Hi! As many of you already know, the demand for VMware training and certifications is constantly growing, as it is the number one company in virtualization technologies, constantly being named a leader by Gartner Magic Quadrant
In this post, I am going to tell you about the VMware training path; what must be considered when choosing one or another option and the resources available.
From my position as VMware Certified Instructor, after 8 years of giving official VMware training courses, many times I have come across students who start a course without knowing exactly what topics it includes, or what are the recommended requirements for such a course. That is why, at the beginning of each of my classes, I spend an important time showing and explaining the different paths that VMware offers in terms of training its wide variety of products and the related certifications.
To begin, we can visit the VMware Learning website, where we will find the different paths that are designed to help us identify course needs based on the VMware product, your role and skill level. Courses and certifications are organized by Professional and Advanced to guide us to the best option.
For example, if we select the Virtual Cloud Network tab, we can see information about NSX-T Data Center courses, among others.
Here we will see the different options available categorized, as we said, in Professional and Advanced level:
As we can see, each of the courses has different modes available and refers to the kind of certification with which they are aligned. Selecting one in particular takes us to a new website with its details:
Here it is important to review the Datasheet, which can be downloaded in PDF format, to know well the content of the course that you are going to choose and validate that it is appropriate according to your personal and professional needs.
A very interesting detail to consider are the Prerequisites, which, although they are not mandatory, are important to previously know the basic concepts of the technology. For example, as you can see in the image above, if we select VMware Network Virtualization Fundamentals we will be able to access a short introductory course in self-paced mode, totally free.
In order to register for this kind of course, it is necessary to previously have a VMware Learning account, which can be generated easily.
Returning to the official course, the next step would be to choose its mode, for example, Live Online and see the available date and time zones.
Do we have a mandatory and required order to choose which course to start with? Of course not, but the ideal is to follow the recommended structure and start at the Professional level, and then continue with the Advanced level.
Another great options we have is VMware Connect Learning which provides a variety of options tailored to the individual learner and applicable to today’s emerging technologies. We can expand our expertise to adapt to new software solutions with 24/7 access to relevant content accessible from anywhere. Professionals can choose between three subscription tiers:
- The Basic Tier, ideal for individual professionals or consultants, provides a general overview of VMware products and solution features. It comes complete with complimentary access to eLearning courses, troubleshooting and expert-led content.
- The Premium Tier provides professionals with expanded curriculum and access to numerous resources for a better understanding of VMware products and solutions. This includes access to the Customer Connect Learning Video Library, skills assessments, exam preparations and more.
- The Enterprise Tier provides advanced level content for employees and IT departments and provides insight into complex processes and solutions. This tier includes access to on-demand courses, hands-on labs, classroom training, personalized progress checks and more.
We also have the option of a trial subscription:
Here we can find a lot of valuable content, also well-organized in the different technologies
Another very important resource that we have available is the Hands-On Lab
In the Hands-On Labs, we can find a great variety of Labs to test the different features of all the technologies that VMware offers us.
It will also be necessary to make a free registration to be able to use this option.
Here are some links to additional resources, where we will find the latest news about VMware products:
VMware Learning Blog
VMware Learning YouTube
VMware Community
Closing Notes
I hope it has been useful to you, and in the next Education Post we will see the path to VMware certifications. See you!