My VMware certification journey for 2020

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This post covers all the learning resources and material I’m going to consume and recommend regarding my VMware certification journey for 2020!

The year 2019 was a great year for me regarding my Veeam certifications! In April 2019 I managed to achieve the Veeam Certified Engineer certification and was very happy with it !

Step 1/2 done !!
Just got my Veeam VMCE badge today!
Thanks to @vfraack @HammondRhys @VeeamyMcVeeamy @coolsport00 @haslund @bpellegrino for your study guides, VMCE Practice exams and the community love ! It helped a lot !#VMCE #Veeamhttps://t.co/I5WUduAi7E

— Falko Banaszak (@Falko_Banaszak) April 11, 2019

After the completion of my Veeam Certified Engineer certification, I took the Veeam Certified Engineer – Advanced: Design & Optimization course in April 2019. I scheduled the exam for the 15th of July just to make sure I have enough preparation time, and fortunately I passed J !

What a great start to a Monday !
Finally did my first attempt to the VMCE-A and passed it !!
Feeling happy and relived!#Veeam #VMCE pic.twitter.com/cpQWCCgn7I

— Falko Banaszak (@Falko_Banaszak) July 15, 2019

The next step is to set the focus on my VMware certification journey for 2020 and the learning resources I’m consuming !

The goal of my VMware certification journey for 2020 !

Now that I have gathered all my Veeam certifications in 2019, I’m focusing on achieving the VCIX-DCV (VMware Certified Implementation Expert) certification in 2020. That is the goal ! Since VMware dropped the 2-years renewal of their certifications, you can really take your time and focus on your preparation. So I prepared myself with some links, resources, blog posts and so on for preparing as good as possible.

For achieving the VMware Certified Implementation Expert, I need to pass both, the VCAP6-DCV Design and the VCAP6-DCV Deploy exam for achieving the milestone of the VMware Certified Implementation Expert. Melissa Palmer did some very nice blog posts regarding the VCP, and VCAP exams, which I can definitely recommend:

VMware VCAP Design and Deploy

The complete Guide to VMware VCP certification

Since I know that these exams are not easy, I wanted to share which resources I will take into account for preparing and studying.

Preparation and learning resources for the VMware certifications

First, If I get the opportunity, then I try to attend a “Design and Deploy” course from VMware. I believe that classroom training and interaction with a trainer will give me greater learning success. Also talking to other attendees from a course gives great insights to me!

Second, If I prepare and study for exams I’m always writing a study guide / extract for myself to concentrate all the information I need. Therefore I extract the exam guide of the Design and the Deploy exam and write down all the information I need to learn!

Here you can find the exam guide for the VCAP6-DCV Design exam and for the VCAP6-DCV Deploy exam.

Learning and preparation resources for the VCAP-Design certification

As you may know, the VCAP-Deploy exam consists of a lab exam only, whereby the VCAP-Design exam is a multiple-choice one. Regarding the VCAP Design exam I’m going to study as much as possible to pass the multiple-choice exam. My past actions to learn and study for my VCP exams were quite good, so I adapt these into my learning actions for the VCAP Design exam. In addition to that I already picked some resources from other bloggers and their experiences with the exam to prepare. I really enjoy reading those blog posts and really appreciate all these tips and tricks which have been shared!

Here are all the VCAP Design experiences blog posts, which I already read and going to re-read:

https://davidstamen.com/2017/12/21/vcap6.5-dcv-design-experience/

http://www.vhersey.com/2017/09/25/some-vcap-6-5-dcv-design-exam-study-notes/

https://www.paluszek.com/wp/2018/06/18/achievement-unlocked-vmware-vcap-6-5-dcv-3v0-624-exam-summary-and-tips/

https://vmninja.wordpress.com/2018/11/09/3v0-624-vcap-6-5-datacenter-virtualization-design-my-exam-experience/

https://www.jeffreykusters.nl/2018/05/22/passed-vcap65-dcv-design-finally-vcdx6/

https://www.jeffreykusters.nl/2017/08/02/preparing-vcap65-dcv-design/

http://www.itgaiden.com/vcap6-5-dcv-design-failed-exam-experience/

http://www.itgaiden.com/vcap-dcv-design-exam-notes/

https://www.brisk-it.net/vcap6-5-dcv-design-exam-experience/

https://thevirtualbit.com/vcap6-5-dcv-design-exam-experience/

https://be-virtual.net/vmware-vcap6-5-dcv-design-exam-experience/

https://www.viktorious.nl/2018/05/08/my-vcap-dcv-6-5-exam-experience-vcdx6-in-the-pocket/

http://vcallaway.com/vcap-6-5-design-exam-experience/

https://thecrazyconsultant.com/vcap6-dcv-design-exam-experience/

Learning and preparation for the VCAP-Deploy certification

Regarding the Deploy exam, I will use the information provided in the exam guide and take these into the lab! I know that you will need a lot of hands-on experience and troubleshooting experience for the VCAP-Deploy exam.

Therefore I’m going to work with the “unofficial” study guides provided by Kyle Jenner and Matt Callaway. Thank you for these outstanding contributions to the community ! Here are the direct links to the study guides: Matt Callaway’s Study Guide & Kyle Jenner’s Study Guide.

In addition to the study guides, I will spend a lot of time in the VMware Hands On Labs. For example in the Challenge lab.

For the VCAP-Deploy exam there are also a lot of exam experience blog posts which i definetely recommend !

Here are all the VCAP Deploy experiences blog posts, which I already read and going to re-read:

https://www.vcloudnine.de/exam-prep-experience-vmware-certified-advanced-professional-6-data-center-virtualization-deployment-exam-vcap6-dcv-deploy/?cn-reloaded=1

https://rudimartinsen.com/2019/01/21/its-a-pass-thoughts-on-the-vcap-dcv-deploy-exam/

https://vinfrastructure.it/2019/01/my-experience-with-the-advanced-deploy-vsphere-6-5-2018-exam/

https://virtual-simon.co.uk/vmware-vcap-dcv-deploy-exam-experience/

https://hyper-converged.com/2017/12/20/passed-the-vcap6-dcv-deploy-exam-my-thoughts-about-the-preparation/

https://vcloudburst.wordpress.com/2017/12/14/vcap6-dcv-deployment-exam-experience/

https://www.jortechnologies.com/vcap6-dcv-deploy-3v0-623-exam-experience-jorluis-perales/

https://defaultreasoning.com/2017/12/01/vcap6-dcv-deploy-exam-experience/

http://www.itgaiden.com/vcap6-dcv-deploy-exam-experience/

http://vcallaway.com/vcap6-dcv-exam-experience/

https://virbeaver.com/2019/06/24/my-vcap-dcv-deploy-experience/

http://www.vbrain.info/2016/11/30/exam-experience-vcap6-dcv-deploy/

https://cloudbiceps.com/my-vcap-dcv-deploy-2018-exam-3v0-21-18-experience

https://solutions4crowds.com.br/vcap-simulator/

Conclusion to my VMware certification journey

There is a lot of work to do regarding my VMware certification journey for 2020. But I want to bring my knowledge regarding the VMware products to a new level. Again, I want to thank everyone in the vCommunity who has put together an exam experience or a study guide. You are helping other people in so many ways ! Furthermore, I’m going to add the resources to my already existing “Tools and Links” page in the future, to make them better visible for the visitors of my blog.