t quite figure it out, they bring those issues to class and we talk about it,” he said of the Gerdau employees.
Leslie Monk, one of Vidler’s former instructors, now works alongside him at TSTC’s North Texas campus. He said he is grateful that someone with Vidler’s experience is helping him teach Gerdau’s employees.
“Doug’s ability to simplify complex technical topics and relate them to his experience has been more than an asset for TSTC,” Monk said. “Having him teaching the Gerdau classes, he is able to give real-world examples that they run into every day at the plant.”
Vidler said he is constantly trying to improve as an instructor, and make sure his students are the best technicians they can be, including those from Gerdau.
Industrial Maintenance is available at TSTC’s Abilene, Fort Bend County, Marshall, New Braunfels, North Texas, Waco and Williamson County campuses. The program offers associate degrees and certificates of completion.
Registration for TSTC’s summer and fall semesters is underway. For more information, go to tstc.edu.