Did you ever imagine this would be the type of job you’d get after training and certifications?
No, this is not a job that I expected to get right out of training and certifications. I expected some little dinky entry-level position, but with a fast track up because I had all these certifications. I was really expecting my certifications just to be, “Oh, he has no education, but he has certifications” kind of balancing it out as if I just came in with maybe just a CCNA and some degree in computer engineering or IT work of some kind. Instead, I got shoved right into the fire. Like I said, it’s great, but not at all what I expected. Towards the end, I knew where I was expecting to be in by the end of a year or two of experience. I kind of skipped the one or two years of experience with the onsite training provided at LANWAN Professional.
That’s one thing that I always hear from people especially folks who are still in the test drive period. I often hear, “I just don’t understand how you can have these kinds of numbers for salaries coming out of training” not realizing that you’re living proof. LAN/WAN is not entry level. So let me ask you this, were there any stumbling blocks to overcome to being hired? And if so, how did LANWAN Professional help you overcome those obstacles?
Oh, obstacles. For most of my friends from college, classmates there, there were obvious stumbling blocks. Some classmates had co-ops for the internships and then went straight into jobs making a little bit of a salary in between. I still have some friends who are working at Best Buy or Target who are waiting for that career to come in. For me, personally, obviously, I was having trouble getting a position. The problem was that I was an inexperienced, uncertified young little kid (laughs) to just put it bluntly.
With IT, once I had all these certifications from LANWAN Professional – through LANWAN Professional, as they helped me get Cisco certifications. Obviously, the certifications were a big plus. They really do get me noticed. Whenever somebody, a recruiter or HR, is looking for somebody to fill in a position, CCIE kind of jumps off the page or CCDP or CCNP; those certifications really jump out. Of course, as I mentioned, LANWAN Professional made my resume, so they put all the technologies, all the different hardware and software, all the different things that we worked with during the hands-on training.
And again, it really just makes your resume pop out in any kind of search that somebody does. I started putting my resume up on job sites, not even applying for anything yet, just posted up on job sites one weekend. That week I was getting calls from recruiters and HR people going, “Hey, can you come in? I want to meet you. Let’s talk. Let’s set you up with a profile so we can match you up with a job.” And then I started putting my resume on recruiter websites and that started flooding my voicemail even more. By following the spreadsheet that LANWAN Professional provided and their system, it just works. I can’t really say I hit too many stumbling blocks after I got the certifications.
I can’t think of any other stumbling blocks really, it was really straightforward and simple. If you do this, you will get a job: now go. Anytime I had a problem I could call up my people at LANWAN Professional. Everybody I talked to at LANWAN Professional went like this: “Hey, I have a problem with this” or “Hey, how do I deal with this?” For that matter, the first time I got contacted, I didn’t even call the person back or immediately respond to the email. I sent it on to one of the people I was talking with at LANWAN Professional and they walked me through it: “Ok, this is probably how it’s going to go. Here are some things you should say.” During training I had a mock interview. After I was done with all these certifications, I was getting ready for talking with recruiters on the phone and in person. I had more mock interviews. I had mock phone interviews with people at LANWAN Professional. They walked me through, made some suggestions; I had all this preparatory work and lots of times it was just listening and saying, “Oh, this makes a lot of sense.” Then I’d take notes. To be honest, it really did help. Every time I could think of something to ask, there was either already an answer for me or I just had to ask and they would point me in the right place for the answer.
How has LANWAN Professional impacted your life, both in the short and in the long-term?
LANWAN Professional has definitely impacted my life in the short-term. I got out of college, I worked for a summer in a deli and—mind you—I came out with two engineering degrees. I am a rocket scientist by degree and I spent my first summer out of college working at a movie theater and a deli. And then once the summer was over, I moved to Charlotte, NC, and spent a year teaching middle school science. It was a lateral entry license. Basically, I had engineering degrees; I had some background with tutoring and teaching. They just made somebody watch me. I was really not going anywhere. It was a dead end. I had only been there for a year and it was already a dead end job. So in the short term, the fact is, LANWAN Professional got me a job. I’ll put it bluntly like that. They got me a job. Yes, I got the certifications. Yes, I did the interview. And yes, I actually learned this stuff. But I could not have done it without LANWAN Professional. They had all the information, they had all the practice, they had all of the training and I don’t mean just training for certifications or IT knowledge. I mean real world training: training for how to get a job, training for how to interview, for that matter, training on how to apply for a job and how to keep it afterwards.
I’m still in contact with people at LANWAN Professional. They check up on me: “Hey, how’s it going? Have you heard about this cool new technology? Have you thought about anything or any problems or anything I can help you with?” Once I get settled, I’ll be getting on the phone with them again setting up the CCIE lab training. This is an ongoing relationship for me. For that matter, I don’t see why I wouldn’t come back in two or three years to renew some of my certifications. It’s just such a great experience. In the long term, LANWAN Professional got me a job. Don’t let me forget to mention that! It’s a short term and a long term. Short term is they got me a job. Long term is they got me a career. I can always come back to them for more help if I decide to change tracks. If I decide to go down a different path with my Cisco certifications or get re-certified for that matter LANWAN Professional’s always going to be there for me.
How do you feel that your experience at LANWAN Professional has made a change in your life beyond the technical and professional level? In other words, how has LANWAN Professional made an impact on your personal life?
Beyond the career opportunities, I would say getting a career—it’s definitely a bigger paycheck than teaching—my wife and I are actually looking at getting a house instead of an apartment. So obviously, the increased paycheck is going to help with that. Then maybe within the next year or so, we’ll start a family. It would be great to have some space. The larger paycheck is going to help with that too.
Tell me a little bit, in your opinion, what
were some of the most beneficial ways
that LANWAN Professional helped get you
into your current position?
LANWAN Professional is the whole thing.
First off, LANWAN Professional made my resume.
I gave them the information; they made my resume.
I just proofread it. That was it. It was really easy
on my part (laughs). When I compared it back to
some of the old resumes that I had used, I can
definitely see improvements. Granted, it’s IT so
it’s structured a little differently. They list a lot
more technologies. They explain why they did
what they did, how their system works.
As I said, I originally signed up for not only the
training, but for an internship. I was originally in
the internship program. As I neared my design
certifications with Cisco, LANWAN Professional
working on connecting me with a few different
companies in the area that would be interested
in taking me on as an intern for 12 months. The
way that the internship program is set up is that I’d be working with a company for 12 months and after that LANWAN Professional would help me get a job. I even met with some of the companies that were interested. I had the option within the 12 months to drop it at any time. I could take a job offer at any time. It’s not some sort of 12-month contract that I’m hardwired into that I must accept. The programs at LANWAN were very flexible and very much oriented on me and not LANWAN Professional.
As it turns out, I actually got an actual job offer while looking for internships. I went through LANWAN Professional, not only on the internship track, but also on the direct placement track. In the direct placement, they have an entire checklist such as: here are all these job sites that you need to post your resume to, here are a list of companies that you need to directly apply to and for that matter, here are hospitals, governments and all these different things that I needed to find in the area and make my own list and apply straight to those, and look at job sites. There is a checklist to follow and you go through this entire system and it works. The job I landed is actually the first on-site interview that I had. I had one phone interview with them before that.
So, again, we’re talking a few months, several certifications, LANWAN Professional walked me through the entire process of not only the training and learning along with the certifications—in that order not backwards—I learned, then I got certified. Then, LANWAN Professional helped me get a job. They were working on getting me an internship as well as walking me through a full time job search. The way they taught me how to go about getting a full time job, I can apply to a job search later on in life. It is something that you can very easily follow. It’s a very good system. It worked and it didn’t take that long!
Yes, most people don’t realize those gems, we don’t always advertise those advantages to our programs, but that’s the most powerful part. Tell me a little bit about your new position. Can you go into a little more depth about it and what would a typical day look like for you at your new company?
The job that I, Pierce Vasale, have gotten straight out of all the training and certifications with LANWAN Professional—actually let me back up—I’m not even done yet! I have gotten my CCNA through the CCDP. I’ve taken the CCIE written exam. Once I’ve gotten settled into my job, I’m hoping to right back to my computer in the evenings and work remotely with LANWAN Professional on the CCIE lab and remote training. Eventually I’m going to fly back out to California to do some more hands-on training. This is something that I know a few companies will reimburse people for because it’s training. It’s a pretty good deal.
In my case, in the job that I’ve gotten, I’m working for the 2nd largest health care provider in the United States. It has in the area 32 hospitals and 600 individual sites. An individual site can be an entire urgent care or it can be a single doctor’s office that is in a building with 10 or 12 other doctors’ offices. But you have to keep in mind that the doctor’s practice is different from the person below so it’s a completely separate network that just ties into the core area of CHS, Carolina’s Healthcare System. For me, my typical day could be just about anything. I’m only on my second week, but I have spent some days where, for instance, this one facility, a research facility attached to one of the main hospitals, were adding wireless on a couple of floors and replacing some old 4500 series switches with some pizza box style switches and other upgrades while we were at it. It was a Saturday thing that I actually went in for. I also helped to configure some of the switches. I’m just now getting my actual login to the existing network. It’s actually going to be awhile for me before I am doing anything on my own and that’s not because of my lack of experience so much as it is a humungous network. Wireless is not everywhere. It’s not even in all of the hospitals. But for those of you who are further along in training would know that a single wireless controller can control many APs, access points. Then you also have the guest wireless controllers. Those can handle thousands – seven thousand in some cases – we have five guest wireless controllers. Now keep in mind that’s in control of seven thousand other controllers that are controlling several hundred other access points and wireless is a very, very small part of the network. I am getting many diagrams of how these networks are set up and connected. I mean it’s a huge process. A very, very large company with lots to learn, but eventually a typical day is going to be: I come in at whatever time and stay nine hours.
So every day I come in, I’m going to see something new. If I see a pattern, it probably means I need to replace something just so we don’t see that pattern repeating anymore. Right now, I’m pretty much just shadowing and following the other guys and do whatever they say whether it be physical labor or logging in and making changes to some of the switches or reconfiguring. It is a broad spectrum and once I really get in and they start to trust me on my own, then every 8th week, I get a pager and I’m on call 24/7 for an entire week. It’s a blast. It’s a lot to learn, really a lot to learn. Most of it is learning where everything is, how it’s connected, how not to get lost in the hospitals. It’s amazing. Some of these closets are bigger than the house I grew up in and there are multiples of those in some of these hospitals just because there are thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people. It is a humungous opportunity and a humungous layout. It’s great.
Prior to LANWAN Professional, Vasale was a recent
college graduate holding degrees in both Mechanical
and Aerospace Engineer but had been unable
to find employment without certifications or experience.
Finding himself working in a deli and then teaching middle
school science, Vasale began looking for internships.
What he got instead was intense training, hands-on
experience, the most sought after IT certifications,
and a new career--all within less than 6 months.
Vasale shares about his new career, his experience at
LANWAN Professional, as well as shares advice for other
recent graduates.
Could you introduce yourself and share your story?
What were you doing before LANWAN Professional?.
My name’s Pierce Vasale, born and raised in Charleston, West Virginia. I went to school in Oregon Town, West Virginia, then [I studied at] West Virginia University. I went to college for four years straight after high school with bachelor degrees in both Mechanical Engineering and Aerospace Engineering. Then the market tanked; everyone who had wanted engineers now wanted engineers with experience or at least some sort of certification. Problem with both mechanical and aerospace engineering is the only way to become certified is to have years of experience. That’s actually a pre-requisite for some of the certifications: you have professional experience and your supervisor then signs off that you’re ready to take the certification.
So I actually ended up taking a year teaching middle school science at a magnet school of arts in Charlotte, NC. After a year of that, I did not want to go back…I continued my search for engineering positions while I was teaching. During that time, I came across a posting for internships and training with LANWAN Professional. I decided that was a really good option since it was an internship and I thought, “Hey, it’s an internship; I’ll give it a shot. I’ll put in my resume and see what happens.” Lo and behold, two days, a week, or however long it was later—I’ve lost track of hundreds and thousands of resumes put up or submitted before that time—I was contacted by LANWAN Professional. I took this test to see what I knew [IT]. And I nailed that thing. I got 100% and I was on the phone the next day, then that’s when I started talking with LANWAN Professional. It was quite an experience.
Before I get into the typical questions I like to ask, you hit on a couple of things that I’ve been noticing lately. Let me tell you a little bit about my background. I work with students that are a part of the California University system, and a lot of graduates, even engineer graduates, can’t find jobs. I think it’s interesting that you hit on that very point; you had two degrees, and you were a stellar student. You said you couldn’t get a job without being certified or having experience and yet you couldn’t become certified without having experience. Can you expound on that and what would you say to other graduates who are in the same position? I run into graduates all the time and I’m tell them to think about IT, but their typical response is that IT is too far away from what they went to school for. I don’t say anything, but I often think that Engineering and IT are very similar. It sounds like that’s where you came from, so I’m curious about what you have to say on that.
For graduates that are having trouble finding jobs, there are multiple
different pathways to take. I had a few friends that graduated, and
they just got positions in different places…I have a few other friends
who took the route of “I’m going to work at Target or Best Buy,
some part-time job, while I keep applying for my career job.”
As I was mentioning earlier, I have two degrees: Mechanical and
Aerospace Engineering. And the problem I had was that I had no
experience. I had an internship [but] when I was done, I had all
these degrees and no real life experience, and no way to get certified
because the certifications required experience which is what kind of
threw me into this other track with IT. I just changed gears a little.
If you have a mathematical mind, a scientific mind, you like to tinker,
you like to figure out how things work, or you’re an organized person,
you like excel sheets, IT is very good for you, as I found for me.
There are lots of different positions with lots of opportunities. In my
case, it’s just configuring switches, routing, and physically putting
stuff in. For me, for LANWAN Professional was great, especially for
[getting into] IT, because they knew I didn’t have any experience.
I took a test drive of their program. I went up for a weekend to
meet them. They showed me: “Here’s how our program works and
here’s what we’ll be going over.” It was almost like a crash course,
but free. They even reimbursed me for my flight out there since
they’re in California and I was on the other coast, entirely.
The way that LANWAN Professional works, I got certified. In fact,
I have a few here in front of me. I have my CCNA, my CCNA-Voice,
my CCNP, CCDA, CCDP, and I’m already working on my CCIE.
I started getting certified in December and it is currently the beginning
of June. And as I understand it, most people don’t go for a CCIE
until they have ten or fifteen years of experience.
I started work last week. How cool is that?
That’s awesome. I know you said that you came across the internships posted about LANWAN Professional. What exactly was it that attracted you to go through LANWAN Professional? What was it that made you decide, “I’m going to do this” and come out to California?
Well, I’m not exactly sure on what made me go “Hey, I’m going to go for LANWAN Professional.” I know part of it was probably because I’ve been applying for countless positions everyday, even while I was teaching. I would come home after a long day of teaching and start planning; I’d start grading and other work for school, then I’d go online and look through hundreds of job postings online and apply to more and more. At some point, they all started to blur together, but I especially looked for anything that said “Internship.”
Internship was the goal of work for me in this case because I had no experience, so I must get an internship! It just made sense. I knew LANWAN Professional was IT, it wasn’t really the same as engineering, but it involved a lot of the same concepts. It had a lot of training and it had a test drive feature where I didn’t have to put all this money out up front. So that’s really what got me. One, it had internship which is what I was looking for, but ultimately it was just this great opportunity. Like I said, they’re allowing me to test drive the program, so why not?
What are your thoughts on the training and programs at LANWAN Professional? Did you have any expectations?
I didn’t know what to expect when I went there. I did not know about the pace; I did not know how difficult it was. To be frankly honest, as of November 2011, all I knew about IT was what I had personally figured out about my own computer. I knew what wires were. I did not know the difference between a straight though and a crossover. I knew there were routers. I probably did not know there were switches or hubs – well, I knew hub, but all these bridges, and switches. The numbers didn’t mean anything to me. What’s a 6500 versus a 4400? As far as I knew, the 6500 came after the 4500. That’s it. I knew nothing, really, but I knew I wanted to learn. I enjoy learning, and I still do.
LANWAN Professional allowed for me to choose the pace. After the first weekend there, I knew what the pace going to be, so I decided to try for the hardest thing that LANWAN Professional had to offer. I like a challenge. The hardest program at LANWAN Professional was the CCIE Program, so I decided to go for that. So for the next couple of weeks I stayed at LANWAN Professional through the residency program—I could have started or dropped off at any point, there was no hard set. While I was there I had gotten some of the hard hands-on training that was available. By doing so, I knew what kind of pace I could keep. In that sense, I got some expectations and I had expected myself to keep up.
The residency program, I will admit, is very, very tough. I was there for 2 weeks straight living upstairs and working downstairs. It was not 8 hours a day. You slept 8 hours a day. You worked the rest. You had breaks; it was your own pace that you set. There were some lectures and a few modules that they set up; follow this, sometimes as a group. There a few quizzes or tests that were to show you what you are, in fact, capable of. The large part of being onsite was going through the modules and if you had questions, there was a whole row of people right next to you just waiting for you to ask for help. They also were teaching us the methods to look it up ourselves as well. Obviously, once you have a job, that’s what you will need to do.
To reiterate, November 2011, I knew diddlysquat about IT. It is now beginning of June and I’m in my second week as an intermediate level network engineer for the 2nd largest health care provider in the US depending. There are seven other people on my team. I think I’ve learned quite a bit with LANWAN Professional.
In less than 5 months recent graduate Pierce Vasale earned over 9 Cisco Certifications, including the CCIE Written. Currently employed by the 2nd largest healthcare provider in the Nation, Pierce’s life has drastically changed in less than a year. Vasale shares his story.
Pierce Vasale
-
November 2011, I didn’t know ‘diddly squat’ about IT. It is now beginning of June and I’m in my second week as an intermediate level network engineer for the 2nd largest health care provider in the US depending. There are seven other people on my team. I think I’ve learned quite a bit with LANWAN Professional.
For me, for LANWAN Professional was great, especially for
[getting into] IT...the way LANWAN Professional works, I got certified. In fact, I’m already working on my CCIE...As far as I understand it, most people don’t go for a CCIE until they have ten or fifteen years of experience. I started work last week. How cool is that?
-
“This is not a job that I expected to get right out of training and certifications. I expected some little dinky entry-level position...I kind of skipped the one or two years of experience with the onsite training provided at LANWAN Professional.”
That’s pretty much what I was asking. A lot of times, people’s stories generally become more real when it tangibly changes their lifestyle. A lot of people can relate to what you just shared, so thank you. Now, this is a question I always like asking. The success stories of LANWAN Professional seem too good to be true. Now, you’re one of those stories, so when others hear of your success that you’ve experienced in such a short amount of time, how do you explain that?
For non-believers out there in LANWAN Professional and their system, this is my CCNA and the date on it is – well, it says valid through December 2014. It’s good for 3 years meaning I got it December 30, 2011. Keep that in mind, CCNA. CCNA-Voice has the same date. I actually took the CCNA-Voice a few weeks earlier in December while I was in California at LANWAN Professional’s site getting trained. They just really want you to try one of the CCNA exams (Voice, Wireless, Security) because they’re a lot easier than the CCNA composite. Thing is, you don’t get those certifications until you pass the CCNA. The CCNP here says January 11, 2015. So again, that was January 11, 2012. We’re talking about – not even two weeks – between the two and then the CCDA has March 31, 2015, so again, that was this March. And surprise, surprise, there’s also a CCDP that also says March 31, 2015. I took those on the same day (smiles). So I can guarantee you that the system works and I did get them that fast.
I’m already working on my CCIE. The written part I took before the design certifications, the lab I’ll take later on this year. I just decided to take some time off, get a job, considering it’s kind of the goal here. And right now I’m getting settled into my job, it’ll take a few months for that. After, I will pick up for the lab training once I’m settled. Then I’ll go and continue with my CCIE. It works. It just does. For me, I guess it’s because I like learning, I like to challenge myself. LANWAN Professional has this program and said, “You can do it if you’re prepared.” It is possible and here I am.
Excellent. What does your wife think about all of this?
Want to ask her?
Sure, why not? (Laughs)
Wife:
I like that he finally got a job that he likes doing and is excited about it. That’s what I’ve kind of been concerned about. I just wanted him to find a job that he’d be happy doing. That’s all I really cared about.
Awesome, I love the cameo. Last question: If someone was considering LANWAN Professional, what would be your advice to them?
My advice to somebody who’s considering LANWAN Professional? For those of you who are watching this now, if you are in a dead end job and you just want to expand. Give it a shot. What do you have to lose? They’re basically going to pay for you to come out there and try it out for a weekend. If you can keep up and enjoy it; stick around and try it. If you are already in IT and you’re just trying to go for a higher certification, maybe you’ve been stuck at the CCNA or CCNP level and you’re trying to go up one or even two. And for the past two years, you’ve been taking this test two or three, maybe even four or five times, and you’re so close, but you’re not passing. Give LANWAN Professional a try. What do you have to lose?
I’ve looked at some of the self-study training. If your current company is going to offer training, especially if they’re paying for it, but if you’re going through all this self study as most of you who are watching this video probably are, you know how expensive it can be—and that’s not just getting the books. For hands-on, routers, switches, and modules—you’re going to start racking up the bill. Maybe they won’t pay for the training, but they might reimburse you.
Maybe you’ve been going for the CCIE two or three times. I was told when I was going through recruiters to get a job, I actually heard them mention that the CCIE lab has less than a 10% first time pass rate, but there are people out there who put on their resume that they’ve attempted the CCIE lab two or three times and that they are getting better. Give LANWAN Professional a try. What do you have to lose?
If you’re not even in IT, but you’re working out at Best Buy or Target or some other place, like some of my friends who are waiting for their career. If you’re waiting for a career and you know IT isn’t for you, then you’re not watching this video. But if you’re watching this video it is because something in IT has interested you. Something about the technology, working with networks, working in IT, getting certified, something has interested you enough to watch this video and get this far in the video to hear me say this. Give it a try. What do you have to lose?
