An invitation to join the SANS Instructor Development Program

Ertaz

So apparently if you do well enough on the exam they will extend an invite to become a mentor. Anyone here done this? What are your thoughts?

TechGromit

Well I heard the pay sucks, so don't do it for the money. Instructors I talked to said they make way more money consulting then teaching. I guess the exposure helps them stand out in the marketplace, and helps them get more consulting gigs.

bigdogz

I think you are paid x amount per student. As you know as a student, it's all about the evals !!!

paul78

I remember looking into this a couple of years ago after taking one of the exams. It seemed like a rip-off to me from the instructor point of view unless you were into it for the marketing and self-promotion - which is a legitimate reason to do it.

TechGuru80

There is a video about it on the website by Eric Conrad (https://www.sans.org/mentor/teach). There are different levels...it seems similar to a professional sport...mentor, community, trial, and then full instructor I believe is what he said. With that being said, obviously the pay at each level is different because you become more of an experienced instructor the higher you go.

If I recall correctly.....85% or higher on any certification for the class you want to teach (90% is advisory board status...something different) or a CISSP for the prep class for CISSP.

BlackBeret

TechGuru80 wrote: »

There is a video about it on the website by Eric Conrad (https://www.sans.org/mentor/teach). There are different levels...it seems similar to a professional sport...mentor, community, trial, and then full instructor I believe is what he said. With that being said, obviously the pay at each level is different because you become more of an experienced instructor the higher you go.

If I recall correctly.....85% or higher on any certification for the class you want to teach (90% is advisory board status...something different) or a CISSP for the prep class for CISSP.

You also have to have taken the class live or V-live, which is what's stopping me now. Everything I've done has been challenge or On-demand.

BillHoo

It's up to you to market the class and get a minimum of 10 people to take the class. They each pay SANS the full fare $6K per head for coursware and YOU as instructor.

You have to establish a place to teach (your home, a library or conference room at work).

You dedicate a few hours each week to teach the course for 10 weeks.

Students can get you fired if you don't help them learn.

For all that effort, you get maybe $2K.

Now, if you are really good at it, (both teaching AND drumming up new business for each class) they see you as a guy or gal who can teach and you have a high percentage of people passing the course. They invite you to do a conference and pay you big money!

My last instructor told me SANS is a bit on the fence about the mentor program because they have had to pull mentors out and send one of their validated instructors to rescue a class. SANS has an obligation and reputation to uphold for quality training. He likes that scenario, because he gets a late night call asking for him to fly out to a site and teach a course for that said BIG MONEY.

Just because you scored high on an exam does not mean you have it in you to be a good instructor.

I qualified for the mentor program, but I know I do not have the patience to do all that is required and to deal with slack jawed yokels thinking the course could be easy!

Actually, I find most of the students in SANS courses to be very intelligent, knowledgable and qualified people in their industries even without getting the certs.

My boss found out I was qualified for the mentor program on the GLSC and we have a ton of folks who need to be DoD 8570.1M IAM-Levl II/III certed in order to meet our contractual requirements. She asked if I could teach the class on the cheap! I told her my agreement with SANS does not allow me to teach the class independently. The company would still have to pay full fare for each student and to get the courseware.

She dropped the idea after that.