Andrew Taylor’s Journey through the Cat Global Dealer Tech Challenge
“Good afternoon, everybody. My name is Andrew Taylor, and I started my career three years ago with Thompson Machinery. If I would have thought that I would be up here getting this– it’s insane to me. What an honor!”
Updated March 11, 2026
The Global Dealer Tech Challenge
Throughout 2025, Cat Dealers have been offering their technicians the chance to compete in the Cat Global Dealer Tech Challenge. From local competitions hosted at individual Cat dealerships to competitions that bring together the best of the best from across the different regions, this challenge gives technicians the opportunity to test their skills on a global stage.
Using a wide range of hands-on repair scenarios, the Global Dealer Tech Challenge is built to test competitors’ agility, resilience, and versatility, and Tupelo-native Field Technician Andrew Taylor ended the week of the Regional Challenge certainly feeling tested.
“I think I would rather do calculus in high school again than do that,” he joked as he began recounting his experience at the challenge. Taylor came back from each day of the challenge feeling exhausted, even falling asleep on the bus ride back to his hotel each night. “I was usually the last person rolling in, and I thought, ‘Oh, I really don’t have this,’” he said, so when his name was called as the first-place winner of the Regional Competition of the Cat Global Dealer Tech Challenge at the end of the week, no one was more surprised.
Battle for the Top Spot
“That was a very surreal feeling,” Taylor said. “I really could not believe that they called me as the winner. Throughout the whole competition, I didn’t really feel like I was doing all that great.” Taylor explained the challenges, noting how he was given just two hours per challenge to identify the problem with the machine, troubleshoot, order any needed parts, and try to fix the issue – all while the judges simulated real-life scenarios, playing the parts of owner and operator as they completed their assessment.
As he accepted his award, Taylor was quick to thank those who stood with him throughout the challenges. His family supported him through long days of training and long nights of research in preparation, and his team at Thompson Machinery helped him get access to training on new systems and machinery that he hadn’t had the chance to work on before. When asked who his biggest supporter throughout his experience was, Taylor struggled to pick just one. “They’re all pretty evenly tied,” he began. “My support system is pretty top tier if I do say so myself.”
Next Steps
With the next round of the competition happening in December, Taylor is continuing to lean on that support system as he prepares for the next challenge. One of the things he looks forward to most is getting to meet all the new competitors. At the Regional Competition, Taylor felt that he and the other dealer representatives were able to become friends despite the fact that they were competing against each other for the top spot. “It was cool getting to know all the guys from the other dealers all over,” he said, and he wasn’t the only one to notice the group’s bond. “The assessors even noticed that our group had been the most talkative that they’d seen and even said that we seemed to talk to each other like we had known each other for years.”
The next round provides a whole new group of technicians for him to meet, as well as a whole new round of challenges. “I like to be challenged on a day-to-day basis,” said Taylor before explaining his training tactics. Taylor and his team have taken special care to ensure that he’s well educated on machinery of all kinds. From seeking out opportunities to work on machines he has never handled before to going out of his way to continue his “homework” for the day even after he’s clocked out, Taylor is doing everything he can to prepare for the next challenge.
“I had to play a lot of catch up on Caterpillar when I first started,” he recounts. Taylor started his time at Thompson Machinery with very little training on Cat equipment, and his dedication to being a well-rounded technician is what drove his training when he was new to the field. He had to build his expertise from the ground up, learning everything from equipment diagnostics to the technical aspects of the repairs with Cat equipment. “If you want to be proficient at your job, you have to be constantly researching what is new and what is coming out next,” he finished. That drive to excellence is what led Taylor to his win in the Regional Competition and is what set him up for success in the next round.
Competing on the Global Stage
After his success in the Regional and Semi-Final Challenges, Andrew found himself standing on the global stage in the Final Challenge of the Cat Global Dealer Tech Challenge. In Edwards, Illinois, Andrew Taylor faced off against the best Cat technicians in the world. These challenges pushed him in all new ways, with each session requiring more time than they had before. Having to rely more on his gut instinct than his procedural knowledge, these challenges tested his speed, agility, and technical expertise. “It was more of a challenge on what you had stored in your brain,” he told us. “You had to really know your stuff. There was no way to fake your way through it.”
The Finals round didn’t just present new challenges for Andrew but also presented him with some pretty steep competition. With competitors from all over the world, he was pleased to find that they were just as friendly and welcoming as they were in his first challenge. “These guys were just great. We had the opportunity to get pretty close, and I’m going to miss seeing them every few months,” said Andrew. He went on to explain how valuable he felt it was to be able to work with and compete against so many experts in the field. This challenge didn’t just push him as a technician, but it also gave him the opportunity to connect with and learn from many people he wouldn’t have had the opportunity to meet otherwise.
As the Final Challenge came to a close, Andrew Taylor found himself placed in the top 10 technicians in the world. Once again, he found himself, “more grateful than words can express.” His wife and kids were the first people he mentioned. “Throughout such a crazy schedule from all the competitions and trainings, my wife never griped once. My whole family has been so supportive from the start,” he said. Many Thompson Machinery teammates, including De Thompson, showed up to support him as he took on the global stage as well. Andrew was especially grateful for his mentors, though, who showed up each step of the way and helped him get the training he needed to go so far. “I am a direct reflection of what our training department can turn out,” he said, and we are so proud of all he has accomplished as part of the Thompson Machinery team.
What’s Next at Thompson
Now that the Cat Global Dealer Tech Challenge has ended, we at Thompson Machinery are preparing for the next competition cycle. It’s impossible to choose just one of our many talented technicians to compete in the global challenge, so plans are underway to host a local Thompson Machinery technician challenge.
We are proud of how skilled and professional our technicians are every day in the field, so we are excited to host a series of challenges across our territory to find who will be our next representative at the Cat Global Dealer Tech Challenge. Andrew Taylor is looking forward to working with the next technician who will get the opportunity to represent Thompson Machinery at the challenge, and we can’t wait to celebrate our team as they compete for the opportunity to take the global stage once again.