It was back in November 2011 when I first obtained the VCP qualification, I remember how excited I was when I passed this exam. I was designing and installing vSphere 4.x on HPE hardware and this was a string in my bow that validated my expertise.
Move forward to September 2017 and the IT industry has evolved. The skills required to design and deploy vSphere environments are common place and the demand that I see from customers isn’t around architecting a vSphere platform.
A customer might require some assistance to migrate to the target platform, but when they are consuming it, where does the next the next requirement come from?
Throughout my IT career, I have always built my knowledge based on what I believe is credible within the market place. This hasn’t ever been from a technical perspective, rather a business point of view.
When studying for certifications, you are taking time away from family, friends and generally doing the things you enjoy outside of work. When I make this commitment, I want to use my time efficiently on what I believe will yield the highest reward for the least investment.
With the above in mind, it is with a heavy heart that I will let me VCP expire this month. The reason I say heavy heart is that I have so many found memories of not only of using the cool technology that VMware have provided, but the people I have worked with designing and deploying vSphere solutions not only on a professional level but also across the community.
As they say when one chapter closes another begins, watch this space!
VMFocus 
Which certificates will you focus then?
Microsoft Azure and maybe CISSP
I let mine go after the 5 to 5.5 debacle. I passed my VCP 6 exam, but with no class, the test was worthless. (I still have my VCAP 4 & 5). One thing people seem to forget is that it costs around $8k to $10k to GET your VCP (Class costs + time off work + study time & Cert fees)… VMware (EMC) has screwed themselves royally and they don’t seem to know or care.
I disagree with this completely. The VCP is the backbone of VMware expertise. You must keep up with the changes, and there are many, and large organizations need VMware experts to maintain large deployments. I have been a VCP for 11 years now, and each and every role I’ve had in these years, regardless of the title, was focused on my VMware expertise. The VCP must now do a little more a be more versatile, scripting and automation are an important part of the role. So much can go wrong, and does, and with the intro of the new licensing models, and the web client, well, let’s just say the VCP was someone quite often consulted with in the day to day, by everyone from fellow admins, engineers, and architects, to sr mgmt. even with the advent of AWS and other clouds, the VM masses still sit and run on premise in VM infrastructures, and people still need experts. And guess what, VMware hasn’t made it easier to support.
Hi! I agree totally w/you ! Same here… whilst is still central to many of our deployments, I see that Azure + PowerShell & O365 are becoming alot more of mainstream where the market is going … and also AWS … the architecture the next generation of solutions will be multi-cloud and that’s where one need to spend time. Stay near the application and we will remain relevant. besides, there’s docker now also in the market! which leads to another application transformation rather than just virtualization.
While I did get my VCP6-DCV last year, I will say it’s something to think about when it comes up for renewal. My main focus now has been on network security (CISSP, etc).
I was lucky enough to have my past employer pay for my certification so it wasn’t anything out of my pocket. Most places just need them to get better margins on selling VMware products.