Hi everyone,

I know that Zohar Anis (vijay2) recently won the SANS Mentor of the year award (see: http://www.ethicalhacker.net/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,54/topic,5618.msg29545/#msg29545)

But no one has describe their experience has being a SANS mentor on this forum. Any experienced SANS mentor here?

SANS Mentor program: http://www.sans.org/mentor/about.php

[Caveat - my information and perceptions are about 5 years old and may no longer be valid]

I was a SANS mentor for about 5 years (having taught about 5 or 6 GSEC groups).  I started before there was any structure to the whole thing and my original influencers were Dr. Cole (before he was Dr. Cole) and Jennifer Klode <sp?>.  I was also an Authorized Grader for the GSEC cert and wrote test questions for the GSEC cert.

Overall, it was a great experience, but it left me with a bitter feeling in the end.  I met some great people and had the satisfaction of seeing them complete their certification (even getting to give a job recomendation for one).  As I understand it, things have changed and the one idiot I had issues with is no longer part of the mentor program.  This is not the arena to set up a rant about it; but sufice it to say, you are graded as if you are a SANS certified instructor. 

If I had a chance to do it again, I probably would.  I know there have been changes to the program over the last few years, including an interview with Dr. Cole before you get to start.  There is also a newer person in charge and the program has more structure in it than when I started.

I would suggest you first try your hand at being a volunteer room monitor for a local SANS event.  I have been a monitor for Ed and Massa Chris Brenton, New Orleans '06, and it allowed me to see some of the goings on behind the scence as well as get a feel for some of the instructors.

Take it up if you can. I can mentor GSEC and GPEN, but it's difficult generating the interest in Baton Rouge/NOLA, especially when there are other mentors in the area. I used to travel often for work, which made it impossible, but I would love to actually get one of these courses going. As mentioned previously, you need to "sell" yourself. Present at ISACA, ISSA, OWASP, etc. meetings, Craigslist, and anywhere else. Drumming up interest is the key to getting this going.

For all the mentors out there:

Do you read the slides or do you produce your own material. Also how do you do the exercises?