Take the VCP550D exam or wait for VCP6

Deathmage

Hey guys,

so I've been pondering if I should take the VCP550D (delta) exam while most of the concepts are still fresh in my brain or just wait for the VCP6 material (heard rumor that ESXi 6.0 is being announced next week) - also heard it's sort of open book so you can take it at home.

Thoughts?

scott28tt

You don't need to take VCP550D, you've only been a VCP for a few weeks and have 2 years to recertify - you'd only be pushing back your recertification date by a few weeks, nothing more...

SixtyCycle

I am set to schedule my 5.5 exam end of February. I don't know if it's worth putting more study time for the VCP6. I'm obtaining the cert for more job opportunities but it appears that any version on VCP5 is good enough for the majority of jobs, I haven't seen one requiring the latest version. Nice to put on the forums though..

Verities

I concur with Scott. Also, instead of going for another VCP, why not work towards VCAP 5 instead? We all know how fast VMware pushes out products and how long it takes to test/upgrade to the latest and greatest, so don't sweat the 6.0 stuff when most businesses are still leveraging 4.1.

Deathmage

So I'm taking the 550D exam in two weeks, going to re-cap on the PDF's and do the changes from 5.1 to 5.5 and then sit the exam at home. I'm taking it cause it's pretty much open book and since I'm doing 5.5 at work, I'd rather make sure I know everything correctly.

Considering the VCAP has been retired, just going for the VCP 5.5 now and then take the VCIX pursuit. I mean even though VCAP is be retired, is it being retired anytime soon?

GSXRules

Deathmage wrote: »

Considering the VCAP has been retired, just going for the VCP 5.5 now and then take the VCIX pursuit. I mean even though VCAP is be retired, is it being retired anytime soon?

A date has not been announced. VCAP4-DCA was retired after DCA550 launched. DCA510 was retired last month after almost 3 years of availability.

Deathmage

Now I'm tossed.....I would think that if I started VCAP5-DCA after March 27th (CCNA Exam date) it would take me probably 5 to 6 months of study to pass the VCAP5-DCV exam. I'm the sole VMware administrator for our companies cluster and it's quite large (currently 3 hosts with plans for 10) so I'm sure that will help.

So would it be safe to presume VCAP5-DCA will be around for another year? - if so then that should be plenty of time for to put in serious time to study for it.

I do agree with other above that kind of taking the 550D exam seems kind of silly, just thought since the knowledge is still sort of fresh in my brain that it would be ideal to take it now.

Essendon

Dont worry about a VCAP being retired, it'll be around for a fair while as GSXRules said. Just do it. Yeah 6 months sounds about right for the DCA.

jibbajabba

Is it just me or are VMWare certs getting confusing yet again. And Elite status ?!? Recruiter can barely handle current certifications.

dave330i

Essendon wrote: »

Dont worry about a VCAP being retired, it'll be around for a fair while as GSXRules said. Just do it. Yeah 6 months sounds about right for the DCA.

DCA isn't as hard as DCD. 2-3 months tops.

Essendon

@Dave - I was taking the OPs experience with vSphere into account too. For someone who has decent experience, I agree about 3 months would be needed. I know people who've just gone in and sat the DCD and passed with 400+ scores because of the design experience they had.

Deathmage

Essendon wrote: »

@Dave - I was taking the OPs experience with vSphere into account too. For someone who has decent experience, I agree about 3 months would be needed. I know people who've just gone in and sat the DCD and passed with 400+ scores because of the design experience they had.

I concur, someday I'll get there...