Whoa whoa whoa, wait a minute. You just put out a blog post for 15% off Microsoft Exams and 25% off VMware Exams and countless OTHER forms of free training and certification and now you’re telling me we can get 50% off on VMware Certifications?!?!

Well, no.

What I am saying is that if you’re in APJ / APAC, or more specifically the following countries;

• Australia, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan and Korea

THEN you get 50% off Certification. Those of us in the US, Canada, LATAM and Europe… not so much. But hey, at least SOMEONE is getting a discount, right? (I wish it were me! :))

The full scoop of details can be found here at Save 50% off All VMware exams but the really important parts you can get here…

One nice thing is this is Multi-Use and Multi-Person, so if you’ve been planning to knock out your VCP-NV or update to add Cloud, you can!

• Schedule your exam between Oct 27 and Dec 19, 2014
• VCP Exams: VFVCP1450
• Advanced (VCAP) Exams: VFADV1450
• A Must-Read before taking your next #VMware VCP or VCAP Exam!!! (You must Authorize)

And there you go! Go out there and enjoy something which the rest of us cannot. :)

What, say it ain’t so! With a title like that?!?!

Yea you heard me! VMware Certification Exams are 50% OFF THIS WEEK! Albeit, this week, located AT VMworld, but hey that is half the fun!

The full scoop of details can be found out here, with a few select items borrowed from said link ;)

Register HERE with promotion code 2014VW50 to take these exams:

• VMware Certified Professional – Data Center Virtualization (VCP-DCV)  [VCP550 or VCP510]
• VMware Certified Professional – Cloud (VCP-Cloud)  [VCPC550 or VCPC510]
• VMware Certified Professional – Desktop (VCP-DT)  [VCPD510]
• VMware Infrastructure as a Service exam  [VCPVCD510]
• VMware View exam  [VCP510-DT]

Register HERE with promotion code: 2014VWADV50 to take these exams:

• VMware Certified Advanced Professional – Data Center Design (VCAP-DCD)  [VDCD510]
• VMware Certified Advanced Professional – Data Center Administration (VCAP-DCA)  [VDCA550 or VDCA510]
• VMware Certified Advanced Professional – Cloud Infrastructure Design (VCAP-CID)  [VCID510]
• VMware Certified Advanced Professional – Cloud Infrastructure Administration (VCAP-CIA)  [VCIA510]
• VMware Certified Advanced Professional – Desktop Design (VCAP-DTD)  [VDTA510]
• VMware Certified Advanced Professional – Desktop Administration (VCAP-DTA)  [VDTD510]

And of course Pre-Authorization is REQUIRED: Refer to my blog post A Must-Read before taking your next #VMware VCP or VCAP Exam!!!

So enjoy and go get certified! Booyah and all that jazz! <3

YOU DID IT! You are all set to take your VMware Exam which will mean the difference of you having the certification and NOT having the certification! Who knows, this could be the change that your life has been asking for, Excited Excited Excited!!!   But wait, It’s not that simple!

What?!?!?!

This past September our good friends at VMware have instituted an “Authorization” process, whereby you need to take some steps BEFORE you can schedule!    Or semi-specifically and verbatim…

   All VMware exams require prior VMware authorization before candidates can schedule an appointment with Pearson VUE.

Candidates can get authorized by going to vmware.com/certification.  This process can take up to 15 minutes. Once authorized, candidates can schedule their exam.

Awesome, right?! I mean, or not. I know what you’re chanting NANNY STATE. NANNY STATE. Yea. That’s what I said when I was FIRST going to publish this back when it happened several many weeks ago… But time to cut through the chaff to get down to what matters!

Now when you’re ready to take an exam, you can visit the listed http://vmware.com/certification or respectively visit http://www.pearsonvue.com/vmware both of which will provide you relevant links like the following;

It wasn’t until the past week or two where VMware actually FIXED their links to make finding the registration portion ‘possible’, so now both links take you to the appropriate place instead of only one.  Awesome!

When you finally find what you’re looking for, you’ll be prompted to login using your myLearn account, and then you get a list of ‘Pre-Requisite” sections to fill out.    Interesting thing to note here; while running this through in my tests I was never able to get the “Continue” button to function correctly using Chrome, but it worked in Internet Explorer… Hey, whatever it takes, right? (If you experience a similar problem of the button not working, try another browser).

However, you may also notice that SOME of the tests you want to Authorize for may not be available, receiving only a “Back” button.   We’ve historically found this due to some of the following reasons;

• Your VCP not being recognized on your account
• Your class not being recognized on your account
• You took the VCP Exam and THEN took the Class, and they’re not granting you credit for it since it was done ‘after the fact’.

Irrespective of what problems you may experience, I’ve found the folks at Education to be *great* at helping out, and I have opened numerous cases (on this, and over the years for account mergers)   Just shoot a mail over to “eduoperations@vmware.com” explaining your problem and they have a 48hr SLA for response to get it resolved.   This can be a major challenge if you’re all excited to test TOMORROW and you cannot get your authorization in, so something to consider while thinking ahead!

That in essence covers the bulk of it, Pearson VUE changes due to VMware Policy LIKELY will impact you if you do not plan ahead.   So, plan ahead, get authorized and Pass Pass Pass!

Keep up the virtually good work. OMG WORST TAGLINE EVER! ;)