Virtualization Careers?

Hi everyone,

I have just started to discover virtualization and how it works. I have very little basic knowledge of the technology. I see that many people are starting to get VMWare certs and I was wondering what types of jobs people are getting with these certs and what type of basic cert could I get to get my foot in the door in virtualization.

Thanks!

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markulous

I would search in your area on job boards with VCP and see how many jobs come up. I would recommend getting a lab setup at your home and take the Stanley CC course for the ICM then get your VCP if you are seeing a lot of jobs there. Do you have much other IT experience? With some basic Windows sysadmin exp, a lab, a VCP, I'd think you'd be fairly marketable. Don't quote me on that though since I haven't really searched for any virtualization jobs (even though I work at VMware).

STANLY_CC

We are an authorized VMware IT Academy, and the course we offer meets the education portion of the VM certification. However, we can offer the VMware course only to individuals and not as part of corporate training. This course is offered under the umbrella of Continuing Education, and it is conducted online, including labs, in an asynchronous manner which basically means it is available to students 24/7. Students can study at their own pace provided you meet the minimum due dates set by the instructor. The courses are 8 weeks in length, and the current tuition & lab fee costs total $185. There is also an optional textbook in both hard copy and e-book formats available through our book store. We are currently teaching the 5.5 version of the VMware curriculum. Hopefully, we will be moving to the 6.0 version this summer. We enroll students in the VMware courses in the order in which they registered on our online wait list. If you have not added your information to this list please do so at https://vmware.stanly.edu/waitlist.php. We apologize for any delay, but as you can imagine these classes are extremely popular.

Feel free to message me with any questions you may have.

jibbajabba

In terms of VCP I would say it is the reversed order. First try to get a job which maybe includes VMware or Hyper-V and once you gained experience, go for an exam. Getting the exam without experience will be though and whilst doable, you may face difficulties in finding a job solely based on an exam.

Due to the nature of virtualization, imagine making a mistake. In the physical world, you take down one server, in the virtual, with one physical you can take down 10s or 100s.

Same with networking. It will be hard to find a job solely based on a CCNA.

Unfortunately it is a bit of a chicken and egg situation, but that is life in I.T.

As to what job. I have done admin and consultancy.

iBrokeIT

dcarey4698 wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I have just started to discover virtualization and how it works. I have very little basic knowledge of the technology. I see that many people are starting to get VMWare certs and I was wondering what types of jobs people are getting with these certs and what type of basic cert could I get to get my foot in the door in virtualization.

Thanks!

Virtualization is just another skillset for the jack of all trades Systems Admin/Engineer. Go to any job site and type in "vmware" for the keyword and your location, that should answer your first question. The VCP-DCV is the entry level certification that most employers are looking for in a candidate. Pluralsight.com has a great library of videos for VMware vSphere and ESXi products to get you started.

techfiend

I always prefer to certify experience but VCP-DCV with limited experience opened many doors for me. I think the supply is much lower than demand like RHCE and unlike MCSA, CCNA. It's a highly sought cert likely because of the testing requirements.

it2b

iBrokeIT wrote: »

Virtualization is just another skillset for the jack of all trades Systems Admin/Engineer. Go to any job site and type in "vmware" for the keyword and your location, that should answer your first question.

This is a very accurate statement. I've worked for several companies since 2007 as a Systems Engineer, being both in house IT staff and as a consultant. A knowledge of both Windows Networking (Active Directory, DNS, etc.) and VMWare have been the core skills needed. Secondary skills include Messaging/Collaboration, Scripting, and SAN.

Many companies are looking for IT generalists and VMWare needs to be part of your bag.

orlandofl

I suppose i'm in a similar situation. I recently got into the Stanly CC March 2016 VMware vSphere course for VCP5-DCV. While I have the CompTIA trinity and a couple years of experience in an RF NOC environment supporting BTS macro networks as well as experience within the ISP realm as both a field tech and most recently as business services technical support i'm really hoping this VMware certification will open some of the doors that have been closed to me and allow me to get a little closer to my financial goals. Getting off the phone and into an infrastructure/sys admin sort of role would be a dream come true.

*Fingers Crossed*

-Travis