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So even the times, I was feeling down or weak and emotionally stressed, I’d just look at that and I’d know that in order to have those great things, I would have to pay the price. I had to work hard; I’m not some sort of whiz kid. I just put a lot of effort into the training; I put a lot of focus on it. I read when I knew I had to read something no matter how much it was.

The thing is, hard work pays off. That’s how you have to look at it. Nobody’s perfect, nobody knows everything. But the most successful people in the world are people that never quit. If you quit, you’re never going to know if you’ll be successful or not. It’s all about running all the way through the finish line.

If you met someone who was considering LANWAN Professional or looking to change their career, what would your advice be to them?

Well, my advice to them would be to just take a moment, ask yourself what you want, and then ask yourself what you’re willing to do to get that and see if that lines up with what LANWAN Professional has to offer to you. And LANWAN Professional has a lot to offer. It’s the automobile that’s going to lead you to success. The question is, do you want to hop on that ride? Do you want to go wherever it’s going to take you, or are you going to stick your thumb out looking for a ride? Because that’s not going to happen.

I would tell them to go for it and that it’s an excellent program. It will prepare you and get you to place like where I’m at.  It’s very difficult to do that on your own. The resources that LANWAN Professional has to provide are just the perfect situation, perfect scenario.

Alex, thank you so much for taking the time to share about your experience with LANWAN Professional.  Now is your open mic time; is there anything thing else that you’d like to say?

(Laughs) I would say just stay positive. I mean that’s the whole game. I think that’s the trick through all of this. It’s to know what you want. Put it on a poster, look at it everyday—look at it and say that’s mine, I’m going to get that. And then you have to tell yourself, I’m willing to do this or that to get what I want. And know that if you don’t follow those steps, if you don’t do the things you know you have to do to get those things that you want; then you can only kick yourself for not achieving those things. 

So what I would like to say is take those goals, take all those dreams, and put them on paper and manifest them in front of you so you can always see them because whenever you do achieve them, you can just start marking them off or you can start writing on them: “I got it. I achieved it. This is now mine.” Then you always keep updating that collage because those dreams and those aspirations should never end. It should always, always be visible to you. I think that will give you success, not just in the IT industry, but life in general.

Parts of the training, we did remotely, which was a great thing because I was able to do it from the comfort of my home. I would just remotely connect to one of their training pods.  I was able to configure routers and configure access lists and work with natting and things like that. I think that was the best thing, because you get the hands on so that once you go into the actual industry, you’re not just paper certified. You’re not just, “Hey, all the knowledge is here (points to head), but I’ve never actually done it.” You have hands on skills that you can actually reflect based off that training.

What did you think of your mentor? Who was your mentor and how did having a mentor help you as you went through the process of becoming certified and then in your job placement?

My mentor was Tyler. Yeah, he helped me a lot. He helped me stay on track with calling me constantly making sure I had all the information that I needed to stay up-to-date on everything. A really big thing he helped me out with one time, was while I was at camp he showed me how to set up Google voicemail, which I had no idea about. Setting up Google voicemail was really a big thing.  You know if you have your own personal phone, you can have your own personal greeting, but then at the same time if you have an employer call you for an interview, it’s kind of nice to have a different phone number to provide an employer so they get a whole different (more professional) voicemail.  Also, at the same time, by having a separate number other than your personal number, you know that they’re calling you because that’s the only phone number that you’re giving out (to potential employers). It kind of seems small, but really, again, it comes down to the professionalism in preparing yourself to be successful, not just technically but also overall.

Are there any other things that helped prepared you professionally to enter into the field?

Yeah, there were other things that really prepared me for the field, like the interview training, which was huge. There’s a lot to it, it’s not just, “Hey, these are the questions you should expect, so be ready for them.” It’s also a manner of how you hold yourself and even how you dress. It got so technical to where they were saying, “Hey, you live on the east coast, you should wear this sort of suit with pinstripes” or whatever, but if you’re down south in Texas, you have to wear these certain type of professional clothing. So it’s little stuff like that you don’t know, but that is the stuff that people know that empower them to be able to go out and actually have a chance in an interview. Not just to get the interview, but go to the interview and actually becoming successful at getting a second interview.

I think another great thing was also the resume building. It was amazing. I don’t know who does the resumes right now, but my resume looks amazing and I wouldn’t have ever gotten it to that level if it wasn’t for somebody sitting down with me that knew what they were doing and helping me go through it and chiseling it out into a masterpiece. The fact that LANWAN Professional provided us all the avenues with which to look for a job was amazing. I mean they gave me a list of job search engines I’ve never even heard about: I just had no idea about them. I think another great thing on top of that is that LANWAN Professional stays on you. You want to be successful and they know you want to be successful, and they want you to be successful because there’s a lot of money in it, so they push you to be successful by requiring you to put in so many hours looking for a job and to be committed to putting out so many resumes. I mean if you think about it, you’re either going to have to push yourself or it’s nice to sort of have “mommy” coming up behind you and saying, “Hey, did you clean your room? Did you do this?” It’s the same thing. It’s nice to have somebody to keep you accountable for what you’re going through. Especially during the time you come back from boot camp, when there’s nobody else to push you. You don’t have these people (your campmates) surrounding you, who are just on fire, who are just ready to rock’n’roll.  You come back and you really don’t have anything (like that to keep you motivated). That’s when the mentor kicks in and you have somebody to reach out to so you can maintain focus.

I’m wondering if you could speak a little bit about your first hand experience with Eric Choi.  What are your thoughts on him?

Eric is an awesome guy. I mean he’s just brilliant. He has all his ducks in a row. He presents himself well, really professional. He’s one of those guys who is really genuine. He really does care. You’re not just a paycheck to him, you’re not just revenue to him. He actually cares about your future and what you may be going through at the time. He’s very understanding.

I have had excellent conversations with Eric. He has really inspired me in a lot of ways. It’s nice to know somebody of his caliber show interest in me as a person and really shed light on skills and talents that I had no idea I had.  Eric was able to spot those out and was able to direct me in the right way—like the pre-sales engineer position. He pushed me towards that route in the beginning.  Eric was the one who told me about it. He was like, “Hey, this would work for you” and I had no idea about that.  When I got my job, I came on as a Technology Analyst and then after the first week I was there, I met a Solutions Architect and I told him, “Hey, I want to be just like you one of these days.” Next thing I know, I get pulled into a room by my boss and he’s like, “Hey, you want to be a pre-sales engineer?” and I’m like, “Oh my goodness. All right! Cool, sign me up!”  Eric has enthusiasm and passion for what he does. He’s molding people to become better and have better lives. When you see that in somebody, you just gotta respect that person.

How has LANWAN Professional impacted your life professionally? What are you aspiring to down the road?

Yeah, life is so much better. When I come home now, I still live with my parents, but I’m saving money. Gotta start somewhere (chuckles). But when I come home, my mom has a smile on her face now (laughs) because you know for a year and a half she didn’t like me so much because she was taking care of me all over again. My parents are a lot happier with me now and I can do a lot more now. I can go out with my friends. I can buy things I’ve always wanted; well, not everything I always wanted, but you know, things that are affordable and within my reach. Then also, just being able to be independent. I think that’s one of the most important things in life, you know, being independent and self-sufficient.

As far as my future, I’ve always wanted to become a Solutions Architect; I touched on that a bit earlier. I’m actually perfectly positioned right now to take on that role. I’ve been with this company for 10 months now and you know, there are certain requirements that you have to meet in order to be given that title. One of those requirements is for all the other Solutions Architects to say, “Hey, we feel like you are qualified to become one of us.” So it kind of feels like I’m about to become knighted. I’m just a squire learning all the responsibilities of a Solutions Architect. So like I said, right now, it’s a perfect position because I’m offloading a lot of things they’re already doing so I’m kind of like already three-fourths of the way to becoming a Solutions Architect. I hope to take on that role and be given that name and title in the future.  I think I’ll be ready to rock’n’roll, which is amazing because my company has provided me with all the training in the world. I mean anything that I want. Any sort of training or products, they pay for it all and it benefits them as well as me to be knowledgeable in those certain aspects. So, long story short, Solutions Architect, almost there.

So what does that mean for you personally down the road? Do you have any future aspirations that you’re hoping to obtain?

I think I’m going to start by moving out of my parent’s house and start having my own house. That would be very nice.

I’ve often heard that the success stories of the candidates who have come through LANWAN Professional are just too good to be true. You’re one of those stories, Alex. When others hear of your success, how would you explain it? What would be your response to them?

I’ll put it this way. I didn’t make straight A’s in high school. I was kind of like a B/C student, sometimes an F, but you know, always brought those up.  That’s how I got here, eventually passed all my classes (laughs).  Anyways, it’s just determination. You just got to know what you want. Basically, I took a poster and made a collage of all the things I wanted to achieve in life. It was something I learned from a book and everyday I would look at that poster and look at all the things on it that I wanted and I would tell myself, “That’s my car. That’s my phone. That’s my house.” I put a picture of a guy working on a computer and say that’s my job. I wouldn’t be just working on the computer; I’d be doing more advanced things. So mainly, I just had those things in mind, always – everyday constantly.

motivating each other just by being in each other’s presence. And then, you also have the competitive spirit that’s there as well. So it’s nice to be in a place where you’re totally removed from any distractions outside of what you’re there to do. And I think that focus is really what makes you or breaks you.

I think the biggest thing or a word of advice that I can give anyone who is thinking about going through the program, or to anyone that is in the program currently, is that the program at LANWAN Professional is that tough for a reason. It’s meant to be tough. There’s a need for it to be tough because they’re preparing you to go out into an industry where that’s mainly—and I’m talking about the higher echelon type of positions—filled with people who have anywhere from 5-10 years of experience. 

To just try to walk in at a base level to try to get a position like that is hard. I mean your chances are very limited. So I feel like the toughness of the boot camp relates to how you should be prepared in order to secure one of those positions in the industry; and I’m talking about mentally prepared as far as attitude, as far as determination, as far as going out there and being successful and finding a job. I think the boot camp really ingrains that kind of thinking and preparedness into your head. Because like I said, camp is just non-stop – it’s about 24/7 being soaked in IT and in knowledge. If you can make it through that, you can make it anywhere. That’s how I look at it. It’s a lot of work, but that work definitely pays off and it has paid off for me.

What do you think were the biggest stumbling blocks for you and your classmates to becoming employed?

The biggest stumbling block to becoming employed is consistency and determination. When you leave boot camp—and this happens in all sorts of different aspects in life—you have just gone to something that’s really thrilling and exciting and motivating.  You come back, and you’re all excited, you’re just amped up and ready to rock ‘n roll—you’re like that for maybe the first two weeks, and after awhile you’re not seeing the results that you expected, or that you wanted, and you start losing that motivation, that drive, to stay consistent as far as your approach on trying to get a job. I think that’s the biggest stumbling block because you’re no longer around those people who you were leaning on for support. You’re at home by yourself and no one’s there to tell you “Hey, keep it up. Stay strong.” So it requires a certain mindset in preparation once you return from camp.

In order to be successful in finding a job and even getting an interview took me three months, which is longer than usually expected.  And yeah, I went through those times, too, where I was kind of slacking myself thinking, “Oh, this isn’t working out. Maybe it was a bad idea.” But at the end of the day, what isn’t like that? Everything is a challenge in life and the greatest things in life are usually the most challenging. Like I said, that either makes you or breaks you. And you got to really, really make a decision to yourself: whether or not to finish this race or am I going to quit halfway there? I think that was the biggest stumbling block for those who did make it and those who might have not made it.

So tell me, now that you’ve been in the IT field for a while, how do you feel the training you received at LANWAN Professional has prepared you technically for your position? Do you feel like you received solid training while you were here and was it really applicable to what you’re doing?

Well, you know routing and switching is the foundation of IT—period. Well, as far as going into networking. The training was perfect. It totally prepared me for what I’m doing. Like I said, routing and switching is the foundation. It’s the core of everything you’re doing in networking. If you understand that, then you want to understand everything else that plays a role in networks these days. It’s not just routing and switching. You got other things like secure gateways and different types of proxies for different types of servers, among other more specialized aspects of networking. But the education I got and the training I got from LANWAN Professional was great.

I really liked the fact that I got hands on training. I got to see the equipment, which is a very, very big thing if you think about it. If you don’t actually work on the equipment, once you get in the field and someone says, “Hey, what’s a switch?” and you don’t know what a switch even looks like, then there’s a problem right?  Also being able to apply that knowledge to certain situations is crucial. The great thing that I really, really liked about LANWAN Professional’s training is that you would learn a section of information over a certain subject, but then, LANWAN Professional would follow it up with different scenarios and different tests.  The instructors would give us different situations where we had to go through and configure our own network or pretty much apply everything that we had learned into real life situations.

Already gunning for a third promotion within his first year of employment, Alex Vasquez shares about his exciting career, training at LANWAN Professional, his first hand experience with Eric Choi, the importance of vision and how it feels to achieve the professional and personal goals he once only dreamed about.

Alex Vasquez

1. “I saw LANWAN Professional, the way it was set up in the description of their program, and I felt that it was the best way to achieve my goals.  The program at LANWAN Professional was actually worth investing money in, because to me, it came as a sweep...[it was] one comprehensive program.”
   

1. “I’d know that in order to have those great things, I would have to pay the price. I had to work hard; I’m not some sort of whiz kid. I just put a lot of effort into the training; I put a lot of focus on it. I read when I knew I had to read something no matter how much it was.
   

2. 
   

3. The thing is, hard work pays off.”
   

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“I was jobless. Unemployed basically.  I moved back home with my parents. I was in debt. I had two degrees...I saw that [LANWAN Professional] was an excellent opportunity to get the education that I needed to achieve the dream that I had.”

Are there any other things that stick out to you as far as training or even at camp, in particular that you can put your finger on and say, “I absolutely needed this. This was instrumental in getting a job”?

Ah, camp! I loved camp! Camp was great. I think it was eye opening. If you think about it, camp is exactly what they call it—it is a boot camp! I mean you’re there, at lease from my experience, we were there from like 7 o’clock in the morning till like 12 at night just studying and studying and studying, doing assignments or just working on a special order exam that they had given us to do testing and stuff like that to make sure we were actually understanding the materials and that the information was actually sticking.

Camp was also great because you’re there with a small select group of people from all over the United States and you become really close with them. You’re sleeping in the same house so it’s kind of like everybody’s

1. “I really liked the fact that I got hands on training. I got to see the equipment, which is a very, very big thing if you think about it. If you don’t actually work on the equipment, once you get in the field and someone says, “Hey, what’s a switch?” and you don’t know what a switch even looks like, then there’s a problem right?”