Today I went and took my VCP5 certification exam and passed. Thanks to all my fellow twitterati for the resounding congratulations. While VCP5 is still a great certification to have and I'm happy that I passed, I honestly didn't want to take the test. Here's why...
Around 6 months ago, I passed both my VCAP4-DCA and VCAP4-DCD. These were two exams I was psyched about passing. I spent about 3 months preparing and by passing those two exams, I'm only one giant leap away from doing a VCDX defense. I'm not going for a VCDX at this time, but that's not the point. The point is that by going higher up in the certification stack, the certification renewal process should be easier. VMware has the right thought in mind that if I pass VCP4, and then pass a VCAP4-DCA, if I take my VCAP5-DCA, it will automatically renew my VCP4 to a VCP5. To bad that's not what is happening in reality for many test takers...
Someone at VMware has figured out how to play the certification game by making VCDXs go and take a VCP test. It's completely bogus, IMO. You will never see a Cisco CCIE be pressured to go and take their entry level CCNA exam would you?
My goal was to keep renewing my VCAPs and maybe one day make the leap for a VCDX, I never wanted to take a VCP certification exam ever again. 
VMware does good by giving current VCPs a grace period for not having to take a "What's new" class before upgrading to the next VCP. The problem is that every other advanced certification comes 8-12 months after GA. The VCAP5-DCD BETA just got announced this week, which is almost 5 and half months after vSphere 5 went GA, still no word on VCAP5-DCA. After the beta period is over, it will still take 8 weeks for results to be published to the test takers then another 3 or 4 weeks for the test to actually be generally available. For a company that makes major releases on a 2 year cycle, this puts people like me (and everyone else for that matter) in a position where we are constantly in and out of PearsonVue testing centers. It wasn't worth it, in my opinion, to allow this VCP4 to VCP5 grace period to expire. So I got suckered in, bit the bullet, and just went and took the exam instead of waiting longer for a VCAP5 exam to become available. I know many others are in that situation as well because they get pressured by their company to have VCP5s on staff. These people have already passed VCAP4 exams and have to go take another test just because the VCAP5 still isn't available. Even if I wanted to take the VCAP5-DCD Beta, waiting 8 weeks for the results still puts me past the grace period for the VCP upgrade.
I'm sure that a lot of hard work goes into making these advanced certification exams, but not having these advanced certifications being available earlier puts many people in a tough situation. Heck, the VCP5 beta exams were actually being taken place BEFORE vSphere5 was GA! Why can't this be done for not only VCAPs, but also getting requirements and submission forms ready for VCDX? The VCAP and VCDX certifications seem to be about a year behind on schedule compared to VCP. If I was to make the major leap for a VCDX, which not only takes a ton of time away from work and family, but also a ton of money, I can only become a VCDX4. Which means that when VCAP5-DCD finally gets released, I have to go take that to make my VCDX4 a VCDX5. By that time, vSphere 6 might already be announced. Do you see what I'm getting at here? Something is broken in the system because I don't see CCIEs having to go through this much trouble. Bottom line, VCP, VCAP, and VCDX should all be available at the same time for a major release.
End rant. I guess at the end of the day I could have just not taken the exam and waited for a VCAP to become available, but I was tired of waiting. If you have some of the same opinions, or perhaps completely oppose my ideas, please share your thoughts.