After you've finished patting each other on the back for putting us in our place let me express my perspective on this "unique" opportunity as someone coined it.
1. Firstly I don't see putting my valuable time into learning and certifying on a vendor's products as a "unique" opportunity for me. At the risk of sounding conceited it's a unique opportunity for the vendor which brings far more rewards to their business than to me.
Frankly I thought the move by VMware to open up the cert to Cisco certified people was a BRILLIANT one meant to attract the interest of the already skilled routing and switching community out there. If I and the many others like me go back out into the customer land wanting to implement NSX that's a big win for VMware in my book. As such I fail to see the value in this petty annoyance and revenue raising exercise at the risk of alienating potential, and if I may say so without seeming conceited, VALUABLE market allies such as myself that have contacts in companies where we might evangelise the VMware message.
If, from the outset the * was there this debate would never have happened. As the other poster pointed out many people already used the VCP-NV without sitting any course and got VCP-DCV as that was consistent with the rule as we understood it - once you had VCP you didn't need to attend a training course to get subsequent VCPs. Why would we expect this * behaviour when that's always been the "rule"? It was clearly stated that an exemption to the rule was granted to Cisco certified people according to the level of certification. Saying that a course has always been the rule is self contradicting since your rule was just changed for this particular circumstance and, might I point out, only for a limited time. My friend at VMware was the one who told me about it in the first place and he was as surprised as me when I told him about the *.
VMware then sneakily slipped in that * (sorry I should have said “clarified” the situation) and slammed the door on the rest of us without so much as a blog post to explain or warn of the change of policy. If this was an oversight on VMware's part then please cancel all those invalid VCP-DCV certs out there, apologise, refund the exam costs including travel and accommodation where applicable and we'll all move on. Don't sit on your high horse and tell us to suck it up and like it when it is blatantly unfair! As for the statement “All of our VCP certifications require and always have required training.” That is patently untrue. Every VCP lists having another VCP entitles you to sit the exam without attending formal training. So if all VCP certifications require training then why only require it for the first one? If only the first VCP requires training and if I just qualified for an exemption of said training why should that affect the rule that was always in place that having a valid VCP exempts me from the training requirement or are you saying my VCP-NV is not equivalent to someone who has sat the training? All VCP-NVs are equal but some are more equal than others is it? It just proves that I don’t really need the training but VMware insists so they can take my hard earned AUD and buy the nice biscuits for all the VPs and the shiny plaques for their office doors.
2. I find this kind of attitude from vendors - that you are doing the world at large some kind of altruistic favour by us not having to pay you for the privilege of certifying on your products and then going on to support your revenue stream by promoting, selling and servicing those products nothing short of conceited. Keep on down that path why don't you and see where it leads?
This approach to customers of dictating what's good for us was the way of IBM. Have you read the news lately on how they're going? Here's a couple of excerpts I found about what’s happening in IBM today -
"Its financial results show time is running out. IBM, once as big as the rest of the computer industry combined, is not a happy place. And it is about to become a lot unhappier."
"Once was a time when to work for IBM was a badge of honour, and having worked for them was a passport to success in any other company in the industry. Now constant reorganisations and outsourcing and offshoring have left a workforce shell-shocked and demoralised."
I worked for IBM Global Services for a year on contract once and I wanted to cut my wrists. Couldn't wait to get out of there and yet as it says above ""Once was a time when to work for IBM was a badge of honour".
3. Please don't slip as you climb down from your ivory tower to meet with us mere mortals (that's sarcasm in case you're American and don't get it, oops sorry more sarcasm). I'm Australian if you want to retort and demean my nationality in response, convicts, etc. etc.. It's only fair I give you equal opportunity. If you're not American then I apologise profusely for suggesting you were and if your Canadian oh God no. I'm so so sorry for suggesting you might be American. Again with the sarcasm, lowest form of wit I've heard but when I'm annoyed it just rolls off the tongue/fingers.
4. OK if you are American and have any influence over your nuclear arsenal or armed forces policies please don't nuke me or invade Australia just to make a point. You're the boss OK? I surrender.
5. Oh sorry, where was I again? Back to haranguing the evil empire. Ha tricked you - see point 6.
6. I love VMware! The product is great! It's amazing and I'm just so damn impressed I could burst. NOOOOOO it's not sarcasm. I'm serious. VMware ROCKS! And not all American's deserve my ire. I've met a lot of Americans and visited NYC, Grand Canyon, etc. etc. It's an awesome and beautiful country. Good job living there. Some Americans are good. Not all Americans are good but all have the potential to improve.
Let me be clear as I know you've been waiting patiently to get back at me for more than 5 points now. I'm not tarring the whole of VMware with the same dirty slimy festering decay covered brush. There are always bad apples in any bunch so I don't believe those miserable penny pinchers that are screwing us out of our entitlements (prediction you’re champing at the bit to go for the word entitlements aren’t you? I can hear you grinding your teeth. Patience I’m almost done as by now I’m just so damn tired and sick of the sound of my own voice/thoughts) represent the majority of great VMware'rs 🙂
I want to say loudly and happily that I am highly impressed by the people in VMware I have dealt with during my studies of NSX. I had the good fortune to communicate with a few of them to point out some errors in the HOLs and my recommendations from a routing guys perspective on how I thought some improvements could be made. All of the guys were very approachable and extremely helpful and not at all offended that I was pointing out errors. Of course I wasn't meaning to be critical of the HOL, quite the opposite as I just wanted to give back something to help. Awesome - doers not nay sayers.
I don't regret for a moment all the study I did to pass NSX VCP as I found it fun and for the first time in a while IT was exciting again. I might even give the VCIX-NV a try while it’s fresh in my mind as to be honest, after CCIE written recerts, the VCP exam wasn’t nearly as difficult as the blueprint suggested. That damn long list and vbrownbag videos had me brownbagging in my pants expecting the worst. Good job on that though as I really studied hard and probably learned a lot more than I would have if not for that fear factor.
In fact I'm seriously contemplating going back in the next couple of weeks while the knowledge is still fresh and doing the VCIX-NV exam. I glossed over the blueprint and there are some areas I'd need to bone up on and practice a bit more such as command line troubleshooting, vCAC configuration with NSX and REST API usage and I think I'll be good to go. I'll do some more reading up on the blogs about it from people who have done it and see what I think. After experiencing the level of VCP exams of which this was my first I can see why VMware chose to make the higher level VCIX-NV the exam available with the course exemption for CCIEs. I'd only rate VCP at the CCNA level as far as difficulty or possibly lower since Cisco employ adaptive exams and some emulation to allow command line configuration simulations, etc. I could be wrong as I never did CCNA but went straight for the gold of CCIE
I’ve been a CCIE for more than 15 years and in the IT industry since before the IBM PC. I had to wind up my first computer and scare the hamster into running around the wheel to get the binary set of LEDs to work and it was programmed in Octal gosh darn it! Ask the kids of today and I bet they don’t even know what Octal is! OK I exaggerate but you get the point. To be honest it was all starting to bore me but virtualisation and NSX ignited my enthusiasm again.
Oh and “You have saved money compared to those who took the NSX training because they were not a CCNA.” Oh gee thanks again for you’re unbridled generosity. Hmmm, do I remember how much I paid Cisco for CCNA training again? Oh yeah that’s right it was NOTHING. Oh but how about my CCIE training course that I had to do before attending the two day lab to certify. That must have been darn expensive eh? Wait for it…. wait for it….
I PAID NOTHING, NADA, ZIP, ZERO, nula, efu. Need I translate the Czech and Igbo for you? Guess what they mean ZEEEEEEEEEEERO. And yes that’s the sarcasm again. I tried to slip it in there quietly and “clarify” it but you caught me just like VMware was caught trying to pull the wool over our eyes. You tried, EPIC FAIL - you’re BUSTED!
So pleeeeeeease just make this right. You know in your heart of hearts (never new what that expression meant but it seems somehow appropriate) if’s not really fair. You built it and we came but then you changed the rules. Just fix it like you know you should and stop pretending you’re doing the right thing. You know it’s not right. I know it’s not right. Heshamshokry1 knows it’s not right but most of all you know it’s not right.
Do I sound ridiculous, childish, stupidly stubborn, puerile, all of that and more? Well guess what? It was intentional! This whole argument is ridiculous. Hell, you know what? I don’t care because I’m taking my toys home and I’m going to get other toys to play with. Microsoft toys and Citrix toys and you’re not invited! Hah. Whatcha gonna do about that? You’re not the boss of me ha ha.
