VMware Edu & Cert Community
pcerda
Virtuoso
Virtuoso
Jump to solution

PASSED!! VCAP-DCA

Hi everyone!!!

I got the results in an email just a few hours ago!!!
I'm so excited!!!  It was a big effort and a lot of hours of study, but finally I got it!!!
I wrote a review on my blog, but is in spanish :smileymischief: (I'm from Chile)

Best regards!!!

Regards / Saludos - Patricio Cerda - vExpert 2011 / 2012 / 2013
Reply
0 Kudos
1 Solution

Accepted Solutions
aldikan
Hot Shot
Hot Shot
Jump to solution

Toughest for me as well, by far, and it is great,

there won't be too many VCAP-DCAs running around....,

How was your test center experience?

I had a room with 5-6 other guys in the room, but foam ear plugs were conveniently provided...Smiley Happy

Monitor was just 17 inch...., resolution low, I had to scroll constantly, not just vertically, but horizontally too..,

I was afraid to screw things up, so I did not even try to change any settings.

The most annoying thing was a delay when I was flipping between Lab description and Test Environment, up to 15-20 seconds, could not use mouse nor keyboard during that time....,

Hope other places have better setup.

Don't want to go back there.., but unfortunately, this is the only place here in Calgary..., no choice.

Alex

View solution in original post

Reply
0 Kudos
16 Replies
aldikan
Hot Shot
Hot Shot
Jump to solution

Congrats Patricio,

You have a great reason for Celebration,

This is one tough exam. How long did you have to wait for results?

I tested on Feb 1st, and got results on 18th.

Alex

Reply
0 Kudos
pcerda
Virtuoso
Virtuoso
Jump to solution

Thanks Alex!
I tested on Jan 28th, and got results on Feb 18th, so you had to wait a little bit less. Smiley Wink
Really this is the toughest exam that I have ever taked.
Regards / Saludos - Patricio Cerda - vExpert 2011 / 2012 / 2013
Reply
0 Kudos
aldikan
Hot Shot
Hot Shot
Jump to solution

Toughest for me as well, by far, and it is great,

there won't be too many VCAP-DCAs running around....,

How was your test center experience?

I had a room with 5-6 other guys in the room, but foam ear plugs were conveniently provided...Smiley Happy

Monitor was just 17 inch...., resolution low, I had to scroll constantly, not just vertically, but horizontally too..,

I was afraid to screw things up, so I did not even try to change any settings.

The most annoying thing was a delay when I was flipping between Lab description and Test Environment, up to 15-20 seconds, could not use mouse nor keyboard during that time....,

Hope other places have better setup.

Don't want to go back there.., but unfortunately, this is the only place here in Calgary..., no choice.

Alex

Reply
0 Kudos
mittim12
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

Congratulations!!!

Reply
0 Kudos
AndreTheGiant
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

Well done!

Andre

Andrew | http://about.me/amauro | http://vinfrastructure.it/ | @Andrea_Mauro
Reply
0 Kudos
Justin2
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Well done. I thought it was a brutal exam, and the crappy Pearson VUE lab setup didn't help anything. Tiny screen + slow link + constantly switching contexts = very frustrating. Still, now I know that anyone I hire who has one of these certs really knows what they're doing - that's worth something.

rManic
Expert
Expert
Jump to solution

Congrats..!

Regards

Manick

Regards Manic
Reply
0 Kudos
pcerda
Virtuoso
Virtuoso
Jump to solution

As you said, this exam is brutal!  It was very hard and i had to invest a lot of study hours, but finally it worth.
I think this exam makes a lot of difference regarding the VCP exam.
Alex, i was alone in the room, so it was very  noiseless.
The lab environmet wasn't too bad, but the screen resolution is to low and this makes you to lose valuable time!
There is no Test Center in Chile, so i had to travel to Argentina to take the exam.  This wasn't so bad, I took the chance to know a great city as Buenos Aires 😃
Regards / Saludos - Patricio Cerda - vExpert 2011 / 2012 / 2013
Reply
0 Kudos
dquintana
Virtuoso
Virtuoso
Jump to solution

Great News Patricio!!!, congratulations.

I hope that Argentina was a good place during this experience.

Diego Quintana

---

User Moderator

Ing. Diego Quintana - VMware Communities Moderator - Co Founder & CEO at Wetcom Group - vEXPERT From 2010 to 2020- VCP, VSP, VTSP, VAC - Twitter: @daquintana - Blog: http://www.wetcom.com-blog & http://www.diegoquintana.net - Enjoy the vmware communities !!!

Reply
0 Kudos
VirtualSingh
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Congrats!!!!!!

Any suggestions for future VCAP-DCA Smiley Happy ...Like what to focus on and etc?

how many questions was there? how much time was given and etc?

Reply
0 Kudos
scott28tt
VMware Employee
VMware Employee
Jump to solution

@VirtualSingh, you need to download the VCAP-DCA exam blueprint - you'll find all the official VCAP-DCA resources here http://www.vmware.com/go/vcap and all the VCAP-DCA posts on my blog here http://vmwaretraining.blogspot.com/search/label/vcap-dca

Scott.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Although I am a VMware employee I contribute to VMware Communities voluntarily (ie. not in any official capacity)
VMware Training & Certification blog
jose_maria_gonz
Virtuoso
Virtuoso
Jump to solution

Well done amigo Patricio.  You deserved it.  Best Regards, J.

Reply
0 Kudos
shainsha
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Hi pcerda,

Congrats of passed VCAP-DCA.

How hard the exam was and how have you prepared?. Could you brief for me.

Thanks,

Shaul

.       

Shahul Hamid Bathusha Virtualization Engineer Diyar United Company, Kuwait
Reply
0 Kudos
pcerda
Virtuoso
Virtuoso
Jump to solution

Thanks Diego and Jose Maria! I really appreciate your congrats Smiley Happy
Diego, despite the heat was suffocating in Buenos Aires, the city is a nice place to visit.  I really had a good time in Argentina 😃
VirtualSingh, i can't tell you too much because the NDA.  You really have to study and practice all the blueprint.  The blogs of Sean Crookston and Kendrick Coleman was pretty usefull.
Shaul, the exam is really harder than VCP exam, specially because the time is too short! 
I built a lab on my job with a Dell R710 and a virtual SAN.  There I spent a lot of hours of lab practice, to cover all the exam objectives on the blueprint.  I also spent some time with theorical study using the blogs I have mentioned.
It's really important to spend a lot of hours with lab practice, specially if your previous experience on VMware is not too wide. 
It's also important to study all the CLI commands (vCLI, vMA, PowerCLI). You have to be able to complete almost any task using the vSphere Client AND the CLI.
I didn't attend to any recommended training course, but i think the Troubleshooting traning course would be really usefull to this exam.
Finally, when you are in the exam, in order to complete all the tasks in a limited time, you have to be able to manage the time really well.
There is some good reviews of the VCAP-DCA exam on the web (my review is in Spanish Smiley Wink)

Jason Boche

Sean Crookston

Thank you everyone!!!

Regards / Saludos - Patricio Cerda - vExpert 2011 / 2012 / 2013
Reply
0 Kudos
VirtualSingh
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Thanks Patricio and Scott

This discussion covers a lot ....Let's hope next thread will be mine about passing DCA exam Smiley Happy...just dreaming for now :smileylaugh:

Reply
0 Kudos
pcerda
Virtuoso
Virtuoso
Jump to solution

You're welcome,
and good luck with your exam preparation!!!
Regards / Saludos - Patricio Cerda - vExpert 2011 / 2012 / 2013
Reply
0 Kudos