Chapter 4. Defense Overview

“Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.”

—Alexander Graham Bell

The VCDX defense evaluates the capabilities of the candidate through their demonstration of the following:

• Demonstrating architecture skills through defense of the submitted design

• Designing from scratch through the VCDX Design Scenario

• Troubleshooting issues resulting from a design or implementation flaw

This chapter is an overview. Subsequent chapters cover the three main parts in more detail. Chapter 5 covers the Design Defense, Chapter 6 covers the Design Scenario, and Chapter 7 covers the Troubleshooting Scenario.

The Interview Process

The interview consists of your design defense (75 minutes) and two role-play scenarios, the design scenario (30 or 45 minutes), and the troubleshooting scenarios (15 or 30 minutes). The VCDX-DV allocates 30 minutes to the design scenario and 15 minutes to the troubleshooting scenario. The VCDX-Cloud and VCDX-DT allocate 45 minutes to the design scenario and 30 minutes to the troubleshooting scenario. There is a short break between the design defense and the scenarios.

Maintain a good mental state when working through your defense. Clear thinking is required. Although you might be under stress during the defense, remember that the panelists were in your position previously. They are individuals like you and are there to evaluate your skills, just as you might evaluate the skills of others in your field.

Before the Defense

Get plenty of rest before you show up, especially if you have a morning defense. Most candidates arrive early—some too early. Plan to arrive 10 to 20 minutes before the start time. Arrive too early, and you will likely psych yourself out. Do not show up in a sleep-deprived state. At this point, you should have spent a good amount of time studying your design and your decisions carefully. Give your body the needed rest to conduct your defense with confidence and to think clearly when questioned.

Nerves are always a factor, even for the most experienced architects. It might seem that the panelists are positioned strategically to induce the maximum amount of stress (opposite yourself), but this is merely to protect the contents of their laptops. We have seen a few candidates become visibly flustered from the sheer stress of the situation.

Holding a mock defense is a simple way to address this stress. It gives you more experience in defending your design, which boosts your confidence. Finding a panel of peers is ideal, even if it is easier to schedule members of your household (although the latter might be a tougher crowd). Refer to Chapter 2, “Preparation,” for more details.

Practicing your design defense in front of an audience is important. Do so well in advance of your panel defense. Pick individuals who will dig deep into your design choices and the documents you submit.

The mock defense panel does not necessarily have to be the most technical audience, but the members should be able to ask critical questions and act like a customer.

Time Management

Once in the flow of the defense, time seems to elapse faster than usual. This is normal. The rapid-fire questioning enables the panelists to assess your strength in specific domains (hint: see the VCDX blueprint).

The panelists expect consistency in your approach during each phase of the defense. Do not waste time on things that are irrelevant; you have only a short amount of time, and it is paramount that you use it wisely. If you do not know something, simply say that you don’t know and move on so you can have the best chance of scoring more points in the time allocated. You can also say that you do not know but that you plan to check in a particular location or with a particular team to find the answer. Feel free to take a best guess (making clear it is only a guess), to demonstrate what knowledge you do have and how you can think logically. This is important—if you just say “I don’t know,” you do not gain any points, whereas you might get considerable credit for demonstrating what you do know and how well you reason. When the clock runs out, your time is up.

VCDX Panel Defense Participants

The Panel Defense is an interview between the candidate and a panel of VCDX-certified architects. The participants for each defense include panelists, observers, and moderators. They are responsible for the following:

Panelists:

• Assess the candidate’s skills

• Cannot discuss the candidate’s performance or results with others

• Interact with the candidate

• Record scores based on the scoring rubric

Observers:

• Sometimes are called “panelists in training” and do not actively participate in the defense

• Cannot discuss the candidate’s performance or results with others

• Participate to learn how to conduct the defense

• Do not interact with the candidate

• Do not affect a candidate’s score

Moderators:

• Act as a timekeeper

• Ensure that the session is conducted in a professional and objective manner following the defined rules for a VCDX panel defense

Environment

The moderator keeps a timer made visible to both you and the panel defense team. The timer pauses between sections of the VCDX defense. Andrew Mitchell, VCDX-030, developed the timer.

The room will have a whiteboard or drawing capabilities, one to two projectors, a laptop for showing your presentation, and a timer device.

Backpacks, cell phones, laptops, and other nonessential material are not permitted in the room. They will be stored in a designated secure area until you complete your defense.

During your defense, do not interpret facial expressions or body gestures of the panelists. If a panelist is nodding, frowning, or yawning, this is not a reflection on your defense. It does not reflect positively or negatively on a given answer or your performance in general.

The panelists might ask you follow-up questions. These are intended to probe your skills for further scoring opportunities, not to try to find your weaknesses.

Make sure you are comfortable in your surroundings, including with room temperature and space. If you need adjustments or have other requests, ask the moderator.

The moderator will provide beverages. Talking for three hours is thirsty work!

Panelists’ Perspective

This section covers the panelists’ roles, qualifications, preparation, and expectations.

Sitting in the Panelist Seat

“Remember, the panelists are pretending to be uneducated customers for the scenarios. You need to forget what they know and justify your recommendations.” —Chris Colotti, VCDX-037

Understanding the perspective of the panelists is important. You might think there is magic behind the scenes, but in reality, panelists use specific validated tools to determine a candidate’s overall performance.

The goal of panelists is to expand the community of VCDX-certified individuals. We believe that the certification is not limited to architects. We believe, and have proven, that individuals with other backgrounds can learn the skills and achieve the certification.

Remember that panelists are the only scoring individuals in the room. Direct your points to these three individuals during the defense. The observers do not talk: They participate to learn the process and validate their understanding of the training. The moderator focuses on ensuring that everyone keeps to the schedule and follows the rules.

Panelist Qualifications

“Panelists are experts in various virtualization areas. Don’t make technology claims that are incorrect and expect to talk yourself out of it.” —Duncan Epping, VCDX-007

Panelists must hold a current VCDX certification and must have completed training and practice as a VCDX Panel Defense observer. They score to validate alignment with the seasoned VCDX panelists.

Panelists must focus on the minimally qualified VCDX as defined by the program materials and the panelist guidelines. Panelists are current in their VMware knowledge and skills.

Panelist Preparation

The panelists for a particular defense session prepare by reviewing the materials each candidate submits. As part of this review, the panelists formulate questions and areas for deeper exploration in the defense.

The panelists discuss areas to cover during the defense. They might discuss questions they plan to ask.

Panelist Expectations

Panelists expect you to show the path you took from start to finish for the scenarios. They do not expect you to come up with a full design or the troubleshooting answer during the scenarios phase of the defense. You need to show your architecture design approach and demonstrate how to resolve the conflict or problems.

Notification of Results

When the VCDX panel defense is complete, VMware commits to speedy notification. When scoring is finalized and entered into the certification system, you should receive the results via e-mail. Notifications typically take ten business days.

A report of failure includes high-level feedback on the most significant areas affecting the outcome.

Notification of passing includes the assignment of a unique VCDX number, a certificate, and the option to add yourself to the list of VCDX on the VMware certification site. This is your opportunity to add your personal biography to the rest of the VCDX listed.