GIAC/SANS Certification Changes?

venom600 wonders: "SANS and GIAC have recently changed their certification requirements, no longer requiring a practical assignment be completed in order to be certified. This has created some discussion around the value of their certifications moving forward. In addition, SANS recently asked current certified individuals (in an email) to provide quotes about the value of their certifications for an upcoming brochure. Since the requirements have changed, the value of the certification has changed as well, making any quotes an unfair assessment of value. This brings me to my question: What IT security certifications are left (if any) that actually provide value to you?"

Comments

Re:None.

[jessecurry]

I'd love if more bosses were like this. It seems that often times an extremely bright, competent, and talented prospect will get passed over for someone who has a certification.
The last degree that I completed was for a computer graphics and design program and I found that without any certifications I was able to troubleshoot and repair the lab computers that the "IT Specialist/MIS Department" was just going to reclone or send in for replacement.
Solid problem solving skills seem to be something that quite a few certified technicians seem to lack these days.

Certs

[dacoto]

I rank real world experience and self-taught knowledge 100 times higher than certs or degree's from some big name school or college.

Real world exp. is the real certification in my book, show me someone who has been up for 72 hours working on team or alone to fix a server or network issue who resolves the issue. That individual or team that tackles problems like that will get a job working with me before anyone who has a degree or cert.

Self-taught knowledge shows me that the person took on the challenge of learning on there own and did not require someone to hold their hand and teach them stuff from a book that is so far off the day to day path that its a waste of a good tree.

Don't get me wrong, I applaud anyone who has successfully completed any certs or degrees, it takes a lot of time and effort to do that. I just don't feel that the weight that seems to be put on them is justified.

My 2 pennies, now all the folks with degrees and certs can assault me. :)

No more certs for me...

[itwerx]

...or tic-tacs for that matter. :)

But seriously.
I used to have a good half-dozen certifications active at any given time ("real" ones, not just the generic A+ crap). But after awhile I began to notice that people were much more impressed by what I'd done in the real world and I slowly started letting them lapse. The last one expired about four years ago and to be quite honest I don't think a single customer has noticed or cared. And it sure saves me a lot of time and hassle!
But then again I suppose it depends on your background. If you're fresh out of college then they would be a Very Good Thing to have for at least some number of years.

Re:None.

[CDarklock]

> You are the least fallible
> instrument in the arsenal?

Well, I don't know that I'd put it THAT way. ;)

I know some very bright people who just don't get along well with testing environments. These people are simply never going to be certified as anything, but it takes about five minutes of conversation to figure out that they really do know their stuff.

On the other hand, I also know a few people with stacks of certifications that... well, let's just say I wouldn't hire them, or recommend that anyone else hire them either. Again, it takes about five minutes of conversation to figure this out.

So I consider that five minutes of conversation to be the real dividing line. I'm lucky enough to get reasonable numbers of resumes, so I can usually afford to go through them all by hand and bring in over half of the applicants for an interview. If my company ever gets to the point that this isn't really an option, I'll have to reexamine my methodology.