Vcap

dave330i

The where are you now thread in IT Jobs got me thinking about VCAP. Any current VCPs planning on taking the next step and upgrading to VCAP? It seems to be as tough as CCIE requiring serious commitment in time and resources.

Personally I'm on the fence between VCAP and PMP. PMP seems to be the path of least resistance, while going for VCAP will probably mean going for PMP at a later date.

blargoe

I am actively studying for VCAP, but I'm not sure if I will be ready before they stop offering the tests for 4.x (in which case, I'll brush up on the new 5.x features and take VCAP5).

I've taken the Troubleshooting and Performance courses, I'm pretty good with Powershell in general since I'm a Windows/Exchange admin, and I have linux experience so I'm comfortable on the command line. Also have a storage background. So one day, I was reading up about the VCAP, and saw that I have some exposure to most of the test objectives... so I figured "what the heck" and decided to give it a shot.

Pass or fail, it has been a great learning exercise so far, some of which has been applied to my live production environment at my company.

meadIT

I took the VCAP-DCD while it was in beta. I procrastinated in scheduling it and ended up having to take it the first day of the beta as that was the only time slot left. The good thing about that was I passed and ended up being VCAP-DCD #10. I also just took the VCAP-DCA last week and am waiting for the results. I work for a VMware partner and am the lead on all storage / virtualization projects, so I have hands on experience with a majority of the blueprint. The biggest thing about the DCA is to know how to configure things quickly. I got through all of the questions with about 6 minutes to spare, but I had to skip 1 or 2 because I knew it would take too long to complete given my remaining time, and another 1-2 I only partially completed because I was spending too much time on it. You have access to a lot of the PDF documentation, but again, since time is so limited, its hard to look anything up unless you know exactly where it is in the documentation.

dave330i

blargoe wrote: »

I am actively studying for VCAP, but I'm not sure if I will be ready before they stop offering the tests for 4.x (in which case, I'll brush up on the new 5.x features and take VCAP5).

I've taken the Troubleshooting and Performance courses, I'm pretty good with Powershell in general since I'm a Windows/Exchange admin, and I have linux experience so I'm comfortable on the command line. Also have a storage background. So one day, I was reading up about the VCAP, and saw that I have some exposure to most of the test objectives... so I figured "what the heck" and decided to give it a shot.

Pass or fail, it has been a great learning exercise so far, some of which has been applied to my live production environment at my company.

Any particular study material?

blargoe

Aside from the materials from the vSphere Troubleshooting and Manage for Performance courses, I'm primarily following the guide posted by Ed Grigson at VCAP-DCA | www.vExperienced.co.uk, which has his personal study notes broken down into sections mirroring the exam blueprint, with links to official documentation, blogs, and articles that go into more depth on the various topics. I'm also labbing up everything, and once I'm comfortable with the GUI, I'm learning the vCLI and PowerCLI equivalents for completing those tasks.

QHalo

That is the most extensive compilation of notes I've seen thus far on the DCA. Brilliant.

meadIT

blargoe wrote: »

Aside from the materials from the vSphere Troubleshooting and Manage for Performance courses, I'm primarily following the guide posted by Ed Grigson at VCAP-DCA | www.vExperienced.co.uk, which has his personal study notes broken down into sections mirroring the exam blueprint, with links to official documentation, blogs, and articles that go into more depth on the various topics. I'm also labbing up everything, and once I'm comfortable with the GUI, I'm learning the vCLI and PowerCLI equivalents for completing those tasks.

+1. I used those, plus the notes and mock labs from Sean Crookston: Sean Crookston, along with the TrainSignal VCAP package.

blargoe

What did you think of the trainsignal videos? I think I'm OK on troubleshooting and performance, but was thinking about grabbing the security one.

scott28tt

blargoe wrote: »

What did you think of the trainsignal videos? I think I'm OK on troubleshooting and performance, but was thinking about grabbing the security one.

I wouldn't say it's worth studying for the VCAP-DCA exam alone. Troubleshooting, performance, and VCP-type topics form the bulk of the tasks you'll be asked to perform, with perhaps a little PowerCLI thrown in too.

Scott.

Egrigson

I think it really depends what you want the certifications for. PMP is quite well recognised in the market, whereas the VCAP exams have yet to make a significant difference. Savvy employers know the difference but many jobs simply want a VCP or VCAP - the recruitment agent most likely won't know the difference. I'd also add that the VCAP exams aren't at the CCIE level. If you actively work with VMware they're achievable without significant expense. I know several people who've passed VCAP exams with only a few days study.

jibbajabba

I did see one job advertised which specifically asked for a VCAP recently. Must have been the first time for me seeing that requirement (was for Rackspace in the UK).