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lilesj
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Calling All VCP5-DCVs: Save Time and Money on Recertification

After introducing the Recertification Policy, many who hold VCP5-DCV certification asked about options for recertifying at your current level, specifically if you were not looking to expand to other solution tracks or advance to the VCAP level. We heard you and are pleased to announce a streamlined exam that offers a quicker route to recertification for current VCP5-DCV holders.

The exam is offered to current VCP5-DCVs who took the VCP510 exam and need to renew their VCP5-DCV credential prior to March 10, 2015. The exam will be available through November 30, 2014 and offers some key advantages:

  • Based only on new material between the vSphere 5.0/5.1 and vSphere 5.5 exams – you save hours of prep time
  • Available online – you can take it from any location
  • Far less expensive – you save money

If you hold a VCP5-DCV certification, this is the quickest route to recertification. This limited time opportunity – the exam will only be offered until November 30, 2014. 

Download the exam blueprint and learn more!

~~~ Follow me at www.twitter.com/JillLiles1
45 Replies
Chakraem
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Yes not only VCAP5-DCV any of VCAP's in the suggested paths 

VCP-Cloud, VCP5-DCV, VCA-Cloud, VCA-WM & VCA-DCV
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mrchrisp
Contributor
Contributor

Hi there,

Is there any news on updating/correcting the blueprint? The blueprint, from page 4 to the end, looks to be identical to the blueprint for the full VCP 550 exam, surely this is a mistake?;

Cheers

Chris

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jonhall
Expert
Expert

Hi all,

The Delta Recertification exam is designed to make it as easy as possible to recertify. The exam is half the length of the current VCP550 exam and can be taken online. For those of you already certified as VCP5's the exam focuses on vSphere 5.5, so what you need to be up to speed on is anything different between 5 and 5.5.

The exam still covers all of the objectives of the vSphere 5 certification, as it should. Those of you familiar with 5 and 5.5 know that while there are some unique features, there are enhancements throughout the product, so you should be prepared to answer questions on any of the VCP5 objectives, being aware that the items will likely cover specifics to vSphere 5.5

Jon C. Hall Technical Certification Developer VMware, Inc.
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6pk2go
Contributor
Contributor

Have any of you taken this exam.  I am down for taking it I am just curious on the experience.

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Osm3um
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

What are the rules for retaking this exam in the event of not passing it?

Thanks,

Bob

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JoshuaAndrewsVM

7-day wait.  unlimited retakes until the end of November.

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silus
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi,

Passed the VCP550D a few days ago, the exam wasn't too bad :smileygrin: I did appreciate being able to do it online as otherwise I'd have to have taken unpaid time off work to go sit an exam.

Few questions: Will offering a delta exam be standard going forward now?  I hope so, if we have to recertify every two years 😕

Also, do we receive a free Workstation license upon passing this exam? Or is that only if you take the full exam?

thanks

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scott28tt
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Congratulations.

I doubt you'd get another Workstation licence as you do not hold a new certification title.


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Although I am a VMware employee I contribute to VMware Communities voluntarily (ie. not in any official capacity)
VMware Training & Certification blog
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ChallengeLogic7
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I really see little point in the recertification. VMware are really asking me to do my VCP5 AGAIN! The blueprints are virtually (pun intended) the same.

I feel like I'm being robbed of £80 for something I've already done. As for the 'Whats new' - its all kinda 'so what' - I mean in the real world - a 62TB VMDK - really....

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logiboy123
Expert
Expert

Up front, I'm pretty annoyed, read on keeping that in mind.

Exactly. We are being forced to take an exam we have already passed. Extremely uncool VMware. I used to be a massive fan, but stuff like this is impacting upon me that VMware is now playing like all the other big companies that don't really care that much and focus on the profit margins before anything else (vRAM tax wasn't so long ago).

I never even got an email for this BTW. I'm neck deep in studying for other exams at the moment and now I have to drop all that (exam was scheduled for next week) and switch to this because if I don't then I'd have to go do a course in order to sit the exam again in the future?! SRSLY?! Extremely unhappy now. I'm just lucky that I thought about verifying what exactly my certification is called now (keeps changing, not sure anyone else does that, changes the name of your actual certification title) after a random conversation I had about certifications with a colleague of mine.

Congratulations VMware. Next time I have to make a recommendation about the virtualization layer used I'm actually going to bother investigating if Hyper-V can do the job required.

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scott28tt
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

The VCP550D exam is available til the end of November, but the first recertification deadline is March 10th 2015 (or 2 years from your last exam pass) and there are numerous options you have: Recertification Policy


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Although I am a VMware employee I contribute to VMware Communities voluntarily (ie. not in any official capacity)
VMware Training & Certification blog
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Osm3um
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Passed the Delta on the second try.  Was going to write this long sarcastic post but I believe I have already made my opinion on the change in certification rules clear.  The next question is do I start studying for VCP6 or will the VCP7 delta be available in in two years and can I go straight to that?

One last point:  The folks at VMWare should take a look around.  The number of Hyper-V deployments is growing, cloud solutions continue to grow, etc.  I would think they would want as many people in the trenches beating the VMWare drum as possible.  I, for one, will not be working as hard to convince people that VMWare is the best after this certification fiasco.  Heck, as it is I get more people asking me about Hyper-V than VMWare (SMB mostly).  As part of this, they should be treating those of us who are certified as part of their sales team instead of pulling the rug and changing the rules.

I am done posting for a while as I am still bitter.

Bob

ChallengeLogic7
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Passed here too - just bit the bullet and got on with it. All you get is a new date stamp on the same VCP5 cert. Very poor show. Feels like a punch in the face.

In my experience I thought the Delta exam had little resemblance to anything 'Whats New' at all. To me it seemed like the full blown VCP5 exam!!

Quite annoyed with VMware really.

..... hmmm anyway where did I put that Hyper-V manual......?

jonhall
Expert
Expert

Hello everyone,

As someone who is passionate about VMware Certification, I am saddened that the delta exam has caused unhappiness with some of our valued Professionals. When we moved to the new recertification structure, we endeavored to transition to a certification policy that is more standardized across the industry, and less reliant on any one particular product version. This is particularly true as we branch out into multiple technology tracks with multiple, varied product revision cycles.  Unfortunately, the policy change put some of our Professionals in a situation where they would need to recertify before mid March 2015.

Re-certification can be done in a number of ways. Personally, I have taken the opportunity with my other non-VMware certifications to go to the next level when it was time to re-certify, and that is a great choice here. Re-certification can be accomplished by obtaining a VCAP level certification, or even a VCP level certification in another technology track. I think this is also valuable as Professionals branch out into NSX or Horizon or VCAC. Plus, these add new certifications to your transcript in addition to renewing your existing certification,

But we wanted to provide an option if these choices weren't appropriate for everyone. That meant providing the current VCP550 exam in an easy to take format, and we did that by reducing the content in half (compared to the non-Delta version), offering it online and reducing the cost. This was the primary goal of offering this option, but, as pointed out in this post, this option only renews your existing certification and doesn't offer some of the benefits that would be achieved by adding a new certification.

I just wanted to personally let everyone know that our goal here was to provide our Professionals with as many options as possible for renewal.

Regards,

Jon C. Hall

Sr. Manager, Technical Certification Development

Jon C. Hall Technical Certification Developer VMware, Inc.
ChallengeLogic7
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Tell you what Jon, I'd be happy to  receive a full refund for my Delta exam of £85 GBP.

That would make me happy.

I'm an independent IT Contractor and I promote (some say.. Sell?) your products to my end-user client base and I'm not talking small shops either.

Think the least you guys should do is issue a distinctive new certification certificate for 5.5 - not just a small date stamp change.

logiboy123
Expert
Expert

Thank you Jon for responding to the feedback.

In my opinion and I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way, two years is far to short a time limit on certifications. If every single certification I held had a two year time limit then I would only ever be current in three solutions. I sit roughly one to two exams a year. If you think about the maintenance involved with that you start to realize there is an upper limit on how many new certifications you can aspire to achieve.

I'm actually amazed that I even sit up to two exams a year. I have a busy an active family and community life outside of my work endeavors. VMware needs to recognize this alongside the fact that the people pushing the usage of VMware products are not the CEOs, but rather the admins and IT project techs. Alienating the fan base is not a smart move, but that is exactly what is happening here with the onerous certification requirements.

Regards,

Paul

silus
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I would have to agree, 2 years really isn't the industry norm and is way too soon for a product which doesn't change THAT much between versions.

Considering especially that a 2 year renewal cycle means this is likely having to be paid for personally rather than funded by employers, £80+ is not cheap.

You would think that at a minimum they would reward those who are dedicating so much time and resources to their product to recertify every two years, that they would still provide the Workstation licences on completion in order to assist us along the way, in order to lab to then pay these expensive exam fees on a much more regular basis.

This certainly has reeks of VMware taking advantage of those it ought to be looking to support. Although the exam is cheaper and we can take it online it is small concessions for what is poor policy, and is certainly NOT supporting its professionals.

I can certainly see the VCP community dwindling because of this.

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ChallengeLogic7
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Agreed.

I'm a total mug for going along with this VMware re-cert BS.

I feel robbed of £80 and for what... learning that I now can provision a 62TB VMDK (why would I EVER do that!), that I can now change an SSD from an ESXi whilst its running (whoppie do  - really?), that we can support 40GB NICs (not likely in todays market - you're in luck to find 1GB networks out there) and a load of other pointless features that add up to little... by hey it cost me £80 +taxes to find this out. What a joke!!

Roll up, roll up, Buy Microsoft Azure today....

VMware - Get real.

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scott28tt
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

You don't get a Workstation licence as you're not gaining a new certification.

Passing VCP550D is just 1 way of gaining re-certification - you could gain a VCP or VCAP in another discipline or a VCAP in vSphere as alternatives.

Take your pick from the options above, or choose not to re-certify - we all have choices.

For many older VCPs the re-certification policy actually makes it cheaper to get current, as there is no longer a requirement to attend a "What's New" class - which is way more costly than the exam fee for the full VCP510 or VCP550 exams, never mind the VCP550D.


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Although I am a VMware employee I contribute to VMware Communities voluntarily (ie. not in any official capacity)
VMware Training & Certification blog
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logiboy123
Expert
Expert

"Take your pick from the options above, or choose not to re-certify - we all have choices." Or we can choose to complain and let VMware education know how we feel in the hopes that they will see sense and change the onerous re-certification policy.

Not re-certifying isn't really an option. As soon as you do that the cost to get certified in the future are massive. This is an example of a dominant market leader using their weight to push people and companies into dancing to their drum. All round it is just a really bad practice.

If you listen to the general theme here what people are saying is that they don't think the time frame is right, they don't see the point in the re-certification with a minor version change and object to the cost of doing so.

I have to ask myself, what exactly is the re-certification delta actually achieving? You can do it online at home so if you are so inclined you can just cheat (not that I'm advocating that) which means it isn't about quality assurance of the VCP title.

Cheers,

Paul

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