A couple days ago as many people know VMware Education announced the immediate retirement of certain VCAP exams for desktop and cloud. The announcement retired the following exams:
- VCID510 – VMware Certified Advanced Professional 5 – Cloud Infrastructure Design
- VCIA510 – VMware Certified Advanced Professional 5 – Cloud Infrastructure Administration
- VDTA510 – VMware Certified Advanced Professional 5 – Desktop Administration
- VDTD510 – VMware Certified Advanced Professional 5 – Desktop Design
In turn a follow up blog post was put up to further clarify the retirement plan. However, it’s been my mission over the last day or two with Karl Childs to come up with a VCDX specific contingency plan. The challenge as we all know is that these exams are the prerequisite to defending a VCDX design in front of the panel. Since the VCDX program cannot control the retirement specifically this is what we in the VCDX world call a “Constraint”. Therefore we needed to figure out a way to work within this constraint, adjust as needed and at the same time evaluate risk. As you can imagine this has upset a few VCDX candidates, but the Contingency Plan is now in place and has been posted and announced on the VCDX VMTN Forum. This is just my personal take on the decision.
The Risk to the VCDX June Defenses
In short, in my opinion, this abrupt retirement of the two VCAP tracks put a risk on two of the four VCDX tracks for the April 1st submission deadline. Some people were planning to submit for VCDX-DTM and VCDX-CMA, but still had to complete one or both of the VCAP exam requirements. This literally puts Karl and I in a pickle situation. We needed to figure out a way to mitigate the risk of not having two tracks available to defend on when the prerequisites are not available as a constraint. We think we have come up with the solution.
Contingency Plan For VCDX June Defenses
Per the Official VMTN post by Karl Childs, effective March 4th, the VCAP requirement for April 1st VCDX submissions on VCDX-DTM and VCDX-CMA will be temporarily WAIVED. This is only going to apply for the April 1st submission deadline and the June VCDX defenses. By the time the next round of VCDX defenses the new versions of the VCAP exams should be available. So welcome to Christmas in June!
Note: You will still need to have the correct VCP exams in place for both VCP-Cloud and VCP5-Desktop.
What Else Does This Mean For VCDX Submissions?
In my opinion, nothing. VCDX-DCV and VCDX-NV requirements stay the same since those exams are still valid. You still will have to submit a completed design application, and pass the review stage. For people submitting for a double, the same no re-defense process will apply, you can submit your designs for evaluation and review before the submission deadline. This was the only way we could think of to allow those planning to submit for April to continue with the process. We think it’s a pretty fair offer so please comment below.
This Does Not Make VCDX Easier
You still have to apply and pass the review stage to be invited to defend, unless you are submitting for a double, so the defense process is still where the rubber meets the road. This does not de-value the VCDX as some people have said, it’s what we call a work around to a massive constraint tossed to us. This is what VCDX is all about after all, understanding the requirements and constraints. We have a requirement to have desktop and cloud defenses, with no exams available, we made the best decision we could and I think it was a damn good one given the constraint.
Take this opportunity and RUN WITH IT!