On the Job

Michael Lantz builds walls we can't see. He is an information technology technician at Entech-no, not Initech from Office Space-with locations in Cape Coral and Fort Myers. Lantz recently earned SonicWALL Security Administrator Certification. That means he can install sophisticated firewalls to protect companies from hackers and viruses.

If you have more mundane computer issues, he'll drive to your home or business and help with those, too. Just make sure the machine is turned on before you decide it doesn't work.

How did you decide on this career? I was interested in computers. I would go on AOL and chat and play video games, and decided that as long I'm going to be on the computer and it's my hobby, I might as well get into the field.

What does it mean to have SonicWALL certification?

I can install and work with SonicWALL. It's a security device [that] separates the [company's] local network of computers, basically the trusted inside network, from the un-trusted network that is the Internet. So for any traffic coming into the local network, SonicWALL scans for viruses and blocks intruders [such as] hackers or malicious people trying to steal sensitive data.

What other certifications do you have?

I've taken a total of 17 tests for certifications. I'm a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, a Certified Novell Engineer, [and others]. Right now I'm studying for my Cisco certifications.

You're out of school; why take so many tests?

At Entech, for every certification that we get, there's an incentive. For the SonicWall certification, my salary went up and I got a day off. We also have to get a certain number of certifications per year, so we have an education committee [to] and talk about what's important in the industry.

What's one of the funniest things that happened on the job?

There was one call that I went on [when a customer] said [her] computer wouldn't turn on. She was trying to use it and it wouldn't work, so I went out there and the monitor wasn't on. All she needed to do was push a button.

What do you wish businesses or individuals would know about computers that would make your job easier?

A lot of people get really intimidated by computers and don't want to touch things. They're pretty easy to use once you know how to use them, and one thing that I would encourage people to do is look through Help files. If I want to learn something new, I click on Help-it's like a book. Of course you have to be disciplined to sit down and read it and take your time, but you'll learn a lot.

-Kate Brack