Wow! Congratulations!!!

I have to say, too, that I really appreciate your blog, Chris! I won't attempt the GSE for some time, but it is a long-term goal of mine.

I'm not trying to be a smart@55, but where would you have them put the GSE?

Level III is as high as it goes. If GCIH qualifies you at level III, then GSE certainly would.

Hello H1t M0nk3y,

I hope that over the next few years there will be a ever-growing number of EH-ers with the GSE to their names.

Thanks ziggy_567, if I can help out with the ascent to the GSE, let me know :-)

Hey All,
What90's not the only GSE holder here.
Though honestly I don't browse the forums often. 

In my opinion -
If I were seriously job searching I would get the CISSP too, I think my resume hits the HR person's cylindrical file pretty often because they don't see CISSP and don't know GSE.  I'm considering taking the CISSP in march for just this reason.  I have found if I make it past the stupid HR filter and have a chance to explain what the GSE is to the hiring manager it seems to give me a pretty strong leg up over other candidates.

The other great thing about the GSE is it keeps all your other certs current. I just renewed all of my GIAC certs by taking one exam last month.

Some other humble opinions -
Cost wise, if you are starting from nothing I can see it would be pretty expensive.  If you already have the certs to qualify to sit for the test its definitely worthwhile.

Difficulty-wise, its tough but very fair.  If you memorized the material but don't understand it you'll struggle.  If you understand what's going on in each and every page of the GSEC, GCIH, and GCIA courseware, including the labs, then the GSE is something you can pass.   There's an essay I put together at sans.edu with more info if you haven't seen it :
http://www.sans.edu/programs/gse_prep.php

Kevin

I took the GSE exam along with What90 (Hey Chris!) and I would agree with everything he said.  I would also agree with bongk that you should get the CISSP as well. 

In my case, I did the CISSP first (back in 2006) to go ahead and get it out of the way.  Then, I started working on my SANS certs.  I started with SANS 503: Intrusion Detection because that's what I was most interested in at the time.  I then wrote a Gold paper for 503.  Since I knew I wanted to work towards the GSE and SANS 401: Security Essentials was the first prerequisite, I took it next.  Then, I took SANS 560: Penetration Testing and finally SANS 504: Incident Handling. 

For those that are looking for ways of reducing the cost, I would suggest looking at the SANS Mentor program.  Not only is mentoring a great way of forcing yourself to understand the material at a deeper level, but they also have the Triple-8 program which allows you to qualify for free training. 

To anyone who is considering the SANS GSE, you can do this!

Here's the Triple-8 description from SANS:

"Earn the “Triple 8 Award” by Teaching 8 students while Scoring 8.8 on Student Evaluations
-Mentor a class with 8 students with scores above 8.8 and receive a complimentary SANS class via @Home, Mentor or OnDemand, including the GIAC certification!
-Earn the award a second time and you get the option of a free SANS Conference Seat! (travel not included)
-Agree to come back and teach additional Mentor class within 6 months of completing first class."

This definitely helps cover the cost of courses leading up to the GSE.  As I mentioned before, mentoring also forces you to learn the material at a much deeper level so that you can explain the concepts clearly to your students.