VCP4 or VCP5

odysseyelite

So I am looking at getting my VCP and am wondering what route to take. Obtain my VCP4 first and then VCP5 later, or go straight to VCP5.

I've worked with 3.5, and 4.1 in lab and little bit at my last job. My current job is running 5 and I will be working with it over the next 2 years on a junior level admin.

Since I lack some experiance I plan on building a home lab, and taking a class. The classes for VCP5 at the local college will not be available until Spring and it does not appear CBT has produced nuggets for 5.

Jason

scott28tt

There's a difference here between whether you want to be trained by an academic partner, or by a commercial partner or VMware themselves. That has a large influence on how quickly you'd be able to gain the VCP certification, and also what version you should follow.

In the commercial world, if you want to get VCP4 first then VCP5, you'll need to act quickly. Training providers are phasing out their vSphere 4 courses quickly, and VCP4 holders can only update their certification to VCP5 without having to attend vSphere 5 training until the end of February 2012. For those reasons, I would personally advise you to follow the VCP5 path, then you're not up against any deadlines.

Scott.

jmritenour

Unless you already have a significant amount of time and resources spent in training/studying, there's no reason to go with VCP4 over 5. VMWare is already trying to kill of vSphere 4 and push everyone to 5, so might as well stick with what's going to be the most relevant going forward.

odysseyelite

Thanks for the replies. I'm amazed how quickly VMware retires their exams. Not like MS where 10 years later you can still take it.

Since I am going to be using and learning 5 at work over the next 24 months (contract gig), I'm going to focus on it. I'm not worried on how quickly I get the certification. I was more worried about the cost of the class requirement since I am paying for this myself. When my contract is up I want to leave with cert and a couple years of experiance to help me in finding my next job.