Ok, so I say this every time but this time I mean it… well, at least I think I do. This is my last VCP exam. I took the VCP 5.5 Delta a few years back now. Before that were a few VCP 5s. There might have even been a VCP 4 thrown in there somewhere. I’ve taken this exam more times than I want to think about.
Last week I took the VCP6-DCV Delta. I could have held off a few more months before my VCP 5 expired but i had some spare capacity to study so I committed to retake the exam. Work was kind enough to give me two dedicated study days to prepare. I used them as well as I could have. I had also hoped to get in some solid study in the weeks leading up to the exam but unforeseen personal issues got in the way which wrote that off. So I really wasn’t feeling confident going into this exam. To my surprise, though, I actually passed with a decent mark.
The VCP is a real solid exam for its type, it always has been. Personally I think one of the harder ones out there too. Of course exams like the VCAP are on a different level but as for the standard multiple choice exam it’s right up there. VCP exams really require that you have solid experience with the technology, especially the VCP-DCV focusing on vCenter, along with vSphere Replication, a little vCloud Air thrown in, vSAN features, and the new PSC. it has really become quite broad.
The Delta I took was comprised of 65 questions over 75 minutes, 20 questions less then the full VCP exam thankfully. As a guide I usually work out how many questions 70% is and treat that as what’s required to pass. It’s usually treated me well as a format for passing. So when I scribbled down 15 questions I was uncertain with at the end of the exam I felt it could have gone either way. I was quite worried. So seeing that I passed in the high 400’s out of a possible 500 was quite pleasing.
I think the community has finally gotten over and accepted this 2 year expiration with VMware certifications. I’ve never really had an issue with it. I’ve known this is where the industry has been heading with certifications for a while now. It doesn’t mean it’s not frustrating though. Which is why I’m hoping I won’t have to do another one again. Now it’s not to say that I won’t do another VMware cert. I just have to be a little smarter and play the game a little better by upgrading to the new VCIX cert.
In any case, it’s done, it’s out the way. I get to use the new little logo. And, well, that’s about it 😛