VMware VCP certification has now an expiration date

This morning a tweet from Josh Coen (VCDX #129) shocked me a bit:

VCP certifications now appear to have an expiration date associated with them #vmware

— Josh Coen (@joshcoen) March 8, 2014

So far the VMware certification had no expiration date. If you had a VCP for ESX2, this was still valid up to today. I quickly checked my VMware Training account and noticed a tiny exclamation mark above my certifications.

As you can see the expiration date is two years after the certification date. Interestingly my VMware Certified Associate (VCA) and VMware Technical Sales Professional (VTSP) certifications have no expiration date. Unfortunately the “Learn more” link is going nowhere, so currently I can only guess how to extend the validity. One ways is, to get certified as VMware Certified Advanced Professional (VCAP). Currently you get a VCP, if you are certified as VCAP. For example you get a VCP-Cloud, if you get certified as VCAP-CIA, or a VCP-DT if you get certified as VCAP-DTD. So in the future you will have to get a new VCP (e.g. for vSphere 6) or another, higher certification to extend the validity of you certifications. This is nothing special. Other vendors do the same, like Cisco oder HP. It seems that VMware moves with the time. VMware has published the recertification policy.

Feel free to comment this post and write down your opinion. Also take a look at vninja.net. Christian Mohn also wrote an article. His article has a lot of good comments about this topic.

Edit 20.11.2014

Recertification candidates for the VCP5-DCV certification have the  limited time opportunity (until 30. November 2014) to take VCP5-DCV delta exam. This exam can be taken online and can booked at Pearson VUE. For more information check the MyLearn portal.