SANS Timeline Question

I have a question and would appreciate some input from the experienced people of the forum.

I'm currently active duty military with CISSP and soon to be CCNA. I plan on getting out of the military in July 2016 and I would like to take some of the SANS courses. Being in the .mil time can be limited as I do a lot of TDY at the moment. My goals are to pass GCED, GCIA, GCIH and finally GPEN before I get out. My plan is to do On-Demand for all four.

From everything I've seen most people are able to do one cert in about 8 weeks. Is this accurate?

Keeping this general timeline in mind how many hours per day are required?

As far as index building is concerned is there a thread that would be a good guide? Index building seems to be the key for these certs.

Thanks for your time!

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Comments

docrice

It really comes down to what you're already comfortable with. If you're starting from scratch (that is, no prior security experience whatsoever), then it depends on how well you jive with the material.

Being successful at the GIAC exams is not necessarily built upon building good indexes, but the studying process. Going through the OnDemand, doing the lab exercises, then creating an index, listening to the MP3s, etc. basically means you're taking the class several times over in different ways and each time you're reinforcing the material.

Project2501v1

Thanks for the info DocRice. I'm really looking forward to getting this started.

beads

8-10 weeks would be aggressive in my experience. Personally I can handle doing a SANS class about twice a year without loosing it. Some of the classes have been very good others not so helpful. My question is why SANS? I doubt anyone has hired me because of a SANS certificate itself. The training has been good but unless your looking to do the GSE in soon not sure what racking up that amount of time and debt will do for you. Yes, even with GI Bill.

-b/eads

E Double U

NetworkNewb wrote: »

Well since he has CISSP he has at least 4 years managing Security right?

Or does he?

Project2501v1

Thanks for the input all. The question of why SANS is simple, whenever I look for jobs in a cleared environment 99% of the time SANS is what is required or recommended. That and OSCP, which is a goal but much further down the line for me. Also, after a considerable amount of time in the military I've found there is no substitute for quality training and SANS is the baseline in the military at the moment. In addition time and money are not really a consideration for what I'm trying to achieve. Finally I also enjoy acquiring skills and information for there own sake in most cases.

CISSP was a two week block of training during my schooling and the voucher was free so why not. I understand people's perception of it and I tend to agree. But if it will help get me past the first filter of HR and it cost me nothing to achieve it then its a net positive.

Thanks again.