VMware Certification Infographics

VMware have published infographics about VCP, VCAP, and VCDX for some time now, they recently released the latest versions of all 3 - use the links below to view them:

VMware Certified Professional (VCP)

VMware Certified Advanced Professional (VCAP)

VMware Certified Design Expert (VCDX)

A few highlights for me looking through the data:

• Nearly 50 countries have at least 1000 VCPs
• There are more than 100,000 VCPs in the USA
• EMEA has more VCAPs than either of the other two geographies even though it has the fewest VCPs
• Australia features in the Top 6 countries for VCDX but not for VCP or VCAP
• China doesn't yet have a VCDX even though it features in the Top 6 for both VCP and VCAP

VCPs, VCAPs AND VCDXs around the world - 2021 edition!

UPDATE - March 19th 2021: Added the VCDX version.

For a number of years now, VMware have published infographics about the distribution of VCPs, VCAPs, and VCDXs around the world.

The 2021 versions can be found by clicking on the images:

Some interesting observations:

• There are now more than 100,000 VCPs in the USA, but only an additional 20,000 or so across the rest of the Americas
• Eight countries now have more than 10,000 VCPs!
• Ireland has 761 VCPs per million of the population, more than double that of the USA
• While EMEA has the lowest number of VCPs it has the highest number of VCAPs

VCP/VCAP infographics, updates on courses and exams

Where are all the VCPs and VCAPs?

VMware have created 2020 infographics showing the spread of VCP and VCAP holders around the world.

Read this blog post to access the data.

New courses and exams in May 2020

VMware released 8 new courses and 1 new exam last month, check this blog post for details.

Latest VMware Learning Zone content

As mentioned in a previous blog post, the Premium subscription for VMware Learning Zone is now free for 6 months thanks to a special promition.

This blog post from VMware highlights the latest content in VLZ.

Spring 2019 Update - Exam retirements and non-exam upgrade paths

A couple of updates from VMware for Spring 2019...

Exam Retirements
On April 10th, VMware announced the retirement of 13 exams - all of which will no longer be available to take after August 30th, so if you are working towards them already you should have time to complete your preparations and get them done in time.

The exams themselves relate to a variety VCP and VCAP certifications, based on these older products:

vSphere 6.0
vSphere 6.5
vRealize Automation 6.x
Horizon 6.0
Horizon 7.5

All of the retiring exams already have an equivalent exam/certification based on current software versions.

Check this blog post for the full list of retiring exams.

Upgrades Without Exams
Another recent change was the ability to upgrade an older version certification to a newer version by taking training only - no exams required!

As an example, let's say you took the vSphere 6.5 Install Configure Manage class and passed the 2 exams to achieve the VCP6.5-DCV certification - now if you complete an advanced training class on vSphere 6.7 (such as the Troubleshooting Workshop) you would be awarded the VCP-DCV 2019 certification.

I think this is a nice simple benefit if you were taking the training anyway - it's cheaper to upgrade by passing an exam, but now there might not be a need for you to do that at all.

For further information, have a read of this blog post.

Major Update to VMware Certification Naming and Schedule

VMware have announced a major shift in the naming and versioning for all certifications - alignment to the year in which a certification is earned, and a new annual release/update schedule for all VCP, VCAP, and VCDX certifications!

Naming Convention
Using the Data Center Virtualization (DCV) track, here's an example of the the next generation of certification names:

• VCP-DCV 2019
• VCAP-DCV Design 2019
• VCAP-DCV Deploy 2019
• VCDX-DCV 2019

Certifications launched from this month will use this new convention, starting with the release of:

• VMware Certified Professional – Desktop and Mobility 2018 (VCP-DTM 2018)
• VMware Certified Advanced Professional – Data Center Virtualization Deploy 2018 (VCAP-DCV Deploy 2018)
• VMware Certified Advanced Professional – Cloud Management and Automation Deploy 2018 (VCAP- CMA Deploy 2018)

Release Schedule
As you might expect from such a naming convention, there's also a switch to an annual release schedule:

• January 1st: Release and update all VCP certifications
• March 1st: Release and update all VCAP Design certifications
• May 1st: Release and update all VCAP Deploy certifications
• VCDX certification updates will follow VCAP releases

Benefits
These changes give you:

• Better predictability in certification releases
• Stronger relevancy in the market - you can easily communicate your current status
• Clarity of paths and requirements for upgrading and recertification

For further information and an FAQ document please see this blog announcement

Infographics on VCPs, VCAPs, and now VCDXs

VMware have previously released (and updated) infographics on the global distribution of the VCP and VCAP programs, and now they've done the same for VCDX!

You can read their blog post here, or check out the most recent VCP and VCAP stats.

2017 - VCAPs around the world

Remember when VMware published a VCAP infographic in April 2016?

Well, it's time for the 2017 version - check this post here.

There are some quirks in the numbers - the UK shows as 309 on the map, compared to 448 last year, so year on year comparisons are hard - I guess they're showing a different metric this year (people versus certifications perhaps?)

I like the table showing the different solution areas - no surprise that DCV takes the top 2 spots, but it's NV that is a clear 3rd in spite of it's relative lack of maturity - clearly SDN is popular!

VCAPs - all over the world!

A few months back, VMware posted an infographic on global distribution of VCPs, they've now done the same for VCAP certifications. Check out this post on their Education/Certification blog for the new VCAP info.

A couple of things I noticed:

The USA, UK, and Germany seem to have the highest proportion of VCPs who have gone on to VCAP - 1 in every 9 VCPs in those countries also have a VCAP, compared to only 1 in every 20 VCPs having a VCAP in India and Japan.

I'm 1 of only 448 people in the UK to have a VCAP :-)

Common VMware Certification Questions

Have a question about VMware certification?

Well, you could email certification@vmware.com with your question and wait for a response, but in fact you're likely to find the answer via the list of KB articles on this page:

VMware Education & Certification Blog : Common Questions Answered

I created my own Top 5 of the questions I'm asked most often too:

VCP Common Questions

Isn't it great to be able to help yourself instantly?

New VCAP5-DCD exam for vSphere 5.5

First it was VCP5-DCV, then VCAP5-DCA, and now it's the turn of the VCAP5-DCD certification to have an exam specific to vSphere 5.5...

Learn more here: https://mylearn.vmware.com/mgrReg/plan.cfm?plan=47317&ui=www_cert

VCAP5-DCA - New vSphere 5.5 exam version available

Today sees the launch of a new exam for the VCAP5-DCA certification, VDCA550 which is based on vSphere 5.5.

The original VCDA510 exam based on vSphere 5.0/5.1 remains available, so be careful when you book the exam to make sure you're registering for the one that matches the software versions you've used during your preparations.

This is the same approach as VMware took for VCP5-DCV back in January: http://vmwaretraining.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/vcp5-dcv-now-updated-for-vsphere-55.html

Passing either of the exam will meet the requirement to become VCAP5-DCA certified, the pre-requisite certifications remain the same.

The recommended training class vSphere: Optimize & Scale was also recently updated for the 5.5 release: http://mylearn.vmware.com/mgrreg/courses.cfm?ui=www_edu&a=one&id_subject=46566

You can read more about the new exam and access the blueprint for both the VCDA550 and VCDA510 exams here: http://mylearn.vmware.com/mgrReg/plan.cfm?plan=47316&ui=www_cert

Josh Andrews from the VMware Certification team has created a post on his blog describing the new lab environment and blueprint changes: http://sostechblog.com/2014/04/07/vcap5-dca-update-for-vsphere-5-5/

The Circle is Complete

The line-up of VMware certifications is now complete, and standardised across 3 distinct disciplines:

- Data Center Virtualisation (DCV) - focused on vSphere
- Desktop (DT) - focused on View with vSphere
- Cloud - focused on vCloud Director with vSphere

Certification levels
Each discipline has 3 levels of certification:

- VCP - Professional
- VCAP - Advanced Professional
- VCDX - Design Expert

VCAP tracks
The VCAP level for each discipline has 2 standard tracks:

- Administration
- Design

There is a third VCAP certification for the Cloud discipline - Cloud Governance.

Requirements
Now the line-up is complete, VMware have also adopted a new principle for each level in terms of requirements:

- VCP - training requirement in that discipline, or VCP in other disciplines
- VCAP - VCP requirement in any discipline
- VCDX - VCP requirement in any discipline plus the VCAPs in that discipline

Bridging exams for VCP5-DCV holders
Something else that's now standardised for VCP5-DCV holders is the ability to take a "bridging" exam to achieve the VCP in other disciplines:

VCP-Cloud certification 
- VCP5-DCV holders can do the IaaS exam which only tests on vCD 
- Those that don't hold VCP5-DCV must do the VCP-Cloud exam which tests on vSphere and vCD 

VCP-DT certification 
- VCP5-DCV holders can do the View exam which only test on View 
- Those that don't hold VCP5-DCV must do the VCP-Desktop exam which tests on vSphere and View

More information
The full set of requirements for each individual certification and the latest information can be found at http://www.vmware.com/certification