Passed GCIA

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I passed my GCIA with a decent score. I've been under a lot of personal stress lately, so I was not concerned about my grade beyond passing. I feel it was considerably more difficult than compared to the GCIH.

I feel like I missed some of the simple packet analysis questions because I miscounted the length of the headers. I also felt that some of the other packet analysis was easy because there were shortcuts to the answers. I feel that there was a solid mix of package analysis, snort, tcpdump, and general knowledge of TCP/IP.

I forgot to take a break and just worked all the way thought. On my GCIH, I took a break after I passed, then came back, regrouped and continued on.

I feel I had too much preparation for the certification. I read and indexed the Northcutt and Novak book Network Intrusion Detection 3rd edition. It was a great book and I recommend it to anyone, but it did not directly relate to the exam. I feel that just the reading would have been enough to just read the book without the index. I felt the book was out of date compared to the test and the I should have just focused solely on the SEC503 workbooks.

All in all I was very pleased with the SEC503 training I received from Mr. Mike Poor, the materials provided, and the certification exam.

dynamik

Congratulations on the pass and thanks for the detailed feedback!

I'm definitely going to be taking a stab at this one sometime over the next year.

Are you GSE bound? Paul Boz and I are planning on a 2011 attempt. That new Wireshark book seems like it will be an excellent resource going forward.

Paul Boz

Grat job man. I'm looking forward to taking it and comparing it to the GCFW myself. What do you have up next?

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Yes, my long term goal is GSE. My next certification is GCWN or OCSP, depending on the timing.

Once I get GCWN I'm going GSEC and either gold, or GWUN.

dynamik

You know you can sub the GCUX and GCWN for GSEC, right?

GSEC seems a bit below your level. I'd skip it if I had the resources to do those two instead, but it's the only way a GSE attempt is feasible for me.

JDMurray

Congratz on the pass and thanks for the review.

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dynamik wrote: »

You know you can sub the GCUX and GCWN for GSEC, right?

GSEC seems a bit below your level. I'd skip it if I had the resources to do those two instead, but it's the only way a GSE attempt is feasible for me.

I know I can sub the GCUX and GCWN for GSEC, then I still either have to write a gold paper or sub another cert. I know I can knock the GSEC out. I also have no problems what so ever writing a gold paper. My two mentors at work have both written gold papers, so I will not be at a loss for guidance.

I'm still up in the air regarding what I am going to do to fill out the other requirements. I now have to consider using CMUs to re-certify. I am not in any rush to complete the GSE, so it may just have to wait until the planets align.

Or maybe I'm just cert crazy? I love certs because it easily distinguishes me from my peers, especially when it comes to merit increases. When I am compared to someone at my same level, with the same job title/duties, I will always come out ahead because I average two certs a year.

I'm just afraid I'll run out of meaningful certifications (and room on my business card).