VMware Certification changes

A couple of days ago Karl Childs posted a blog on the VMware Education blog website about some changes that are beeing implemented effective immediately in regards to VMware certifications.

VMware certifications such as the VMware Certified Professional (VCP) program has always required us to recertify after two years. If you failed or forgot to recertify it meant that you probably would have to follow a new VMware course and (re-) do the foundation and normal exams. I know some people who have gotten themselfes in this situation and I can tell that it’s a pain to have corrected.

Now, effective immediately, VMware has removed the two year recertification policy. All VMware certifications (VCP) that have held this policy (back until for example VCP5-DCV ) are now valid indefinitely. VMware said that they are doing this because the community asked for this (really?) and because it means that YOU can decide when you want to update your skills to a new level instead of beeing forced to update your skills.

This also means that some older VCP certificates are beeing reactivated again, you can find the certificates that will become active again starting from April 2019 below or in the FAQ.

And secondly this also means that if you still hold for example a VCP5-DCV certificate, you can now upgrade to VCP-DCV-2019 with one exam, instead of going down the the Expired Certification Path.

Personally I did not mind the recertification policy, it kept my knowledge up to date each two years. And updating your VCP to a new level is quite easy with the Beta or Delta exams. Only downside to a beta exam is the long wait for the result. I’ve done a beta exam where I had to wait 6 months for the results.

The changes or not yet fully implemented as all of my personal VCP exams still have a date on which they are no longer valid, but I’m guessing it will become effective in the coming days. The FAQ says that you can expect the changed to be visible in the CertManager tool in April 2019.