SANS Event or OnDemand for GSEC

ohm

I'm considering taking SANS SEC 401.
I'm trying to choose between going to SANS Community for 5 day class or taking OnDemand class online.
Which one would be a better choice?

docrice

I've never taken training at a SANS conference or community class, but OnDemand isn't too bad. No travel costs and you can take the class on your own schedule (and replay it as many times as you want within the few months of access). However, I'd imagine it's also nice to be able to mingle with other students, exchange ideas, ask the instructor direct questions, etc..

When I was thinking about taking 401 a while back, I considered either a conference or community class. Then I decided OnDemand was too convenient an option to pass up.

ohm

docrice wrote: »

I've never taken training at a SANS conference or community class, but OnDemand isn't too bad. No travel costs and you can take the class on your own schedule (and replay it as many times as you want within the few months of access). However, I'd imagine it's also nice to be able to mingle with other students, exchange ideas, ask the instructor direct questions, etc..

When I was thinking about taking 401 a while back, I considered either a conference or community class. Then I decided OnDemand was too convenient an option to pass up.

Thanks.
Did you get printed copies of the books with OnDemand or is everything online?

docrice

With OnDemand, you get printed books just like you'd do with in-person instruction. You also get a set of MP3s that are essentially recordings from a recent class, which is nice to listen to while commuting, etc.. I think OnDemand also has a virtual mentor, but I've never made use of that.

reppgoa

The conferences are great for networking with others in the field. Another great aspect is the ability to go to some of the after hours presentations. I recently went to a conference for GSEC, but spent a lot of my break time talking with John Strand, who is a great instructor and really helped me decide that pen testing was where I want to go.

mengo17

How much would the OnDemand cost option + Exam attempt cost?

docrice

It depends which course you take. For example, the GSEC currently costs $4,175 and if you sign-up for a certification attempt at the same time, it's an additional $549. If you sign-up for the cert attempt later on, it's $799(?). Most 6-day courses seem to be $4,175 these days, although a few are $4,365.

You can always figure out the cost by going to the Register link on any SANS course description and it'll redirect you to a price list.

It looks like they're current running a 25% discount for most (if not all) of their courses:

http://www.sans.org/ondemand/discounts.php

Keep an eye on the discounts page as they have some kind of offer going on most of the time. That helps ease the pain a bit.

beads

If this is your first GIAC/SANS class and your essentially dipping your toe in the water a bit then doing either the community or on-demand is really no loss either way. Some of the more advanced classes really benefit from having peers to speak with during class, i.e. lab time that all but requires more than yourself can be of great use. Particularly capture the flag type labs in GCIH,GPEN and Sec 660. Other courses that don't require much in the way of combined labs, say MGT 525 (PMP Training) doesn't require a great deal of group dynamics. Ironic, in a sense that PMs spend 90 percent of their time communicating. Would be fine on your own and some MP3s.

- beads

I2Secure

Thats really nice sans 660 ondemand is more over complet exploits tutorials and much more included in it