With the rapidly evolving world of IT and virtualization, staying up-to-date with the latest technologies and obtaining relevant certifications is crucial for career growth and professional success.

VMware is the gold standard when it comes to the most renowned and respected virtualization certifications. In this blog post, we’ll explore the state of VMware certifications in 2023 and identify the best certifications for you.

Is it worth getting a VMware certification?

Short answer: Yes! Obtaining one or more VMware certifications is worth it for IT professionals looking to advance their careers and validate their knowledge and expertise. VMware certifications are well-regarded in the industry and validate the skills and knowledge required to implement and manage VMware products effectively. They can also open doors to new job opportunities and increase earning potential. 

What are the VMware certification tracks?

VMware offers certifications that align with technology tracks across the VMware portfolio. Each track focuses on different VMware products and solutions. There are occasionally small amounts of overlap between tracks, but this is typically only with a handful of exam objectives.

Six tracks are currently available:

• Data Center Virtualization: Design, install, manage, and support vSphere environments

• Cloud Management and Automation: Design, install, configure, optimize, and support VMware Aria and other cloud solutions

• Security: Configure, manage, and support security features of key VMware products

• Network Virtualization: Design, implement, manage, and support an NSX-T environment

• Digital Workspace: Design, configure, deploy, manage, optimize, and troubleshoot Workspace ONE and Horizon with View

• Application Modernization: Develop, manage, and migrate applications through the VMware Tanzu portfolio

What are the VMware certification levels?

Within each VMware certification track, you can achieve different levels of certification. These levels are Technical Associate, Professional, Advanced Professional, and Design Expert. As you can see, these levels align to job roles. Most tracks have all levels available for certification (though there are a few where some of these levels might not exist).

VMware Certified Technical Associate (VCTA)

This is an entry-level technical based certification for those new to the technology, or even new to the industry, and targeted at those who can perform operational tasks with the technology.

VMware Certified Professional (VCP)

These are typically broad technical-based certifications for those who install, configure, manage, and optimize the technology. It’s expected that individuals going for a VCP have worked with the technology in the exam for more than a year.

VMware Certified Advanced Professional (VCAP)

There are two certifications at this level. The first is a VCAP Deploy certification for those who manage and optimize the VMware technology in question. The VCAP Deploy exam is a hands-on experience in a real environment, where you need to show hands-on skills with managing, troubleshooting, and optimizing the products. The second is a VCAP Design certification for those who design and build solutions for VMware technology.

VMware Certified Design Expert (VCDX)

This represents the pinnacle of VMware expertise and the highest level of certification. Candidates must hold the VCAP certifications in the relevant VCDX track, submit a design proposal, and defend their design in front of a panel of VMware experts. There are currently 300 VCDXs in the world.

The key VMware certifications available in 2023

With around 30 available certifications, it’s difficult to suggest a few key certifications. If your expertise is in a particular area, such as digital workspace, it makes sense to go deep into that stack from a certification standpoint.

However, if you’re looking for suggestions on key VMware certifications that are helpful from a knowledge perspective and to advance your career in the ever-evolving world of virtualization and modern workloads, the following three certifications top the list.

VMware Certified Professional - Data Center Virtualization (VCP-DCV)

The VCP-DCV certification is designed for IT professionals who want to demonstrate knowledge and expertise in deploying and managing core VMware vSphere environments. The certification validates their skills in working with VMware’s chief virtualization technology. 

The VCP-DCV is VMware’s flagship certification and often singled out as a key requirement in virtualization role job descriptions. Studies have shown holders of the VCP-DCV have improved career opportunities and higher earning potential compared to those without it.

Assess your Vmware VSphere skills >>

Start prepping for your VCP-DCV certification >>

VMware Certified Professional - Network Virtualization (VCP-NV)

The VCP-NV certification is targeted at IT professionals, virtualization specialists, and network administrators who want to demonstrate proficiency in deploying and managing VMware NSX, which is VMware’s software-defined networking solution.

Networking plays an important role in the reliability and performance of applications, especially as you start to support modern and next-generation workloads in the data center and provide hybrid connectivity between multiple environments and clouds.

I remember sitting for the VCP-NV back in 2018 when the main NSX product was NSX-V. I learned so much about networking in general and took that knowledge into other roles and when working with public cloud platforms.

Start prepping for your VCP-NV certification >>

VMware Certified Professional - Application Modernization (VCP-AM)

Cloud-native and modern applications are hot right now. The VCP-AM certification is targeted at IT professionals and developers who want to showcase expertise and knowledge in modern application design, development, and containerization using VMware Tanzu and Kubernetes.

Kubernetes has been on the rise for many years and has become the gold standard of container orchestration for modern applications in cloud-native environments. VMware has been supporting Kubernetes for a while. Achieving this certification will help you understand how cloud native applications are deployed and run on VMware platforms.

This is a great certification to earn after you have the foundations of the VCP-DCV and the VCP-NV. While they aren’t prerequisites, understanding those technologies at a VCP level will assist with the Application Modernization certification path, as Kubernetes on vSphere relies on core vSphere technologies and NSX-T for the networking provider.

Which VMware certification should I take for a rewarding career?

When you consider the different VMware product tracks, there are approximately 30 certifications available at the VMware Certified Professional (VCP), VMware Certified Advanced Professional (VCAP), and VMware Certified Design Expert (VCDX) levels. The right VMware certification for you depends on your career aspirations and expertise level.

My advice is to target a few certifications at a VCP level to demonstrate broad experience and knowledge across VMware technologies. Then dive a bit deeper into tracks that make sense for your current role and technology focus by going for the advanced certifications.

If you’re looking to validate your expertise as an architect, the VCDX could be worth considering. But understand that this requires a significant investment of money and time. It’s not for the fainthearted, but I’ve read a lot of stories from people who passed and failed the VCDX noting how much they learned on the journey.

How can I prepare for a VMware certification?

Preparation for VMware certifications is essential, and while your specific approach might differ, my advice is to take a three-pronged approach:

Hands-on experience. Everything at the VCP level and above will expect you to have hands-on experience working with the relevant VMware products in the real world. Yes, you can pass the exams without this level of experience, but the recommended candidate (as described by VMware for VCP certifications) has at least one year of experience with the products and technologies being tested.

Training and study. You’ll want to ensure your knowledge and expertise cover the objectives you’ll be tested on in the exam. My suggestion is to put the exam objectives in a spreadsheet and self-evaluate your knowledge on each one. Then use your favorite training material to solidify what you know and learn new skills as you study.

Test-taking skills. Sitting an exam to achieve a certification from any vendor is almost a skill itself. Questions are typically worded in specific ways. And depending on how many exams you’ve taken, it can be an experience that makes you a little nervous. Take practice exams and assessments to get yourself comfortable with what to expect for the real exam.

VMware publishes documents for all their exams. These exam guides provide information on how the exam will be delivered, which objectives will be tested, and other material you can reference. Always review the exam guide in detail when exploring a new certification. 

Conclusion

VMware certifications continue to hold significant value in the IT industry and have been proven to increase your earning potential and present opportunities for career growth. By understanding the available certifications and tracks, planning for how they relate to your role and aspirations, and ensuring you know how to prepare for a certification, you’ll be setting yourself up for success with VMware certifications in 2023 and onward.

Further learning

If you’re seeking to leap into VMware certification, Pluralsight offers a number of courses that can help you prepare, as well as acquire useful working knowledge — you can sign up for a 10-day free trial with no commitments. If you’re not sure what course to start with, you can do a free Pluralsight SkillIQ assessment.

Here are some learning paths with courses you might want to check out:

David Davis’s vSphere 8 courses are also great for skill building for the core VMware vSphere product:

Timothy Porter is an Army veteran of 10 years. He achieved the rank of Sergeant First Class within 7 years. After being involved in a bomb explosion, Porter was medically retired and began pursuing his passion: technology. In 2009, after teaching himself how to develop mobile apps, Appddiction Studio was formed. In 2011, Appddiction Studio was nationally recognized by the USA Network Channel. Porter was one of their USA Character Unite Award winners for developing an award-winning anti-bullying App for schools. Appddiction Studio has developed well over 200 commercial mobile apps and has become a leader in Enterprise transformations focusing on Agile and the SAFe Framework.

Porter has multiple degrees in Management Information Systems and holds an MBA. He is an SPC and RTE and has performed roles for Appddiction Studio as Scaled program Consultant, Enterprise Coach & Trainer, Agile Coach, Release Train Engineer to Scrum Master. Appddiction Studio has been performing for programs supporting Gunter AFB as a Prime Contractor in: Agile Coaching, EODIMS JST & EODIMS Backlog Burndown and now as a subcontractor on ACES FoS.

Porter has taught over 50 public/private SAFe classes and has submitted his packet for consideration to become SPCT Gold Partner. He is certified at all levels of SAFe Framework and teaches Leading SAFe, SAFe Scrum Master, Advanced Scrum Master, Lean Portfolio Management, Product Owner/Product Management, SAFe DevOps, SAFe Architect in addition to Agile courses like ICAgile Agile Fundamentals, ICAgile Agile Team Facilitation, ICAgile Agile Programming & ICAgile DevOps Foundations.

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Santa Clara University's Center for Professional Development is committed to providing our students with an exceptional level of support, and we understand that passing certification exams is a crucial step in the path to becoming a teacher. That’s why we’re pleased to partner with Teachers Test Prep, the nationwide leader in credentialing exam preparation, to provide our eligible students with Core Plus Online Prep for the Praxis, CSET, CBEST, RICA, and CPACE, at a 40% discount off of the regular test prep materials price.

To get started, please contact cpd@scu.edu to request that an account be created on your behalf, so that you may utilize free practice tests and diagnostics to determine if you are in need of prep. Once you complete your free practice test, you will receive an instant diagnostic breakdown. If your likelihood of passing is borderline or below, we will purchase the corresponding online prep program for you at a discounted price.

PLEASE NOTE: If you do not contact us and instead purchase prep directly on your own, we are unable to reimburse for costs.

To learn more about the prep resources available and to see general info about the exams, visit the Praxis, CSET, CBEST, RICA, and CPACE test info pages on the Teachers Test Prep website.

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In the ever-evolving landscape of test preparation, a new player has sprouted on the scene – artificial intelligence.

At the forefront of this movement is a Korean start-up, Riiid, founded by YJ Jang, a graduate of the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. Riiid has already made a name for itself in the Asian test-prep market for the TOEIC, a measure of English proficiency in the business world. Now, the company has set its sights on the American market with an SAT and ACT prep system called R.Test.

A.I. technology, with its mimicry of the networks of neurons in the human brain, has the potential to revolutionize the way educators approach their craft.

“R.Test makes it easy for students to solve practice problems, as well as read the explanations to help fill gaps in knowledge,” said Kelly Jung, a 9th grade student at Lighthouse International School in Korea who has tried the product. “The post-test analysis was the most helpful part of the test, as it helped highlight both my weaknesses and strengths, allowing me to streamline my studying moving forward."

This is not the first time the world has seen the integration of technology in the classroom. In the 1960s, the earliest forms of computer tutoring systems were developed, but their prohibitive cost and lack of widespread access limited their impact. Decades later, rule-based A.I. systems were implemented, but they failed to live up to their potential due to scalability issues and the high cost of programming extensive domain expertise.

It was at Berkeley where Jang was introduced to the game-changing potential of deep learning. This form of A.I. allows algorithms to learn on their own, drawing from vast amounts of data. Jang recognized the implications of this technology for education, and upon returning to Korea, he founded Riiid in 2014. The company's team of data scientists have developed A.I. algorithms that track student performance, predict scores and anticipate when students may disengage. Through the use of their popular test-prep app, Santa, Riiid has amassed one of the largest public education data sets in the world, known as EdNet.

However, the task of gathering enough data to make A.I. applicable to the broader field of education remains a challenge. For now, Riiid focuses on the lucrative test-prep market, where data is more readily available, easily collectable and has partnered with educational companies around the world to develop test-prep apps.

The company's success has attracted a substantial investment from SoftBank's Vision Fund II, bringing Riiid's funding to over $250 million. With the upcoming release of their A.I.-powered R.test platform for college entrance exams, Riiid has the potential to drastically change the way students prepare for their future.

While there is no shortage of SAT or ACT test-prep offerings, none assess students based on immediate data. Khan Academy’s SAT test prep, for example, connects to College Board, administrator of the SAT, and assesses student weaknesses based on their last test – usually the PSAT. But that data can be months old.

R.Test relies on live data collected as students use the system. With the R.Test, students can quickly get their predicted scores for the full test just answering 30 questions, and learn actionable insights that include weaknesses and even exam habits.

R.Test is “very targeted to your current work,” noted Oscar Torres, a high school math teacher in Chicago who has tried Riiid’s system. “That's what I liked.”

Adam Johnson is the lead instructor for test preparation workshops at UTSA. Adam has over 20 years of experience teaching standardized test preparation classes.

After teaching for several years for a leading test-preparation company, Adam taught English and test-preparation in Valencia, Spain. He has consistently scored in the 99th percentile on standardized tests including perfect scores on the GRE and LSAT.

He's not only an expert on the tests that he teaches, but also a devoted and energetic instructor who can communicate strategies to help others Strengthen their scores.