The VCP for VI3 exam is available until the end of March, when we will be retiring it. My recommendation for the course would be to have the student attend a Live Online class (since as he pointed out there are few open enrollment classes taught on this version). There is a Live Online class on March 2nd.

thanks for the feedback,an it’s an interesting dilemma and raises the question of whether vmware has retired their VI3 to soon or whether they feel VI3 certification is no longer applicable.

I know in my own workplace we have only recently made the move to VI4 so I guess there are others also out there. Although having said that VMware ESX servers generally are easily blown away and rebuilt I think in general uptake of new versions by the user community is normally rapid.

Jon C Hall from VMware education services has also commented on the post, I will contact him with your comments and ask him for feedback and thoughts. I will mail you directly with any answers.

With the experience you have gained in the last year or two you would be a good VI3 candidate and the qualification may also be of benefit looking for a contract on VI3 or VI4. But of course if VI3 VCP is not now possible (as training is a pre-req) then you are faced with applying for positions without qualification or taking an exam for something you may only have classroom training in.

…interesting…..

For what it is worth, I believe (as an ex-contractor who has spent his own money on training in the past too) the vSphere 4 course is a logical next step rather than VI3, I base this on your 2 years experience using VI3 – Whether attending vSphere 4 training would allow you to retro-sit VI3 VCP certification I do not know. Let’s see what Jon’s feedback is.

But I wish you luck with gaining your VCP….!

Stu.

Not sure how i came accross this site but it makes good reading.
When i left Munich and started contracting people would say to me great CV but you are not a MCSE.
In the end i went and took the exams and passed and it does open doors, rightly or wrongly.
Been using VMware quite alot the last year or two and end of last year finally thought about paying for the courses and doing the exam, having not used vsphere i thought i would go for V3 and then later on go for the vsphere upgrade.
Can i find any training companies offering the old V3 courses, most training companies i have looked at are only doing vsphere and only doing V3 courses when or if there is enough interest.
A ex colleague wanted to do a V3 resit at his normal test centre only had dates up to the end of Feb. Not much revision time!
I havent used vsphere yet and dont want to be certified on a system i have not used.
You want to do the right thing but its not always easy. Guess i will try and get a new contract that allows me to use vsphere now where are those pdf’s!!….

it is great to see VMware are taking the issues seriously and are already taking action to counteract IP theft by looking into practical certification examinations. I hope there will be a large pool of different practical tasks and that a sensible replacement frequency of content is maintained. I have read since writing the article that MS are also looking towards “an element” of practical content on Windows 7 certification also – I hope all other vendors follow suit.

Vendors have lived with IP theft now for many years and until now little appears (at least publicly) to have been done to combat it – although at the same time I understand fully the issues you raised concerning the difficulties in pursuing such companies.

It will be interesting to see how much weight vendors place on practical elements compared to traditional multiple choice questions in any given exam.

Once a credible certification process is implemented, credibility in the program will only be restored when the next iteration of the certification is released. I guess logistically this would only happen when a vendor releases their next major product release.

It would be cool if VCP 5 and possibly more importantly VCDX will have greater protection going forwards.

This article highlights what is a rampant problem in the IT industry. Companies that sell “real” exams make a living off of stealing the IP of reputable companies like VMware. They are typically based in a country that makes it difficult to prosecute them. VMware combats this situation in the following manner.

1. We monitor these companies for release of new materials
2. If our exam material shows up for sale by one of these companies, we modify or replace the exposed items and republish our exam.
3. We are one if the few IT companies that also has a course requirement component to the certification, ensuring that even if a student somehow gains access to compromised material, they have had some actual exposure to the product.

Of course this is not an ideal situation. Companies that are responsible for this theft of IP make it difficult for any IT company to uphold a strong certification. One way to further augment the process is using a “practical” exam that is performed on actual equipment. Look for a certification from VMware that contains this component in 2010.