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lchuakc
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VCP

VCP

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Osm3um
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Finally someone else who is on the same page as myself.  I have been struggling with this issue as well.  I have contacted their education support dept. three times asking for some clarification, explaining why the situation is unprofessional, etc.  Their answer is I can take the VCP550 exam to get the VCP5 cert that I already have?! (thanks for that) OR I can get certified in any of their other products (Great I can become one of those paper only certs as I don't use the other products)

To add insult to injury, those of us who have jumped on the VCP5 early are penalized more than those who only recently received their VCP!  We have until March 2015 to renew, whereas if I had stalled until after March 2015 I would have two years!  Not to mention there is not even a VCP version to move up to yet!  Great, so if I had not been an early VCP5 I would probably have the option to get a VCP6, but I won't have that option unless I re-certify as a VCP5 by some arbitrary date?  WTF?

Seriously?

I have yet to decide if I will re-certify by taking the exam I have already taken.  BUT I guarantee I will keep the VCP4 and VCP5 on my resume and if the new employer checks, I will gladly show them the hard earned certs I have framed on my wall.

I am seeing more and more hyper-v in the SMB, I guess I may as well get on that bandwagon.

Bob

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Osm3um
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Finally someone else who is on the same page as myself.  I have been struggling with this issue as well.  I have contacted their education support dept. three times asking for some clarification, explaining why the situation is unprofessional, etc.  Their answer is I can take the VCP550 exam to get the VCP5 cert that I already have?! (thanks for that) OR I can get certified in any of their other products (Great I can become one of those paper only certs as I don't use the other products)

To add insult to injury, those of us who have jumped on the VCP5 early are penalized more than those who only recently received their VCP!  We have until March 2015 to renew, whereas if I had stalled until after March 2015 I would have two years!  Not to mention there is not even a VCP version to move up to yet!  Great, so if I had not been an early VCP5 I would probably have the option to get a VCP6, but I won't have that option unless I re-certify as a VCP5 by some arbitrary date?  WTF?

Seriously?

I have yet to decide if I will re-certify by taking the exam I have already taken.  BUT I guarantee I will keep the VCP4 and VCP5 on my resume and if the new employer checks, I will gladly show them the hard earned certs I have framed on my wall.

I am seeing more and more hyper-v in the SMB, I guess I may as well get on that bandwagon.

Bob

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lchuakc
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"Their answer is I can take the VCP550 exam to get the VCP5 cert that I already have?! (thanks for that) OR I can get certified in any of their other products (Great I can become one of those paper only certs as I don't use the other products)"

Exactly, the main motive for this move is not to get the IT professional updated with the latest technology but to keep the course fees and exam fees coming in. I dun see myself getting the desktop certification so that my vcp doesn't go dead. I do not use the desktop technology in my office and I do not see why getting certified in another product will keep my current VCP knowledge updated with the latest technology?

For example, I have a driving license to drive a passenger car. They do not tell me that my driving license will expire in 2 years time because you need to be trained to handle newer cars with more powerful engines. Do I need to upgrade my driving license to a pilot licence so that I can keep my passenger car license valid?

The good thing is that I have the power to influence my company in switching over to hyper-v if necessary. I do not like the idea of companies that changes the terms and condition halfway from the original clause.

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scott28tt
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"the main motive for this move is not to get the IT professional updated with the latest technology but to keep the course fees and exam fees coming in"

On this point alone - the recertification policy actually means that fewer people will end up having to take "What's New" courses which overall means a potential drop in education revenue, and it is my understanding that vendors make very small revenues from exam fees.


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lchuakc
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If everyone is forced to take the same exam or irrelevant exams just to keep their certs from expiring. Sounds like a great money making opportunity.

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scott28tt
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The combined course/exam spend for the entire VCP community could potentially be less in total than it was before - whilst people may take more exams they require less training, and the exam fees are lower than the course fees.


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lchuakc
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you have to take account of those who are certified and does not continue upgrading their certification often. quite alot of money from examinations can be made just by forcing these people to recertify.

I still do not understand the purpose behind this. I do not use the desktop technology in my office and I do not see why getting certified in another product will keep my current VCP knowledge updated with the latest technology?

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Osm3um
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I don't want to get to crazy here, but given the current "migration" of local servers to the "cloud" I would think that VMWare would be thrilled to have more VCPs walking around singing their praises.

I don't want to start a "cloud" discussion, but for better or worse, a lot of the heavier applications like Exchange are moving out of the traditional datacenter. Point being that I, as a professional workign in the small/medium business space, have less of an incentive to stay certified in their product.  It is my opinion I need to move my skill set to more of the security, wireless, firewalls, etc. as there will be less local servers.  This is especially true in the SMB space where other "lesser" hypervisor will suffice if you have a total of two file servers and the rested are "hosted".

Bob

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lchuakc
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i think vcp recertification is intended for those that does systems integration for customers. as a person managing my in house servers. I will not bother doing the recertification, i think others who are in the same position as me will just let their vcp expire.

i have implemented 3 exsi 5 host plus ip san myself even before passing the vcp. i took the vcp certification just to prove that i am knowledgeable but i will not bother renewing it every 2 years. 

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rs990
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I would prefer the expiration was three years instead of two.

This added time would hopefully allow me to recertify each time with the latest version (eg VCP 4,5,6) rather than resitting an exam I have already taken.

I do like the fact that I won't need to convince my boss to send me on another course to allow me to take the VCP 6 exam whenever it arrives.

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lchuakc
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I think it would be better to implement versioning rather than time lapse for expiring. a person certified in vcp 5 will always be certified unless there isn't demand in the market for version 5 anymore.

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aleekoo
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So is there still a course requirement if I were to sit the eventual VCP6 Exam (Passed VCP5-DCV on May 2nd 2013)?

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scott28tt
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Your recertification date is 2 years from when you achieved your VCP, within that period there is no course requirement. However, after the recertification date there would be a course requirement.

Have a look here: Recertification Policy


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lchuakc
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still 2 years is way too short. i will just skip this and advise those who are just doing administration of esxi not to take this certification. those doing implementation can still consider it.

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davros84
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I will probably not retake my VCP within the 2 year period. We have just implemented Esxi 5.5, and have no plan to upgrade within the next 3-4 years.

I'm an IT manager and will not recommend any of my staff to do the VCP. It is a product based exam, and has a natural life cycle.

You would have to be crazy to pay for a £2,000 course, and then have a certificate that lasts just 2 years.

perugipj
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Judging by the number of comments, I think we can all agree it appears unlikely VMware will be able to keep this policy in place.  It has yet to be proven to me that certification benefits any other than the vendors themselves (VMWare, Cisco, Redhat, etc).

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rs990
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"You would have to be crazy to pay for a £2,000 course, and then have a certificate that lasts just 2 years."

Fortunately you only need to take the course once, as once you have a valid VCP certification you can sit another exam without a course requirement as long as you take the exam before the expiry date.

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Osm3um
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Yes, it is true you can upgrade your VCP to the newest version without retaing the course.

However, for those VCPs who passed the VCP5 exam earlier, we only have until March 2015 to pass.  That leaves me two options:  pass the VCP exam that I have already passed so that I can keep my VCP5 cert (since there is no VCP 6) OR become a paper cert in one of their other products.  Great!

So what happens when two years passes again and ESX7 is not quite ready for prime time?  All the VCP 6s lose theirs or retake the VCP 6?  it makes no sense.

once proud to be VCP,

bob

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lchuakc
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I will still be using esxi5 for a long time. I dun see why I should retake the exam just to get the official VCP 5 title in my name card. Waste of time.

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ponsaelius
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Of course it's about the money. Certification is a cash earner and the value of certification is limiting availability. If you have re-certification then you pretty much have a round robin of candidates taking exams every 24 months.

Personally I did the cert for personal development. I get no extra money and no career advancement out of it. SO when mine 'expires' then that's it. I can't really afford to add to VMWARE profits every two years for no useful purpose.

Steve

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