Is the VCP-DTM Worth It?

Earning any VMware certification is a great move if you are responsible for maintaining and managing VMware technologies in your current role. VMware Desktop and Mobility certifications cater to professionals who need to design, install and manage VMware Horizon with View Environment deployed on a VMware vSphere installation.

To this end, the VCP-DTM 2020 certification seeks to verify a candidate's skills in managing VMware Horizon environments. Cert holders will also be able to deliver secure customized virtual desktops and applications as well as online services to end users. Let’s take a look at this cert more in depth and if it fits with your career goals.

What is the VCP-DTM?

The VCP certifications are VMware's Certified Professional range of exams — and the DTM is the Desktop and Mobility segment of this line of certification. The VCP DTM 2020 certification is achieved by successfully completing the Professional VMware Horizon 7.7 exam (2V0-51.19). There are no prerequisites to write this exam, however there are some recommended courses, exams and training that VMware makes for prospective candidates. A full list of those can be found here.

Below are some of the exam objectives taken directly out of the Exam Preparation Guide, a full version of which can be found right here.

• Install and Configure Horizon Server Components

• Create and Configure Pools

• Configure and Manage Identity Manager

• Configure and Manage User Environment Manager

• Configure and Manage App Volumes

• Configure vRealize Operations for Horizon

This exam is focused on virtualization technologies, especially in the virtualized desktop and mobility space. This means that you will be learning a lot about virtualizing desktops for users and creating enhanced experiences for users to stay productive.

How Much Does the VCP-DTM Cost?

The VCP DTM 2020 exam costs $250 USD and it has a time limit of 105 minutes. As far as the number of exam questions go, the VCP-DTM has 65 questions in total and the passing score is 300. The Professional VMware Horizon 7.7 exam follows the 'Format Single and Multiple choice, Drag and Drop, Proctored' format of VMware exams.

What Experience Do You Need for the VCP-DTM?

We have briefly touched on the prerequisites of the exam, so now we will look at what experience you should have when considering this exam. VMware refers to minimally qualified candidates or (MQC) as having a basic fundamental knowledge of vSphere installation and management. You should understand and know how to perform common vSphere operations, such as provisioning and administering VMs, and setting up host networking and storage. Other basics include experience with working on DRS, HA, as well as additional cluster- related vSphere controls.

VMware therefore recommends that you should have about 6-12 months of experience creating, setting up, and managing VMware Horizon environments. They also recommend that you have between 2 and 5 years of general IT experience. This is to ensure that you already know about networking basics and concepts such as virtual machines and network attached storage solutions. If you feel that you meet all of the basic criteria listed, then you can go ahead and take a look at the exam objectives in order to see what is expected of you in order to successfully pass this exam.

Who Should Take the VCP-DTM?

The VCP-DTM 2020 training is part of the professional series of VMware training. This is because it has been designed for IT professionals such as sysadmins and other IT roles where virtualization is used. The focus of this exam is primarily aimed at professionals who rely on VMware Horizon products to get the job done. This VCP-DTM 2020 course has virtualization specialists in mind, and the basic requirement to successfully train for this exam should be a minimum of 3 – 5 years of working with technologies related to virtualization and virtual desktops.

This exam has been formulated in such a way that newcomers to VMware virtualization can learn the basic skills that are needed to enter the market as certified VMware professionals. For those with lots of hands-on experience, this is an excellent opportunity to validate the skills that you have learned on the job. We look at each of these scenarios below and see how each scenario plays out.

Newcomers to VMware and virtualization. The VCP exam has some prerequisites as stated above, but they are not so steep that they will exclude you from writing the exam if you lack some of the experience required. The VCP-DTM 2020 has been designed in such a way that it is still highly beneficial to newcomers in the system administration world. For candidates who might be unfamiliar VMware Horizon 7, the exam requires that you have VCP knowledge. On the salary front, VCP holders on the low end of the pay scale earn $54,500 a year according to ZipRecruiter.

Seasoned VMware pros. If you have been working in any administrative capacity in the past decade or more then the chances are high that you have used VMware products in one form or another. VMware experience is always in demand, and certified professionals are in a good position to take advantage of this opportunity. Virtualization is the backbone of modern enterprise infrastructure and having professionals on hand to maintain and administer this technology is more important now than ever before. Verify your skills by getting certified to make sure that you are able to show potential employers and colleagues that you have what it takes to keep systems running effectively. ZipRecruiter shows that in 2020 the national average for most VCP holders in the US is $141,195.

Is the VCP-DTM Worth It?

Many millions of people have discovered that they are able to work from home without needing to sacrifice the quality of experience that they are accustomed to in the office. The VCP-DTM exam is centered around VMware's own virtual desktop solutions, which makes it a good cert to have in your profile in the remote working climate that we are currently in.

Most certifications require dedication, hard work, and plenty of study time. The VCP-DTM is no different. There is a lot of material to cover in this certification. The foundational nature of the information that you need to study for the exam is not overly difficult, but there is a lot to cover if you are new to the VMware ecosystem of products. If you have already been working with VMware systems for some time, then this certification will help you to expand on your knowledge while validating your skills and increasing your earning potential.