General question about SANS training

ITSec14

I've been discussing the possibility of attending a live training for GCIH early next year with my boss. Just curious what all is included aside from training material in the price for the course? Hotel, exam voucher, lunches?

cyberguypr

The answer is NOTHING. If you pay for the course you just get a set of books, that's it. Exam, OnDemand, and Netwars are add-ons between $689-1200 each. They usually provide coffee and pastries/fruit around 10am and 2pm. You are on your own for breakfast/lunch/dinner.

Edit to include that I lied. You do get a free polo shirt, a weird bag for your books, and a SANS $2 pen.

Life Pro Tip: Look into the Work Study program. If you get lucky and are selected and can swing a 2-3 week notice of acceptance you get the class, books, OnDemand, and exam voucher for $1,100.

GirlyGirl

ITSec14 wrote: »

I've been discussing the possibility of attending a live training for GCIH early next year with my boss. Just curious what all is included aside from training material in the price for the course? Hotel, exam voucher, lunches?

You get a SANS lanyard (with your name on it) that you can wear around your neck at work after the event is over with. It helps with introductions and getting your name around.

ITSec14

SANS is all about the money I see. Appreciate the feedback.

The cert would be nice to have, but honestly I'm mainly looking for top notch training that's both cost effective and something I can really put to good use. I'm just having a hard time justifying the $6k+ my company would have to spend. Training costs are getting pretty ridiculous at this point.

TechGromit

cyberguypr wrote: »

The answer is NOTHING. If you pay for the course you just get a set of books, that's it. Exam, OnDemand, and Netwars are add-ons between $689-1200 each. They usually provide coffee and pastries/fruit around 10am and 2pm. You are on your own for breakfast/lunch/dinner.

Clarification, Netwars Continuous cost extra, Netwars Live is included with a 6 day course, you just have to sign up early, otherwise you stuck on a waiting list till someone drops out. They also have completely "Free" Lectures after class almost every night of the event, I say "free" cause you need to be registered at the event to attend the lectures. It really be cool if SANS allowed people off the street attend the lectures, many of the lectures I "seen" are just introductions to courses they offer, like an info commercial. They also provide you with an USB media if your course has labs, the USB media usually contains two Virtual Machines, that has free pre-installed software, but you need out own copy of VM software to run them.

BillHoo

Don't forget the USB stick with all the lab tools and exercise materials.

InCryptable

cyberguypr wrote: »

...You do get a free polo shirt

WHAT!!! Free Polo??? I've been to two training events this year and there was never any shirts given out. I did get the "weird bag" for books though, the pen (with free highlighter on the other end!!) and the cool name tag lanyard! Heck, the instructors were trying to give away the extra bags.

Nothing says "I'm Special" at work like a SANS polo...at least everyone knows where most of the training budget went to!

cyberguypr

Dang, you got short-changed. Which events did you attend? I've been to 5 events so far and there have been polos distributed at each one. I'm curious to hear what others have seen.

InCryptable

By chance, is there a SANS Courseware License Agreement ("CLA") on those SANS Polo shirts??

I wonder if anyone wants to sell theirs - or might that lead to the seller possibly losing a SANS cert for violating a SANS CLA?

GirlyGirl

InCryptable wrote: »

WHAT!!! Free Polo??? I've been to two training events this year and there was never any shirts given out. I did get the "weird bag" for books though, the pen (with free highlighter on the other end!!) and the cool name tag lanyard! Heck, the instructors were trying to give away the extra bags.

Nothing says "I'm Special" at work like a SANS polo...at least everyone knows where most of the training budget went to!

I have only been to two actual live events. One I didn't get the shirt and the one I did in Germany I did receive the shirt. I was actually shocked myself when I got it. I was surprised. I personally do not think that they are given out at every single event worldwide. That is my personal experience from experience.

I was told people collect them for whatever reason. I was looking for the shirt recently and forgot I threw it in the trash. I am a firm believer that if I am traveling everything gets thrown in the trash. I rarely if ever travel with dirty clothes in my luggage. The SANS shirt saying (look at me) I attend a SANS event was worn, dirty, and not stinking up my suitcase. RIP SANS Shirt.


Edit:

It was not a Polo either it was a t-shirt. If it was a polo I would have kept it 45 extra seconds before throwing it in the trash.

They should have given out SANS sweaters and NorthFace jackets instead. It was a cold one.

ChicagoCyber

If you go to an event that has NetWars Live (like Pentest Austin) there's also essentially an open bar to keep you motivated throughout the event. Netwars will also give out regular shirts that are actually pretty comfortable.

Also, don't forget that you'll get unlimited amounts of brochures for all SANS events. I got two mailings for events I'd never be able to convince my management to send me to, just this week.

ITSec14

Sounds like there is a love/hate relationship with SANS in the security community...

bigdogz

To a certain extent. The classes are expensive but the work study is sweat equity especially for the bigger conferences. If you go to a conference, you will meet a great deal of people. The instructors are great and very helpful. It's not just death by powerpoint. You have labs every day to apply your knowledge.
You do get a decent ROI once you are certified.

BillHoo

cyberguypr wrote: »

Dang, you got short-changed. Which events did you attend? I've been to 5 events so far and there have been polos distributed at each one. I'm curious to hear what others have seen.

I vaguely recall the website asking for my shirt size when I registered for the course (or just my imagination). I already have one, so I planned to give the other to my brother, so I sized appropriately.

markulous

Heck yeah they are greedy. I paid roughly 7k to attend the GCIH remotely and I didn't even get a lousy t-shirt out of it. Netwars was free (which was fun), but that's about it. Great training and John Strand is awesome, but if I had to pay out of my own pocket, I couldn't even justify a 3rd of the cost.

cyberguypr

I totally understand. The only reason why I drink the SANS kool aid is the Work Study.

TechGromit

ITSec14 wrote: »

Sounds like there is a love/hate relationship with SANS in the security community...

There is actually, there training is great, but a tad too pricey, and there marketing department spams you with upcoming events. During Netwars they were advertising a hacking event they had coming up in a few months, seriously what company's training budget can allow employees to attend a 6k training event every few months? Most people are lucky to get to attend a SANS event every other year. I'm also not a fan of there restrictive policy for there training materials either. We should be allowed to sell/lend/trade the books as we see fit, the material is updated so often, anyone attempting to use last years training material will be at a advantage if using the material to pass an exam. I completely understand there need to protect there copyrighted material, I feel they go a little too far.

jelevated

It probably cost a bundle to produce those materials.

And having attended a few of these, lets say based on the attendees that ALOT of corporations are not struggling to pay for these classes. A typical sans class is cheaper than some of the tuition reimbursement programs that a lot of employees take advantage of as well, SANS$$$ is a drop in the bucket.

E Double U

I enjoy SANS training, but I definitely go only because my employers have paid the bill. I would not pay for that out of pocket.

I did SEC504 in Amsterdam back in 2015 and a nice lunch buffet was included plus snacks/drinks throughout the day. Also a SANS t-shirt. During the two nights of NetWars, there was unlimited pizza, fries, and Heineken. On the SANS night out it was unlimited beer and bar food.

I did SEC503 on-demand so no t-shirt, but after pointing out to SANS that a few lines were not readable on several pages (looked like a printer issue) they sent me all materials included the usb.