Erik Wagemans is a Senior Instructor and Consultant at Red Education, having joined our rapidly growing instructor team in the EMEA region. Erik is a Check Point Software Technologies specialist and divides his time between training and working as a consultant. He lives in Belgium, near the Dutch border and approximately 80 kilometers from Belgium’s capital, Brussels. As a result, Erik speaks English, French and his native Flemish.
The Check Point Connection
Erik has a long-standing connection with the team at Check Point as a freelancer, and when they introduced him to Red Education, we welcomed him on board. Erik joins us with almost thirty years of industry experience. His career in training started when Erik was watching his manager training clients and he was sure that he could do a better job, wanting to introduce more two-way communication, “explaining things to people, but also listening to them, really listening”. Erik found that teaching came naturally to him and soon his career evolved as he studied to become certified in Microsoft, Juniper, Cisco and then Check Point.
“explaining things to people, but also listening to them, really listening”
After a while, Erik found that he was in such demand for training that he had no more time for consulting projects. He decided to reduce his training commitments and add consulting back into the mix, finding that his teaching benefited as a result. Now he splits his time 50%/50% between training and consulting, and still finds time for one of his greatest passions – cycling.
“I smile a little bit when people tell me that they bought a bike with an electric engine and so now they also do cycling”
Erik cycles with his local club every Sunday morning and he credits long bike rides for keeping him sane as well as fit during COVID lockdowns. Two or three times a year he travels to major world cycling events, and he is hoping to visit Australia this year for the Cycling World Championship. He prefers to cycle ‘unassisted’ however and is not a fan of the e-bike. “I smile a little bit when people tell me that they bought a bike with an electric engine and so now they also enjoy cycling,” he says.
This wouldn’t be the first time that Erik has visited Australia. With a love of traveling, he originally spent time on the Gold Coast with his family. He has also visited for business and on holiday. Close to home, Erik has traveled extensively around Europe and Scandanavia for work, often taking his wife and dog with him. He says he found it very challenging to stay home at his desk when Coronavirus hit and prefers the classroom environment to purely online teaching because it’s easier to read the reactions of his students and you find out more in the times outside the classroom learning. He also says that students find it easier to ask questions in a face-to-face session, although he does appreciate the ease with which he can train students all over the world via online platforms.
Erik’s licenses and certifications include:
- ZABBIX 5.0 Certified Specialist
- Juniper Networks Certified Internet Associate
- Check Point Certified Security Administrator R71
- Check Point Certified Security Expert R71
- Check Point Certified Trainer
- Microsoft Certified System Engineer
- Microsoft Certified Trainer
- SharePoint Administrator 2010 – Microsoft® Certified IT Professional (MCITP)
- Windows 7 – Enterprise Desktop Administrator – Microsoft® Certified IT Professional (MCITP)