VMworld is a great place for us to meet with our certification community face to face, and hear directly what you like and don’t like about the program. I enjoy meeting you and having the conversations in Las Vegas and Barcelona. As a direct result of those conversations, our team is now working on some of the topics that you brought up.
One of the things we heard was confusion around the VCIX Digital Badge and the requirements for earning or upgrading one. So, we decided to simplify it with the release of the newest versions of our VMware Certified Advanced Professional (VCAP) exams.
The VCIX Badge requires the combination of a VCAP Design and VCAP Deploy certifications in the same track. In the past, both VCAPs had to be on the same version. Moving forward, when you earn both a VCAP Design and a VCAP Deploy certification in the same solution track, regardless of version, you will earn the VCIX badge for that track. The version shown on the VCIX Badge will map to the most current VCAP you earned.
Once you have a VCIX badge, to upgrade you simply need to earn either VCAP in that solution track. For instance, to move from VCIX6-CMA to a VCIX7-CMA badge, you could earn the VCAP7-CMA Design certification.
This logic regarding the versions also applies to upgrading your individual VCAPs.
We hope this change will make it easier for you to earn these badges and continue to show your current expertise and accomplishments. VCIX badges reflecting the newest VCAP certification versions will be released in the next few weeks.
One other thing we wanted to clarify is around the name of the VCIX Digital Badge. When we introduced VMware Digital Badges the VCIX was transitioned to become a Badge, since it does not require any requirements beyond earning the two VCAP certifications. Awarding VCIX as a digital badge still allows you to share and communicate your achievement (it might even be easier now).
We recognize that the VCIX name still reflects the older certification framework when VCIX was a certification. However, we didn’t want to lose the brand since it is used and known in the marketplace already, and still reflects the work of earning the two VCAPs.
