Thursday 31 March 2016

Exam Retirements in June 2016

UPDATE: The exam retirements for VCAP5-DCA, VCAP5-DCD, and VCIX-NV have been suspended - read more here.

VMware have announced the retirement of 4 exams related to the older version 5 certifications:

June 2, 2016
VDCA550 for VCAP5-DCA (retirement suspended)
VCXN610 for VCIX-NV (retirement suspended)

June 24, 2016
VDCD550 for VCAP5-DCD (retirement suspended)
VCPC550 for VCP-Cloud

You won't be able to schedule any of these exams beyond those dates, so if you want to achieve those certifications you should act now!

If you already hold the certifications, or achieve them by the dates above, they won't be taken away from you. (VCP-Cloud falls under the VCP recertification guidelines/timing)

Each of the certifications above now has a newer version equivalent:

VCAP5-DCA > VCAP6-DCV Deploy
VCIX-NV > VCIX6-NV
VCAP5-DCD > VCAP6-DCV Design
VCP-Cloud > VCP6-CMA

The exams for the newer versions are either already available, or they will be before the retirement dates for the older version exams as above.

6 comments:

  1. You (and another blog I had found a few weeks ago) really scared me about having such short time left for the VDCA550.

    Please re-read the official VMware VCAP exams retirement announcement:
    http://blogs.vmware.com/education/2015/03/exam-retirement-announcement.html

    Also the clarification mentioned therein:
    http://blogs.vmware.com/education/2015/03/clarification-vcap-exam-retirements.html

    These were clarified a day later (perhaps after you read them) that 3 of the exams you listed in this post, VDCA550, VDCD550, and also VCXN610 are actually NOT affected by the March announcement of upcoming VCAP exam retirements.

    They mention the replacement exams are still being developed, so it would not make sense to leave us without an exam at that VCAP level.
    I also double-checked through the (simplified as you pointed out in another post) PearsonVue site, that the VDCA550 still shows on the calendar with dates all the way out to September currently.
    Just wanted to point this out if no one else had done so yet.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The 2 links you posted are from March 2nd and March 3rd. The information I posted above came from a newer blog post from March 23rd: http://blogs.vmware.com/education/2016/03/6734.html

      The pages for the certifications also state the retirement dates shown above, for example the VCAP5-DCA page: https://mylearn.vmware.com/mgrReg/plan.cfm?plan=30483&ui=www_cert

      Delete
    2. So, I believe the 4 exams retire on those June dates.

      Email certification@vmware.com if you want them to clarify, but I've read nothing since March 23rd that suggests any different retirement dates.

      Delete
    3. Thank you Scott, for some reason the search results would only show me the March 2nd post.
      I still think this seems rather unfair to be expiring the Advanced cert while the Professional cert is still being offered.
      It leaves VCP5 folks no upgrade path, since it does not look like the VCAP6-DCV exams are offered yet by PearsonVUE, and even when it is offered, the v6 certification track indicates we would be required to take VCP again for v6 before being allowed to take the VCAP.

      Delete
    4. At the moment a VCP5 holder can "upgrade then step up" or "step up then upgrade" to get to a VCAP6, where "upgrade" relates to the version and "step up" relates to the certification ladder.

      So VCP5 > VCP6 > VCAP6 or VCP5 > VCAP5 > VCAP6

      But yes this will change when the VCAP5 exams retire.

      Delete
    5. 3 of the 4 exams have had their retirement suspended - read more here: http://blogs.vmware.com/education/2016/05/vcap5-exam-retirements-suspended-registration-remains-open.html

      Delete