Working Towards EMC Cloud Architect (EMCCA) Certification

I've been visiting TE for quite some time now and it is a great community with lots of very smart people. I think this might be the first time I am starting a new thread, but I've been posting on TE for a little while, trying to help out where I can.

I am currently working towards the EMC Cloud Architect certification which would bring a lot of value to my career. Since this is a three step process (3 exams to pass), it will take a bit of time, hopefully 6-8 months depending on the complexity of the exams, work, other commitments, etc. My first starting point would be the EMCISA exam.

I read the blueprint so to speak, I can pretty much get through the exam preparation material quite quickly, 85% of the topics I already know well, the other 15% is something that I'll have to lab (we have a great lab at the office). The exam is scheduled for October 2nd, 2013 so once I get through it, I'll schedule the second exam right away, and so on. Right after the EMC certs, I'll be doing the VCAP-DCA/DCD and probably concentrating on more VMware exams like DT, CID, etc with the ultimate goal of going for VCDX.

Anyone here done the EMCCA or any certifications that are along the track? any thoughts?

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Essendon

I dont have any advice for you but I wish you luck on this journey! That's a great path you've set, all these VMware certs coupled with the EMC architect cert will be gold. Given your vExpert status, the VMware exams shouldnt be too difficult. The EMCISA, from what I hear, is a gimme really. You'll blow through it.

TheProf

Thanks for the reply! I think so too, love Storage and Virtualiztion technology... so much to learn and gets pretty complicated with large environments, but that's where the challenge lies.

Now I just have to do the vSphere 5 ICM course and I should be good to go for the VCAP

elTorito

Good luck! That really does sound like a great combination of certs to go for.

Corndork2

How are the exams going? Im definitely considering the Associate level exam.

TheProf

I have a few exams scheduled in Jan/Feb time, EMCISA, VCAP-DCD, and VCP5-DT... Hopefully all goes well

TheProf

I wanted to post a little update on the progress so far.

Last month, I ended up passing the VCP5-DCV/DT exams. As some of you know, I needed to do the vSphere course before I could continue with the VCAPs. Now that these exams are out of the way, up next is the VCAP-DCD exam, scheduled for April and VCAP-DCA in June. After that, the plan is to tackle the three certs required for the EMCCA.

In between the VCAPs I might do the EMCISA exam, I think I can pretty much get that out of the way fairly quickly without much study.

Unfortunately, I am not going as fast as I'd like to, but hopefully this year, I'd be able to get these exams completed...

Maybe even attempt the VCDX next year depending on how things go with work, etc.

Asif Dasl

Congrats on the passes! What are you using for the EMCCA, are you using the ILT DVD's or the streaming subscription? Also what do you know about the Specialist Level exam content over and above what's listed on the course description? It lists very generic descriptions, is it talking about vSphere directly or just virtualisation in general? (EMC CIS lines up with VCA-DCV which is making me wonder what's on the specialist level course).

TheProf

Asif Dasl wrote: »

Congrats on the passes! What are you using for the EMCCA, are you using the ILT DVD's or the streaming subscription? Also what do you know about the Specialist Level exam content over and above what's listed on the course description? It lists very generic descriptions, is it talking about vSphere directly or just virtualisation in general? (EMC CIS lines up with VCA-DCV which is making me wonder what's on the specialist level course).

There are DVDs that I have from the course, basically the lecture DVDs plus the PPT presentation that is handed out during the course. In regards to the content, from what I remember, it targets virtualization in general, not just the vSphere hypervisor. However, they do refer to EMC storage which makes sense as this is the EMC cert

It really helps if you work in that capacity, a lot of the content and material is around conceptual logic, how would you go about designing a datacenter for example? and then within that broad topic, you drill down to storage, compute, networking, SLAs, etc... Some topics are pertaining to specific technologies like EMC arrays which is outlined in the link you posted, other topics are generalized.

Asif Dasl

Thanks for the reply Prof. The reason I ask is I am enrolled in Dallas County CC for EMCISA and they will have an advanced course in the summer so I can only presume that they are talking about the Virtualized Infrasturcture Specialist exam. I knew it was a storage empahsis but the course description lists vApps along with vCompute and that just made me wonder if there was some emphasis on vSphere also but you say it's virtualisation in general. I'll have to wait to see what course it is at Dallas County CC, it might be too far ahead for me at this point in time but if it was cheap to do then I may go ahead with it. Again, thanks for the clarification.

zeetes

I'm currently working towards this as well and have the EMCISA out of the way and I felt as if I over-studied for it. Much easier than expected.

Going to keep an eye on this thread as well, since I too am going for VCAP-DCD. Good luck!