Certification life cycle

The first entry point into VMware's certifications is the VCP level, and it usually takes two exams to acquire it (for the first time), as follows:

• The vSphere Foundation exam
• The specific VCP-XX exam for the selected path

The Foundation exam validates that you have the fundamental skills necessary to understand and begin deploying VMware environments based on vSphere and other VMware products (NSX, vRealize, and so on).

More details on the VCP6.5-DCV exam will be provided in the next appendix.

You can then gain a higher level (and those paths are not covered by this book). An interesting point is that you can start with the VCP on one path, then switch to the VCAP level of another path, without first gaining the VCP level of that specific path. This is an example of cross-path certification.

There are some specific cases of bridging upgrade certifications...