Honing his informational technology skills, Senior Justin Nguyen aided a local chiropractic business with technological difficulties over the spring break.

“Their printer would not accept any more print jobs or print requests from any of the other computers except for this one computer that was connected to the printer via a physical cable” Nguyen said. “They wanted that resolved.”

After troubleshooting the problem for a little while, thinking of potential problems and solutions, Nguyen discovered that the printer had reconfigured to only take print requests via the physical connection.

“I had to go to the printer and refresh the whole configuration so it was listed on both connections,” Nguyen said.

Nguyen has been doing things like this for a while. In fact this wasn’t his first time helping this business. He had previously helped this business with their email client. After forgetting their login information, Nguyen helped by calling the Internet service provider so that he could get the login information, and then he configured the email client so the computer they were using could access the emails.

“It does require a little more technological know-how, like you do have to have some experience and understanding,” Nguyen said. “Like in the case of the printer, you sort of do have to understand the different protocols, how the printer would communicate with other devices on the network.”

Nguyen has been interested in technology for a long time, stemming back to middle school where he first dove into the technology world. A friend of his at the time showed him various cyber security tricks and how to hack into things.

“Being able to hack into things and get into places where you shouldn’t be, that really sparked my interest in wanting to know and understand how things sort of worked,” Nguyen said.

This experience struck a chord with Nguyen, as this new technology world fit perfectly with his personality.

“When I see any new piece of technology, I am kind of the inquisitive type. I want to learn more, know how it works, and stuff like that,” Nguyen said.

For people getting in the IT field, Nguyen advises getting as involved as possible. Helping businesses with technology builds your skill and your resume. Employers love to see that you’ve made servers and services for yourself or businesses.

“Get involved, go online look up latest technology and news, any part there, whether it be a new protocol of some sort, a new type of interface or hardware,” Nguyen said. “The better you’re more well rounded and understand the newer things, the better you’re able to help out other businesses or help out yourself.”