David & Scott,
I do appreciate your answers and I am aware that VMware training is trying to combat things like the proliferation of dumps and "paper tigers" but that is one of the double edges of running a certification program. You will never defeat it; you can only minimize it.
Unfortunately I think VMware training is making the same exact mistake Cisco made years ago trying to make its certifications an elitist thing. The downside was that Cisco lost market share in key areas like switching. The channel partners had problems getting their technical force certified so the sales guys took the path of least resistance and pitched Brocade and HP among others resulting in Cisco's switching marketshare to decrease. While this was not the prime reason to the market share decline it was a contributory reason.
I split my time between several small VARs who are VMware channel partners. I was working pre-sales on two small-to-meduim VMware accounts at different VARs where the sales guys were trying to get the accounts to get off of 3.5 and 4.1 respectively. Both accounts have employees who are VCPs. Both accounts are bitching about the cert exam and how much time their guys are studying for the tests and failing them. Neither account has the budget to send all of their guys to the mandatory 1 week class in their budgets this year due to the adverse business conditions. So they are all trying to get certified for version 5 before the February 28th deadline with no great results. The client's employees are reluctant to pay for the retests so the whole process is stalling on the client side.This only breeds frustration on the client side and us channel partners bear the brunt of their anger. In turn, the client wants compensation for the aggravation so the sales guys are buying test vouchers that eat into their anticipated commissions. At the same time they are taking the path of least resistance and since most VMware partners are also Microsoft partners they are suggesting trying Hyper-V. So in a nutshell, I now know of two "true blue" VMware accounts about to trial Microsoft Hyper-V over a silly test. (Yes! Microsoft also plays its stupid games with certifications but at this point VMware has maketshare to lose and Microsoft to gain.)
To quote Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
After I get past this VCP 5 test I have my marching orders from one the VARs I work for: start learning Hyper-V. Of course, I am not happy about this.
