VCIX6 Certification Announcement: (New Certifications Coming Soon!)

Many of you have been awaiting the announcement of the availability of our advanced v6 certifications. 

We have been working very hard on our advanced v6 Credentials. Our objectives are:

1. Increase the availability of all advanced exams – both Design and Deployment (available in significantly more Pearson Centers).
2. Improve the functionality and performance of the lab-based exams.
3. Offer improved training and preparation options to those seeking advanced VMware certifications.

Our development team is  working really hard on the final touches and is coordinating with Pearson on the publication and launch.

Here is what is coming:

December 2015

• Pre-release announcement (this post)
• Information related to some minor updates to the certification structure (coming later this week)
• Downloadable Exam Guides (drafts) and information on how to prepare (coming later this week)

 told you the news about the continuation of the VCAP brand for our advanced v6 certifications and the addition of the VCIX6 designation for those who earn both VCAP6 certifications (Design and Deploy). Now, I want to give you the information that you need to start getting ready to take the exam (and hopefully participate in the beta exams).

Below are links to downloadable Exam Guides for each of the upcoming VCAP6 exams. Please realize that these are advanced copies of the Exam Guides (Drafts), but Jon H. and this team worked very hard to get these into a near-final state. The absoute final versions, along with new web pages will be posted on our website in early January, so please make sure to check back the VMware Certification website for the final versions.

• VCAP6-DCV Design – exam guide
• VCAP6-DCV Deployment – exam guide
• VCAP6-DTM Design – exam guide
• VCAP6-DTM Deployment – exam guide
• VCAP6-CMA Design – exam guide
• VCAP6-CMA Deployment – exam guide
• VCAP6-NV Deployment – exam guide

In addition to the Exam Guides VMware offers training courses that will help you prepare for the exams. Both Design and Deployment functions/roles are covered in these courses so there is one course aligned to each Certification Solution track. You should definitely consider taking one of these courses as a part of your preparation.

• CMA – VMware Cloud Automation: Design and Deploy Fast Track [V6.0]
• DCV – VMware vSphere: Design and Deploy Fast Track [V6]
• DTM – Horizon: Design and Deploy [V6]
• NV – VMware NSX: Design and Deploy [V6.1]

Now just a few tips and strategy  on preparing for the exam:

• Review the Objectives in the Exam Guide and conduct a Gap Analysis on your own skills. For each objective give yourself a grade from 1-5, depending upon your skills, knowledge and/or level of comfort with each topic.
• Based upon the Gap Analysis, build a personalized study plan that will help you close the gaps (focusing more effort on the largest gaps). At a minimum this should include study, training and plenty of hands-on practice.
• Set a reasonable timeline and set a deadline by scheduling the exam – this will provide motivation. Don’t be unreasonable, give yourself some time.
• Execute on your study plan, with your test date firmly in mind.

I hope that all of this information is useful in helping you prepare.

January 2016

• New Certification and Exam web pages (early January)
• Beta exam registration (early- to mid-January)
• First beta appointment test-date (late January)

This is the first of three VCIX6 blog post announcments that will come this week. Check back tomorrow for additional details about updates to the VCIX6 certification structure, new information on the certification paths and details of the migration/upgrade paths.

Since we first started rolling out the first v6 certifications we’ve been asking a lot of questions about the new structure. Based upon the feedback that we have received from you we have decided to update the structure of our advanced credentials.

These updates are as follows:

We had originally planned to retire the VMware Certified Advanced Professional (VCAP) certification altogether. However, based upon customer feedback we are reversing that decision (refer to the diagram below). For v6 the VCAP level will not be going away. You will be able to earn a VCAP6 Design and/or a VCAP6 Deployment certification when you pass the corresponding Design exam or Deployment exam (lab).

Furthermore, in addition to the individual VCAP6 certifications, we want to give special recognition to those that earn both Design and Deployment certifications as this is a significant achievement. So, beginning with v6 those who earn both VCAP6 Design and VCAP6 Deployment certifications will be awarded the VMware Certified Implementation Expert 6 (VCIX6) certification for that track.There are no additional requirements – earn both VCAP6 Design and VCAP6 Deployment certifications and you will automatically receive VCIX6 certification.

Because both Design and Deployment skills are critical, our goal is to get as many people as possible to upgrade to the VCIX level. For that reason, VMware’s Design and Deploy training courses will cover both skills, the VCIX6 certification will be the prerequisite to becoming a VMware Certified Design Expert (VCDX), and special benefits will be awarded to those who achieve VCIX6 certification.

Upgrade Paths

For those of you with existing advanced certifications, the upgrade or migration paths will be the same as previously discussed:

• From VCAP5 Design to VCIX6 → Earn the VCAP6 Deployment certification by passing the VCAP6 Deployment Exam (lab).
• From VCAP5 Administration to VCIX6 → Earn the VCAP6 Design certification by passing the VCAP6 Design Exam.
• From VCAP5 Administration and VCAP5 Design (both) to VCIX6 → Earn either the VCAP6 Design or the VCAP6 Deployment certification
• From VCAP5 Administration to VCAP6 Deployment → Pass the VCAP6 Deployment Exam (lab)
• From VCAP5 Design to VCAP6 Design → Pass the VCAP6 Design Exam

One last note: The VCIX6-NV certification will continue to be a little different for the foreseeable future (there is not a Design Exam component). There will only be a VCIX6 Deployment exam and a VCIX-NV certification can be earned by passing the related Exam. In our current framework the Design component for Network Virtualization is covered at the VCDX level. This will likely change in 2016.

Source:-

https://blogs.vmware.com/education/2015/12/vcix6-certification-announcement-part-1-of-3.html

https://blogs.vmware.com/education/2015/12/vcix6-certification-announcement-part-2-3-updated-structure-paths.html

https://blogs.vmware.com/education/2015/12/vcix6-certification-announcement-part-3-of-3-exam-guides.html