Regarding VMWARE's VCP official training prices

Hello,

I've got a question regarding the pricing of the training. Is there anyway to have a training for VCP online that is acknowledged by VMWARE itself? I need to take a course online and then be able to go for exam.

These are the prices emailed to me by VMWARE:

VMware vSphere: Optimize and Scale [V6] - On Demand
Course Data Sheet: https://mylearn.vmware.com/descriptions/EDU_DATASHEET_vSphereOptimizeScale_V641.pdf
Price: $2,480.00 USD

VMware vSphere: Optimize and Scale [V5.5] - On Demand
Course Data Sheet: https://mylearn.vmware.com/descriptions/EDU_DATASHEET_vSphereOptimizeScale_V55102.pdf
Price: $2,480.00 USD

I mean these trainings are so expensive... is there any better ways to have a training that is acknowledged by VMWARE that is cheaper and given online?

Am I going to miss anything if I took an online course and didn't take a class and have VMWARe lap by trainer?

Please advice,
Thanks.

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TacoRocket

trafficc wrote: »

Hello,

I've got a question regarding the pricing of the training. Is there anyway to have a training for VCP online that is acknowledged by VMWARE itself? I need to take a course online and then be able to go for exam.

These are the prices emailed to me by VMWARE:

VMware vSphere: Optimize and Scale [V6] - On Demand
Course Data Sheet: https://mylearn.vmware.com/descriptions/EDU_DATASHEET_vSphereOptimizeScale_V641.pdf
Price: $2,480.00 USD

VMware vSphere: Optimize and Scale [V5.5] - On Demand
Course Data Sheet: https://mylearn.vmware.com/descriptions/EDU_DATASHEET_vSphereOptimizeScale_V55102.pdf
Price: $2,480.00 USD

I mean these trainings are so expensive... is there any better ways to have a training that is acknowledged by VMWARE that is cheaper and given online?

Am I going to miss anything if I took an online course and didn't take a class and have VMWARe lap by trainer?

Please advice,
Thanks.

Search the forums for Stanly if you're looking for classes to sit for the VCP.

Lexluethar

I've heard good things about the Stanley course - there is a user that goes by that name that posts about it all the time.

As for the cost - not much you can do about that. Sure there are vouchers for some lower prices but it is still usually thousands of dollars still.

You can do the vmware training online, you don't have to go through a training center to get it. I took a training course last fall for 5.5 Optimize and Scale and it was completely online. Still cost a ton of money, but it was online.

trafficc

TacoRocket wrote: »

Search the forums for Stanly if you're looking for classes to sit for the VCP.

Is he a tutor? And does he provide training acknowledge by VMWARE in good price?

Thanks.

trafficc

+Lexluethar

I would appreciate it if you share how much you paid.. and where did you took that training? by VMWARE directly?

Thanks.

GAB1900

Stanly is a Community College. Very affordable and it is VMware approved. I took that class last year, and it was less than $200 as long as you pay for the class and not your employer. The drawback is that there is a waiting list, about 4-6 months.
Just google Stanly VMware and you will find out it right away.

Lexluethar

First and foremost make sure it is a VMware approved course / training company AND the class you take will count towards the required class for your VCP exam.

I did not use Stanly, i've just read a lot on this forum and people speak highly of it.

I went through Global Knowledge which is a VMware training provider. Both classes i've taken were provided by a VMware employee and were quality courses. I didn't pay anything as my employer paid for the courses - but each ran about $2,500.

trafficc

Well that's affordable and sure they gonna have a huge waiting list. I'll be putting my details there... well, let's see how it goes.

Any other suggestions?

trafficc

Lexluethar wrote: »

First and foremost make sure it is a VMware approved course / training company AND the class you take will count towards the required class for your VCP exam.

I did not use Stanly, i've just read a lot on this forum and people speak highly of it.

I went through Global Knowledge which is a VMware training provider. Both classes i've taken were provided by a VMware employee and were quality courses. I didn't pay anything as my employer paid for the courses - but each ran about $2,500.

Alright, sounds fair enough... how to find those approved VMWARE courses or training companies?

Your price is about the same price given by VMWARE directly.

GAB1900

Google is your friend. Do you have time or do you have money? It comes down to that.
Here is my list in the order I prefer. I have not researched it lately, so I am not sure it is still applicable, but I am sure you can figure it out.

Stanly College.
Dallas County Community College.
CWA/Net academy.
Ohlone College.
UCSC Silicon Valley Extension.
CCCT&I.
VMware Education plus everybody else.

TacoRocket

GAB1900 wrote: »

Google is your friend. Do you have time or do you have money? It comes down to that.
Here is my list in the order I prefer. I have not researched it lately, so I am not sure it is still applicable, but I am sure you can figure it out.

Stanly College.
Dallas County Community College.
CWA/Net academy.
Ohlone College.
UCSC Silicon Valley Extension.
CCCT&I.
VMware Education plus everybody else.

Not that any of those are less reputable but Stanly CC is a solid on the material and certificate. I took the class and will be sitting for the exam in June. Can't verify for the rest. The waiting list is worth it and usually over exaggerated. I was put on the waiting list to be approved for the next class in about a week and half.

trafficc

TacoRocket wrote: »

Not that any of those are less reputable but Stanly CC is a solid on the material and certificate. I took the class and will be sitting for the exam in June. Can't verify for the rest. The waiting list is worth it and usually over exaggerated. I was put on the waiting list to be approved for the next class in about a week and half.

Well that's really good to know. I'm glad I'm in the waiting list of Stanly then. Good reviews about it so far.

markulous

Just be careful if you're going somewhere else to take the course. Get written verification that the ICM will meet the requirements. I created a thread below where I took the ICM as a VMware employee from our official training at VMware itself, even had a signed certificate from the CEO, and they said it wasn't valid.

varelg

If I am getting it correctly, you are required to take a VMWare course first in order to sit the Pro- level exam. Interesting, straight from Oracle's playbook.
Is this a requirement at work that you have to get VCP? If it is, employer pays for it.

Lexluethar

Some employers require it but will not pay for it. Just the rub.

Yes it's different approach for sure requiring a training course. It does keep some people of out of the VCP pool that might be able to be certified but it definitely keeps those people out that just get certified to get certified - usually by using test ****.

trafficc

Well seriously VMWARE needs to do something with its pricing.

STANLY_CC

Thank you for your interest in taking a class with us here at Stanly Community College. We are an authorized VMware IT Academy, and the course we offer meets the education portion of the VM certification. However, we can offer the VMware course only to individuals and not as part of corporate training. Additionally, this course is designed for students who have not yet taken the VCP exam. Students who have already passed the exam would still have to retake the exam using the voucher given at the end of the course in order to receive full VMware VCP certification.

This course is offered under the umbrella of Continuing Education, and it is conducted online, including labs, in an asynchronous manner which basically means it is available to students 24/7. Students can study at their own pace provided you meet the minimum due dates set by the instructor. The courses are 8 weeks in length, and the current tuition & lab fee costs total $185. There is also an optional textbook in both hard copy and e-book formats available through our book store. We will begin teaching the 6.0 version of the VMware curriculum starting this June.

We enroll students in the VMware courses in the order in which they registered on our online wait list. If you have not added your information to this list please do so at https://vmware.stanly.edu/waitlist.php. We apologize for any delay, but as you can imagine these classes are extremely popular. We make every effort to accommodate all students in a timely manner.

At this time, due to evolving changes in higher education regulations, SCC is unable to serve all of the students that are interested in our courses or programs. SCC will no longer be able to offer distance education online programs or courses for students residing in Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Wyoming, and Puerto Rico.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. You can also visit our VMware page on our SCC website https://www.stanly.edu/future-students/continuing-education/technology-courses/vmware-vsphere-install-configure-manage.

tbgree00

VMware does do something with its pricing. GAB1900 provided a list of low cost alternatives that will count for your certification. Also the email you got is 1k off of list price for that training.

This argument comes up a lot and I'm never surprised at how people rage against VMware for pricing their training at the market rate. They don't owe it to us to give us cheap training. It's a revenue source and if it were cheaper (or not required) there would be a flood of VCPs. It was an investment in my future that created my career that I paid 3500 out of pocket for. If I hadn't decided to get it done in a week I would have done the Stanley Community College route and done it anyway.

If you're doing it for a future position do Stanley, it's cheaper and takes awhile but you get the same cert as everybody else. If you need it ASAP for a promotion or a new job, well decide if you'll make 2,500 more because of the requirement. Also be 100% sure that class will count for the VCP. Contact their support or something if the page doesn't say for sure.

Lexluethar

100% agree tbgree, it sucks it costs that much but because of that very fact it's a certification that still means something out there in the work place.

markulous

tbgree00 wrote: »

VMware does do something with its pricing. GAB1900 provided a list of low cost alternatives that will count for your certification. Also the email you got is 1k off of list price for that training.

This argument comes up a lot and I'm never surprised at how people rage against VMware for pricing their training at the market rate. They don't owe it to us to give us cheap training. It's a revenue source and if it were cheaper (or not required) there would be a flood of VCPs. It was an investment in my future that created my career that I paid 3500 out of pocket for. If I hadn't decided to get it done in a week I would have done the Stanley Community College route and done it anyway.

If you're doing it for a future position do Stanley, it's cheaper and takes awhile but you get the same cert as everybody else. If you need it ASAP for a promotion or a new job, well decide if you'll make 2,500 more because of the requirement. Also be 100% sure that class will count for the VCP. Contact their support or something if the page doesn't say for sure.

Shouldn't the number of people certified be based off of how technical and marketable it is? Stating the cost is the only reason that there isn't an influx of VCPs is poor design IMO.

Lexluethar

Mark that's the issue - there is no other real good method. You will always have test cheaters and people that memory exam ****. Having a cost barrier to entrance removes a lot of those individuals because of the cost.

I'm all for another testing method, i just haven't heard or seen anything worth while. Making it expensive unfortunately is the easiest way at this point.

markulous

How does the cost remove test cheaters and people that use ****? People that **** don't have money?

tbgree00

I agree with Lex on this one. Exploiting cost sensitivity as a way to make a product "exclusive" and desirable is essentially the way our economy operates. The only way to effectively limit cheating is either personal pride and honor or making all of their tests lab based and time constrained like the VCAPs. I paid 400 per attempt and I'm 100% sure that if they didn't have a class but charged $400 for the VCP professional level exam these threads would still exist.

A majority of the people I've worked with that obtained their VCP knew there stuff. One person I know brags about dumping it after having work pay for their training and has trouble deploying a VM with a script or from template. Maintaining a class requirement and pricing it where Cisco and Microsoft price their classes obviously doesn't promise the VCP is perfect but it is rare enough to be worth something.

I don't think Lex was implying people that **** don't have money. It seems more that people who invest in learning a subject don't need to ****. Also people who would **** may be less likely to bother paying 4k for a course? I don't have any proof for that statement.

When I was studying for my VCAPs every single discussion's comments seemed to be "Could someone send me the valid ****?". It's all over LinkedIn. Join a certification community and look at how many people ask for ****. It's insane, especially since those same people comment on employer posts to check their profile. Many people probably don't even know it is wrong or think they are entitled to a certification for some reason.

Honest question, if they dropped the class as a requirement and raised the test to a live lab that cost $1,000 per attempt would that be better?

markulous

I've seen heard of plenty of people dumping the CCIE and that's not a cheap cert either. If it's something that's marketable that will get them a high-paying position, then they aren't going to be deterred.

So 1k total for the training a cert? That'd be better at least.

There's really no way to limit cheating on a multiple choice exam. You'd have to change the questions every week, which probably isn't feasible. It's just the nature of certs. Just try your best to cater to the people that don't use **** and want to actually learn.

Lexluethar

Exactly. No i wasn't saying people with money don't **** - i'm saying it's an entrance barrier and will stop a lot of those people who just take exams to get the certification and have no knowledge of the topic. People who just test **** do so usually for a job or as a resume builder, having that costly class stops those people from even going through the process. Is it perfect - no far from it. There are still a lot of people that test **** and can go through the class.

VCP also tries to help alleviate cheaters by making the time you have far less than most exams - this again isn't perfect and for multiple choice exams really doesn't fix the issue.

I'd like to see more live labs - similar to what they do with the VCAP (or did, haven't looked in a while). Have 5 to 10 lab scenarios where you have to log in and from start to finish accomplish large task (not vMotion something but way more in depth). This is costly though and probably wouldn't help lower the cost of the exam, it would probably increase it.

varelg

I think there's an issue here lurking underneath the cost of getting this certification: the employer demanding employees get it and pay from their own pockets. It's not clear whether the demand at work is made by the employer on future hires (a posting for a job opening says "we need a VCP certified here in this shop"), on current hires as a new job requirement or it's the personal ambition to advance on a new position that requires a VCP certification.
Imposing it on current hires as a new job requirement at least invites re-negotiating salary/contract, it appears as a racket and tells what kind of employer is this person working with/for.

tbgree00

Lexluethar wrote: »

I'd like to see more live labs - similar to what they do with the VCAP (or did, haven't looked in a while). Have 5 to 10 lab scenarios where you have to log in and from start to finish accomplish large task (not vMotion something but way more in depth). This is costly though and probably wouldn't help lower the cost of the exam, it would probably increase it.

In my opinion this is the most correct solution. The VCAP-DCA is 2.5 hours for 22 scenarios in a live lab. No multiple choice, nothing to ****. You have to have seen enterprise features. If you don't know your stuff you will flounder and run out of time. It is offered at only Pearson Advanced testing centers and those are more like a jail than anything. Someone watches from a bay window behind you and can shut you down if you do anything suspicious. It costs $400 and after I took it I think it's priced very low for what you get. They run a script and someone compares it to an output that is 500/500 and that's how you get the score. I would expect the test to be at least $500 in version 6 when it is general availability.

If the VCP had "VCP Level" scenarios in a live lab and cost $400 or more dollars but no class requirement I wouldn't have an issue. I'm sure people would still try to **** but I'm under the impression it hasn't been done to the VCAPs yet.

scott28tt

trafficc wrote: »

Well seriously VMWARE needs to do something with its pricing.

If the training is being delivered by a training partner (VATC) then VMware only charge a fixed price for the courseware - each training partner is free to charge whatever it wants.

$2400 is pretty cheap actually, it's often $3500.

GAB1900

scott28tt wrote: »

If the training is being delivered by a training partner (VATC) then VMware only charge a fixed price for the courseware - each training partner is free to charge whatever it wants.

$2400 is pretty cheap actually, it's often $3500.

Agree with Scott. It was a blessing I was able to take the class at Stanly since my employer does not help with training. I waited 2-3 months for my turn with Stanly, but it is not a big deal. Took the class, studied for a few months longer and passed the test. That's why I recommend Stanly as the first option.

msg4wale

STANLY_CC wrote: »

Thank you for your interest in taking a class with us here at Stanly Community College. We are an authorized VMware IT Academy, and the course we offer meets the education portion of the VM certification. However, we can offer the VMware course only to individuals and not as part of corporate training. Additionally, this course is designed for students who have not yet taken the VCP exam. Students who have already passed the exam would still have to retake the exam using the voucher given at the end of the course in order to receive full VMware VCP certification.

This course is offered under the umbrella of Continuing Education, and it is conducted online, including labs, in an asynchronous manner which basically means it is available to students 24/7. Students can study at their own pace provided you meet the minimum due dates set by the instructor. The courses are 8 weeks in length, and the current tuition & lab fee costs total $185. There is also an optional textbook in both hard copy and e-book formats available through our book store. We will begin teaching the 6.0 version of the VMware curriculum starting this June.

We enroll students in the VMware courses in the order in which they registered on our online wait list. If you have not added your information to this list please do so at https://vmware.stanly.edu/waitlist.php. We apologize for any delay, but as you can imagine these classes are extremely popular. We make every effort to accommodate all students in a timely manner.

At this time, due to evolving changes in higher education regulations, SCC is unable to serve all of the students that are interested in our courses or programs. SCC will no longer be able to offer distance education online programs or courses for students residing in Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Wyoming, and Puerto Rico.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. You can also visit our VMware page on our SCC website https://www.stanly.edu/future-students/continuing-education/technology-courses/vmware-vsphere-install-configure-manage.

@STANLY_CC

I will love if you can help answer some questions.

I want for the VCP6-DCV training. I have taken and passed the Vsphere 6 Foundation Exam sometime in January.

Then i couldn't go ahead with the VCP exam due to the training requirements. I am yet to be gainfully employed and i hope earning the VCP certification and skills may further boost my chances.

However, from your post above, u said a voucher will be issued and the end of the 8 weeks training with stanly.

I will like to know, if the exam voucher to be issued is that of Vshere 6 Foundation exam or that of VCP6-DCV Exam.

And if the Vsphere 6 Foundation Exam voucher will be issued, do i need to retake the Exam?

Thanks for your anticipated and candid response.

trafficc

Does that mean I cannot take the course online since I live overseas? I'm currently living in Kuwait.