VCDX Defense Preparation
October 12, 2011 
Sean Crookston 
I have officially decided that I will target defending for the VCDX in May of next year in Toronto. This may or may not also be the first opportunity to defend for the VCDX 5, however I find it highly unlikely being I haven’t even heard of a beta for the VCAP-DCA/VCAP-DCD5 to date. Incidentally at this time this is also going to be the last change to defend a vSphere 4 design.
While doing a little browsing in the VCDX forum I found an interesting fact. Since November of 2010 there have only been 5 people who have achieved the certification.
The limited growth shows two things:
- One the number of individuals defending is obviously going to be limited based on requirements for a VCP/VCAP-DCA/VCAP-DCD and financial restrictions of defending including travel. There are only approximately 400 VCAP-DCA and VCAP-DCD certifications issued, with what I gather to be a high overlap of individuals having both. If I had to guess you are probably only looking at 550-600 people who would be eligible to submit a defense.
- Secondly they aren’t just giving these things out to everyone that does defend.
I see the fact that only 5 have been issued in almost the past year not as a point of intimidation but rather a challenge. I currently have a design picked out that I will be using for the defense and will be working over time to put my submission together. Luckily I have until March where anything needs to be submitted.
Over the next 7 months or so I will blog quite a bit about the process and in the end the result that follows.While I of course would like to see this process end in certification, I know that I will learn a great deal along the way regardless.
But don’t take that as a losing attitude, I am fully planning on passing the defense = )
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Best of luck. I am also going down the same route and look forward to seeing your progress. I will be posting my experience on my blog as well.
Good luck to you, man. I too, have been toying with the idea of going for a VCDX. Right now, my plan is to get some more design experience under my belt for two reasons. One, so I can defend an actual design; two, to get some more industry experience.
I hope you knock that VCDX defense out like none other!
D
I haven’t given up on getting in for Frankfurt yet, Toronto is far enough out I have no excuses.
Agreed, there appear to be 450 odd folks maximum that could have DCD/DCA, though in practice I know a few folks with one or the other but none with both. You also need to subtract the existing VCDX’s that took DCD to upgrade their cert. I would be very curious to know how many submissions they get for Frankfurt/Toronto, it seems to be gaining traction finally, which I think is good for all of us.
Well, You have to consider a few things.
1. Most VCDX work for VMware so it doesn’t cost them a dime.
2. SMB and ma and pop business cannot afford that kind of cost.
3. Only big corporations like HP, IBM, and etc really will commit to that level of training commitment because of partnerships.
Its just my 2 cents but from what I have been seeing most VCDX do work for VMware… I am not surprised at all.