Tech Spotlight: Mike Dziuba

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February 27, 2023

How It All Started

Mike Dziuba has lived many lives over the years, moving from his home near Boston, Massachusetts to Florida for sixteen years, and then relocating to Knoxville, Tennessee to enjoy “the mountains and the seasons.” He’s also excelled in many different careers, from serving as a police officer to repairing in-home appliances and HVAC systems.

Mike’s latest career adventure has been with ATECH in Knoxville. When he first moved to Tennessee, he found work with a different repair company. Eventually, he learned about ATECH and joined as a Service Technician at the end of 2021. We sat down to speak with him about his work in the field of commercial kitchen repair.

When he first began his career journey, Mike worked in home heating and air conditioning in his hometown of Rehoboth, about 50 miles south of Boston. He found a second career in his 40s, working for a local police department in Florida. When he retired from the force and moved to Knoxville, his previous experience with HVAC systems laid the groundwork for his role as a commercial kitchen repair service technician.

“After I retired from the force, I came back to doing what I enjoy. There’s a lot less stress doing this than there was in my previous life as a police officer.”

The skills that Mike built as a police officer also serve him well in his work at ATECH. As he puts it:

“In both jobs, you have to go in with a clear mind and see what’s causing the issue. You can’t skip to the end and try to fix something before you investigate it and troubleshoot it. You also have to build a rapport with the customer to gain their trust.”

When Mike returned to equipment repair after years away from the field, he was surprised by how relevant his skillset still was.

“Earlier in my life, I've done both residential and light commercial heating and air-conditioning trade HVAC, and I enjoyed it. Once you learn appliance repair skills, you don’t forget them. But almost everything is computerized now, so that’s a little bit of a learning curve, but I still enjoy it.”

Training at ATECH

To help him learn new technology, ATECH invested in Mike’s education by training him on high-end dishwashers and providing access to manufacturer-created educational tools to walk through the features of newer models.

“These days, commercial kitchen appliances can be heavily software-based so you have to have a fairly decent understanding of that portion of it. Some of the machinery is updated by the manufacturer through software updates, so you have to have the technical expertise to do that. There’s a lot of high-tech equipment out there now.”

Once he felt comfortable with the new machinery, Mike was able to provide quick, efficient, and thorough repairs for ATECH’s clients. Doing so gave him a feeling of satisfaction and the knowledge that he’d completed a job well done.

“The most rewarding part of my job is helping folks who are in a tight spot. There is a lot of self-satisfaction in successfully fixing a broken piece of equipment. The customer is at their wit’s end, and when we get it back up and running, you can hear this huge sigh of relief.”

Working at ATECH

There will likely be many more sighs of relief to come as Mike continues working at ATECH. It’s clear that he enjoys his work, and he’s the first to encourage others to pursue a career in commercial kitchen equipment.

“Gain as much knowledge as you can and get in early. When you enter the field as a junior technician, it doesn’t take any time at all for you to work your way up to full technician. It’s very rewarding and the pay and benefits in this area are awesome. Anyone who’s planning on getting in, there’s no time that’s better than now.”

Part of what Mike enjoys about his work is the company culture and teamwork he sees at ATECH.

“The team here in the Knoxville office is awesome. The people are fantastic and they are very, very knowledgeable. Everybody brings something to the table, and I’m amazed at the amount of knowledge this group has. Nobody plays any games, and everyone pulls their weight to get the job done. That’s refreshing to see. ATECH makes me feel appreciated every day that I am here. That means an awful lot. It certainly makes your day that much more productive when you know they appreciate you being there.”

Mike brings warmth, integrity, and capability to every single call he responds to each day. While he’s experienced so many different cities and careers, he brings his best to his work as a service technician at ATECH. ATECH’s clients will certainly reap the benefit of his years of wide-ranging experience.

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