GCIH - question and prep

I'll be attending SEC504 (with John Strand) at SANS Security East in New Orleans (1/9-1/14). This particular event provides Core Netwars free for anyone taking a 5-6 day course. This is my first live course so I am looking forward to the interaction with others, SANS@Night events and Netwars on Thur/Fri night.

One question I have is it worth adding the Continuous Netwars for $1199? I plan on adding the OnDemand bundle for $689 and that says it includes "lab access", would that be anything like Netwars or is that something else? Work is paying for the training but I will need to justify the additional expense, so I wanted to get others' thoughts.

Any other recommendations on things to do to prepare for this course and live training? My background is 5 years as a server admin and 2 years as a Security Analyst. I plan on going through a few courses on cybrary to help prepare with a focus on Linux.

Thanks for any input!

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Comments

E Double U

The continuous NetWars isn't necessary to pass the exam, but could be nice to have to sharpen your skills for the real world. I think your background is enough prep plus the instructor will teach you enough Linux the first night to get you through the course.

Good luck!

mudflaps

I did the vLive with him, and you will be just fine. They break concepts down into understandable portions for most everyone.

BillHoo

When I registered for the course, I initially checked off the the netwars box thinking it was necessary for the course.

Afterward, I had to jump thru some mild hoops to cancel and get a refund. It was hard enough to get my work to approve and reimburse me for the course. (even though they were requiring it)

My company and many others have a limit of $5250 they wil reimburse for training. They say it is because anything more than that and it would have to be taxed as income. I had to pay out of pocket for anything over that amount.

quogue66

Anything over $5250 is the what is taxed for my tuition assistance at work so that sounds correct.

TechGromit

BillHoo wrote: »

My company and many others have a limit of $5250 they wil reimburse for training. They say it is because anything more than that and it would have to be taxed as income. I had to pay out of pocket for anything over that amount.

So if a course cost $5,251, does the entire amount get taxes as income? or only the $1 over the limit?

quogue66

I believe only the amount over 5250 gets taxed.

IaHawk

Back to the original topic...:)...any other feedback on prep for GCIH? I think I'm going to pass on Continuous Netwars.