Oscar Humberto Torres: ExitCertified Instructor [Video]

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Oscar Humberto Torres: ExitCertified Instructor [Video]

Oscar Humberto Torres, Instructor and Solution Architect at ExitCertified, discusses the evolution of VMware and the different VMware certifications.

What is the reason so many companies use VMware?

Oscar Humberto Torres: OK. Many companies are using VMware mainly because VMware has been able to evolve. It is true that VMware began offering hosted virtualization solutions, such as VMware virtual server, but now VMware offers a whole portfolio of products that allow us to start easy with workload virtualization only after reaching levels typically of a software-defined data center. VMware offers server virtualization, desktop virtualization, computer network virtualization, and a very reliable platform for containers and microservices, running Docker and Kubernetes on virtual machines. It is worth adding that for more than three years, VMware has offered an excellent alternative to be able to include hyper convergence within the data center, specifically with vSAN, or virtual SAN. It is the software-defined data centers that allow companies and organizations to have an entire private cloud in their facilities in terms of infrastructure as a service. To conclude for now, all of these that I mentioned can be incorporated into a hybrid cloud scheme involving providers and options, such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, just to mention a few.

Why have so many people been signing up for VMware courses in the past couple of months?

Oscar Humberto Torres: Well, in my personal experience, every time an information technology solutions provider releases a new version of their product, many companies or organizations turn to seek certification in this new version. There are also companies or organizations that are required, as a part of the requirements, to maintain their business-associate level to obtain or update their certifications. Another scenario, which is not the majority of cases, are people who particularly want to have that new certification so as not to be left out of the job market. At this time, VMware recently released version eight of vSphere and with it updated its entire products portfolio. It is in this first quarter of this year, 2023, that I have noticed a considerable increase of IT professionals taking VMware courses.

What are the different VMware certifications?

Oscar Humberto Torres: VMware has for each area of information technology five levels of certification. The most basic one is the VMware certified technical associate, perhaps best for those who are just starting out with VMware and have not had the experience of working and passing a Pearson VUE exam. The next certification level up is VMware Certified Professional. It is a minimum level that VMware requires for its partners and the minimum acceptable to be able to compete in the market. It is also a Pearson VUE multiple choice exam and is the main reason why companies and professionals are requiring the official courses. Next is a VMware certified advanced professional. This is for designers and for deployers. It is no longer a multiple choice exam but a practical exam in which the applicant is being evaluated not only for data skills and knowledge, but also for their attitude to face challenges which are quite difficult, some of them like what tools the applicant is using for troubleshooting and the time it took to resolve them. At the top is a VMware Certified Design Expert. A certification to be able to achieve a guru level and to be able to support the design dimensions and expert recommendations for the successful installation and tuning of VMware solutions. All of all these five certifications are available for application modernization, data center, virtualization, cloud management, automation network virtualization, security, and digital work space.