Job

Today, I took my very first VMware beta exam. I took the 2V0-621D exam, known as the VMware Certified Professional 6 – Data Center Virtualization Delta Beta Exam, at a local Pearson VUE test center. This exam is a possible migration paths from a valid VCP5-DCV, or any valid solution track VCP, to the VCP6-DCV certification.

The benefit of a beta exam is the low price (currently 50 US-$) and a chance to upgrade the associated certification, in this case the VCP6-DCV. This was the main reason for me to request the authorization and schedule an appointment at a local Pearson VUE testcenter. When I pass the exams, that would be a very effective and simple upgrade.

The Juniper Networks Certification Program (JNCP) consists of different tracks, which enable you to demonstrate your skills with Juniper products and technologies in the areas most pertinent to your job function and experience. There are three main areas:

• Junos
• Support
• Product and Technology

The Junos area consists of three tracks:

• Service Provider Routing and Switching
• Enterprise Routing and Switching
• Junos Security

The “Service Provider Routing and Switching” track focuses on service provider and telecommunication (M-, MX-Series, Routing with OSPF, BGP, MPLS etc.), the “Enterprise Routing and Switching” on enterprise routing and switching in LAN and WAN (EX-Series, MX-Series, Spanning-Tree, VLANs, Routing etc.) and the “Junos Security” track is focused on the Juniper Security products (SRX-Series, Routing, Firewall, VPN etc.). All three tracks have the Juniper Networks Certified Associate - Junos (JNCIA-Junos) as a prerequisite. This is an entry-level certification and it covers the following objectives:

In addition to the benefits that VMware grants to vExperts, a couple of vendors grant also benefits to vExperts. This includes free licenses, subscriptions or other offers. This is only a loose compilation of vExperts benefits.

Vendor	Offer	Link
Solarwinds	Virtualization Manager NFR	http://bit.ly/1gYJtBB
Veeam	Backup & Replication NFR	http://bit.ly/1esRaFn
Pluralsight	Annual Plus Subscription	http://bit.ly/1esTa0o
Tintri	Polo Shirt	http://bit.ly/1eJqgE2
Devolutions	Remote Desktop Manager 1y NFR	http://bit.ly/1iRVXfm
Login VSI	VIP program	http://bit.ly/1esPY4M
Hewlett-Packard	StoreVirtual VSA NFR	http://bit.ly/1m4J6gt
Darren Woollard	Sticker & URL Shortener	http://bit.ly/1noB4gb
DataCore	SANsymphony-V NFR	http://bit.ly/1iUXd2N
Proximal Data	AutoCache NFR	http://bit.ly/1eLKoWa
VSS Labs	vCert Manager NFR	http://bit.ly/1eTncKP
Unitrends	Enterprise Backup for VMware or Hyper-V NFR	http://bit.ly/1eWqn4Q
Symantec	Backup Exec V-Ray Edition NFR	http://bit.ly/1eTFcEO
Royal TS	Royal TS/X NFR	http://bit.ly/1jtpNbB

I also recommend to check the following blog post:

The VMware vExperts program is a annual given title from VMware to individuals who have significantly contributed to the community. It’s an award for sharing their knowledge with the community. It’s a nice way to say “Thank you” from VMware.

There are three different tracks you can apply:

The Evangelist Path is for bloggers, authors and other members of the community, who demonstrate their passion and knowledge.

The Customer Path is for customers. This includes leaders of VMware customer organizations, like the VMware User Groups (VMUG), speakers, customers who helped to create customer success stories etc.