GIAC's website has finally been updated

Chris:/*

Well GIAC has finally updated their website. It is much cleaner with a better flow of information. I do like how in the top left corner of the website I can reach all their affiliates and associates with one drop down. In addition the topics covered for each certification is right on the certification page now. Lastly registering for a class or certification has been streamlined as well. For those interested in GIAC certifications this is a nice change compared to the last "Clunky" version of their website.

Information Security Certification - GIAC

rwmidl

Wow that is nice.

NightShade03

Their new site def does look better. I do like the new look and you are right that the information flow is much easier.

docrice

I agree that the site revision is a welcome one. However, one of the differences from the old version of the site is that the individual exam scores are no longer posted. There's a big discussion about this between advisory board members at the moment.

shednik

They did it for MS

http://www.techexams.net/forums/security-certifications/61433-sans-challengers-group-2.html#post486366

Chris:/*

docrice wrote: »

I agree that the site revision is a welcome one. However, one of the differences from the old version of the site is that the individual exam scores are no longer posted. There's a big discussion about this between advisory board members at the moment.

I noticed that as well. I heard GIAC was going to do it because some of their polls throughout the community showed that some people did not want to get certified because their score is published. I have heard of some hiring managers not picking up applicants because their certified score was not very high either. It all depends on your view point, I was proud to have my score posted but I do not just try and pass exams I attempt to master the material if I can. Overall I think it is a move to align them closer to the rest of the industry.

EDIT: If you click on an analyst's name now it shows what certifications they currently hold and the dates of achievement and expiration. That is very nice!

docrice

I've read through the discussions about the posting / not posting of scores and there are actually interesting pros and cons to both that I had never considered. I won't go into details about the specifics, but personally I don't mind my scores being posted since I scored generally high.

I will say though that after going through several GIAC exams, I don't necessarily feel highly about GIAC silver certs as much as I used to since I felt some of the exam questions were easy in an obvious way ... and it's not because I'm necessarily smart either. In general it takes me two hours or less to go through an exam and I occasionally reference printed materials. I've expected the exams to be much more intense, especially with the hype around GIAC certifications.

Chris:/*

No offense Docrice you may not be "smart" but from your previous posts you understand how the protocols and electronics work. Most people learn how to pass an exam and not learn the material like you are supposed to. GIAC exams murder people who study to pass an exam or use brain ****. Another reason I hear GIAC exams are difficult is because of the lack of **** out there. I was ignorant for many years of how many people really do **** certs,

docrice

One thing that makes GIAC exams difficult for the mainstream is also the lack of publicly-available non-SANS study materials. For Cisco / MS exams, you can always buy the study kits at a bookstore. For the GIAC subjects, you kind of need to get the SANS books or really know the particular subject areas in-and-out. The good thing about SANS courses is that they are supposedly updated frequently with fresh material to keep them relevant which makes them also contain material / lessons not available elsewhere.

Interesting though ... I rarely ever hear about someone failing a GIAC exam. It could very well be that no one would admit to failing, but I assume since it's relatively specialized, most people who attempt a GIAC cert usually gets the official training along with it. If you go through training (and assuming you pay attention), it seems somewhat difficult to not pass.

I wonder how many people who challenge the exam actually fail. That would be an interesting statistic.

Chris:/*

My trainer for GSEC stated that it is around 20% for those who go through the official training and up to 50% for those who just challenge it. It depends on the difficulty of the exam though. Someone challenging GSEC without training has a better chance of passing the exam than GCIA without the training.

NightShade03

I like the point that was made about the lack of non-SANS materials available. I think you would see a lot more people challenge the exam if there were additional resources available for them. In a sense this is a similar issue to what Red Hat's RHCE exam is like. You can either take Red Hat's official training @ $3000 + the cost of the exam or buy one of the three books out there on the market to help you study for $60.

I have wanted to take the GIAC exams for a long time, but before I do I wanted the training. At the rates they charge I can't afford it, however I know that the materials are suppose to be top notch. I think if there were a more "self-study" option with more resources you'd see the fail rate go up because more people would challenge the exam.

eMeS

shednik wrote: »

They did it for MS

http://www.techexams.net/forums/security-certifications/61433-sans-challengers-group-2.html#post486366

Yeah, I'll take credit for it, just like Trump took credit for Obama's birth certificate.

I think we really need to investigate this, and ensure that it really is what it purports to be.

Seriously though, it looks about 1,000,000% better, seems easier to use, and I also like that they updated their 17799 cert's name a while back.

MS

docrice

The SANS home site has been updated with the same look and feel as well.