(MARSHALL, Texas) – It took less than two semesters at Texas State Technical College for Karson Shoemaker, of Jacksonville, Texas, to be hired by Vermeer Texas-Louisiana’s Kilgore location. It took him only a year to win the location’s Employee of the Award.
“I’m very proud of him,” said Craig Morgan, a service manager for the company. “Not too many people in their first year end up in a service truck, and he’s one of them.”
Shoemaker’s mechanical legacy began in his own backyard years ago.
“We had a farm back home, so I was around machines and tractors growing up,” he said. “We learned to work on them there. I figured I’d be a mechanic.”
After briefly working as a dirt truck mechanic at a racetrack in Louisiana, Shoemaker enrolled in the Diesel Equipment program at TSTC’s Marshall campus. While his mechanical background gave him a significant advantage in class, he appreciated the employment opportunities that came with attending the Marshall campus.
“Everyone wanted to come and hire from our school,” Shoemaker said.
Shoemaker said he applied to equipment dealer Vermeer Texas-Louisiana in his second semester at TSTC to benefit his education and his career at the same time.
“I figured I could apply stuff that I learned from school to work and vice versa,” he said.
Through balancing an eight-hour work day with night classes, Shoemaker earned his certificate of completion in December 2025 from TSTC. He was first in his family to graduate from college since his great-grandparents.
Since receiving his certificate, Shoemaker has progressed from Vermeer’s shop to a field service technician role. He received the Employee of the Year Award in 2025.
“I’d put him up against any tech I have here in the shop,” Morgan said.
Shoemaker said he enjoys working on so many types of machines, even if applying his knowledge to multiple engines can be challenging. He is considering opening his own business one day.
“Seeing where I was a year ago to now, I would never have thought I would be where I’m at now,” Shoemaker said. “TSTC was a stepping stone in my career and a good foundation for what I do now.”
According to onetonline.org, farm equipment mechanics and service technicians earn an average of $47,430 a year in Texas, where the number of these jobs was projected to grow 18% up to 2032.
Registration for the summer and fall semesters at TSTC is underway. For more information about TSTC, go to tstc.edu.