Where do you start with VMware Certification?

There are many articles on the VMware Certification path, but not that many on where to start.  Since I am moving down this path, let me tell you what I have done in today's post for #vDM30in30.

Everyone has a different approach to learning, but my favorite is immersion.  I picked up this strategy when attending college, specifically for programming languages like C and even Latin.

Immersion for VMware technologies to me has meant:

• joining your local VMug (@ChicagoVMug for me) and attending VMug meet-ups and VMworld,
• joining and participating in VMware CloudCred, which we did yesterday, 
• joining and visiting the VMware Community on a regular basis and reading as much as you can, 
• getting started with the VCA-DCV Certification Guide, 
• and possibly taking a course or two on VMware. 

I'm working on most of these items all at once.  The idea is to bombard yourself with the technologies and language surrounding VMware so that it becomes you, and you become it.

Not to get side-tracked but, I attended my first Chicago VMug on September 17, 2014.  It was a great opportunity to meet all the leaders in the community, meet the vendors in the space, and possibly attend one or more sessions on the technology.  I spent most of my time gathering data sheets and meeting vendors.  For me, to assume a position as a VMware administrator means that I can come in on day one and be ready to assist in the development of enterprise grade solutions, that befit my background as a project participant.  A project participant, can in fact be a project lead, it all depends on the size of the company that you are with and what you are hired to do.  Since I need to produce solutions, I need to learn about the vendors and what they are selling as well as the technologies that VMware sells.  We will cover my VMug attendance in the upcoming week, even though this event occurred in September so that you have an idea of what attending is all about.

We complete this entry with where you can follow me as I:

• see what the entry level VMware Certifications are,
• find information from VMware on the VMware Certified Associate – Data Center Virtualization (VCA-DCV), which is the first certificate that I am going for
• purchasing the VCA-DCV guide from Amazon.com.

Note that you do NOT have to buy a Kindle to read eBooks from Amazon.com.  There is a FREE reader but you may have to be logged in to see the options (Select SEE ALL).  Note that when you first go to the Amazon page to buy the VCA-DCV guide, there is also a link on the right hand side to download a FREE Reader for your device!

I'll let you know what I've learned from studying the VCA-DCV Guide in follow-up posts.

Happy reading!