This month, VMware made an announcement that should prove quite popular with most of its existing VMware certified community members.  The company announced that it will no longer require mandatory recertification every two years for VMware Certified Professionals (VCPs), effective immediately.  Because the VCP was the only VMware certification to require a mandatory two-year recertification process, this announcement doesn't affect or change other certification levels.

There's been a bit of pushback over the years from certificate owners, so in response, Karl Childs explains in an official company blog post, "We want you to upgrade and recertify when it's important or viable for you."

Childs stated, "The recertification policy of a two-year upgrade was in place to help you maintain that relevancy through upgraded certifications and up-to-date skills. Recertification is important enough to create policies around, but we've heard your feedback and we are making a change. We want the VMware certification program to match the needs of each candidate and allow the flexibility to do what best supports individual and organizational needs."

As part of the blog post, VMware has also included a video and an FAQ to help further explain the changes in more detail.

According to the published FAQ, upgrade paths do not go away and will still apply for active certifications.  If you are looking to upgrade to the latest version within the same track, you can do so if they are within three versions. This is a change from the previous requirement of being able to upgrade within only two versions. Upgrading to a different track still requires VCPs to be within two versions of the most current version.

If you are currently holding one of these certifications (VCP5-DCV or VCP6-DCV; VCP-NV or VCP6-NV; VCP-Cloud, VCP6-CMA, VCM7-CMA; or VCP6-DTM or VCP7-DTM) and they have expired, they will automatically change to being active again come April 2019.  You can then complete the upgrade path to the latest version, rather than following the Expired Certification path in order to recertify.

At this time, there are no changes to partner programs or to partner competency requirements.  And VMware Certified Instructors (VCIs) will continue to meet the two-year recertification requirement in order to ensure they are up-to-date with current VMware technology, product updates and course ware.

While this latest recertification news is welcomed, I'd still like to see the class coursework requirement removed.  Unless your company is willing to pay for you to go through the training class, it is cost prohibitive to many individuals who want to achieve a VCP certification.

Visit www.vmware.com/certification to view your VMware Certification options.