[suresk]

Somewhat related - about 2 years ago, my employer had a bunch of us go through the SANS/GIAC GSSP training & certification. Some of the material was pretty boring and of questionable utility, but we had a good instructor and some of the hands-on parts where we were finding vulnerabilities was actually really fun.

I'm under no illusions about the certification's marketplace value and I doubt I would have ever paid for the course/cert on my own, but it felt like one of the better formal trainings I've been through in my professional career (which, granted, isn't saying a whole lot by itself).

Also, the certificate comes mounted on a comically oversized plaque, which provides some entertainment value.