Training Plan
I'm crafting a proposal for the fu-acquisition I expect to accomplish by the end of the year. I'm asking to go to USENIX LISA http://www.usenix.org/events/lisa06/
I went last year and it revitalized my interest in my career. It was really cool to walk into the room and lower the average I.Q. (Yeah, yeah, I should be used to it :P ) Seriously: this was awesome. Most of the instructors literally wrote the (O'Reilly) book. The presentations that make it a real conference (unlike SANS, which has trappings of a conference but is really just training) are amazing. I was torn last year about whether to attend class or a talk. Again, this year. So I want to go again. The line up is again stellar.
I also want to go to Shmoocon, again in Washington, D.C. It's a small, high-end security conference. Only, not stuffy. A little bit of hacker underground to spice things up, but mostly real researchers.
One thing I don't want is Microsoft Authorized Training. Gawd. I was sent to one about 8 years ago that sucked out loud. "To open a file, click the 'file menu' and select the 'open' option." This was for a desktop and network management product. If you think McDonalds sells food, then you might regard this homogonized, standardized crap training. And another thing: Windows 2003 server is designed so that even MCSEs can use it. Training is superfluous. It would be a better use of dept. budget to send me to a triple feature of "Saw III", "Texas Chainsaw Massacre - the Beginning", and "Grudge II" for five days running. Including popcorn. I think that would be a more cost-effective way to induce a similar level of mental illness.
I will grant that actually making that stuff *work* is fairly complicated. But that's a function of shoddy software, and running through the user interface for 5 days is not going to address any of the REAL operational headaches of using the awful stuff from Redmond. What fails, fails under the hood where you can't get at it.
Another thing I don't want: glorified vendor trade shows aimed at non-technical CIOs. I want to see math. Exploit code. Configuration files and options. No "magic security spray."
I do pretty well with text books and web pages, but sometimes it's good to mingle with smart people who have solved hard problems so I don't have to.
I'm crafting a proposal for the fu-acquisition I expect to accomplish by the end of the year. I'm asking to go to USENIX LISA http://www.usenix.org/events/lisa06/
I went last year and it revitalized my interest in my career. It was really cool to walk into the room and lower the average I.Q. (Yeah, yeah, I should be used to it :P ) Seriously: this was awesome. Most of the instructors literally wrote the (O'Reilly) book. The presentations that make it a real conference (unlike SANS, which has trappings of a conference but is really just training) are amazing. I was torn last year about whether to attend class or a talk. Again, this year. So I want to go again. The line up is again stellar.
I also want to go to Shmoocon, again in Washington, D.C. It's a small, high-end security conference. Only, not stuffy. A little bit of hacker underground to spice things up, but mostly real researchers.
One thing I don't want is Microsoft Authorized Training. Gawd. I was sent to one about 8 years ago that sucked out loud. "To open a file, click the 'file menu' and select the 'open' option." This was for a desktop and network management product. If you think McDonalds sells food, then you might regard this homogonized, standardized crap training. And another thing: Windows 2003 server is designed so that even MCSEs can use it. Training is superfluous. It would be a better use of dept. budget to send me to a triple feature of "Saw III", "Texas Chainsaw Massacre - the Beginning", and "Grudge II" for five days running. Including popcorn. I think that would be a more cost-effective way to induce a similar level of mental illness.
I will grant that actually making that stuff *work* is fairly complicated. But that's a function of shoddy software, and running through the user interface for 5 days is not going to address any of the REAL operational headaches of using the awful stuff from Redmond. What fails, fails under the hood where you can't get at it.
Another thing I don't want: glorified vendor trade shows aimed at non-technical CIOs. I want to see math. Exploit code. Configuration files and options. No "magic security spray."
I do pretty well with text books and web pages, but sometimes it's good to mingle with smart people who have solved hard problems so I don't have to.
posted by JimmytheGeek at 11:48 AM
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