It’s always a pleasure to finish the year on a positive note, right? Like many of you, I usually schedule an exam session a few days before the new year, and this year was no exception. I took on December 30th, the VMware Cloud Foundation 5.2 Architect exam and successfully passed.

I must admit, my intention wasn’t primarily to succeed but rather to test my skills on this first VCF Architect exam. Additionally, like all Broadcom employees, I was entitled to a couple of vouchers that were set to expire at the end of the year, so I felt needed to take my chances and give it a try.

To my great surprise, when I clicked on the finish button, I was pleased to see that I had passed the exam.

Before I dive deeper into my experience with this exam, let’s start with the basics to give you an idea of what to expect.

Who is this Certification for?

The VMware Cloud Foundation Architect certification is for architects or any individual interested in designing a VCF solution.

This exam will assess your ability to design an architecture by following the well-known VMware frameworks to properly identify a conceptual, logical, or physical design.

You will also be tested on topics such as manageability, availability, performance, recovery, and security which are all very important in a design and crucial to pass the exam.

Get Ready for the Exam

As always, reviewing the exam blueprint is essential to understand and focus on the topic you will be tested on.

What!? No more prerequisites?

Yes, earlier this year Broadcom announced that there would be no more prerequisites for taking an exam. In other words, if you take an exam and pass, you get your certification, end of the story 😃. You no longer have to attend a specific training before booking any VMware exam. Please read this article to learn more.

What to Expect during the Exam?

From a technical standpoint, you must have a solid understanding of VCF and its core components. But that’s not all! It’s also important to have good knowledge about multi-site deployments, disaster recovery, and general infrastructure sizing and optimization.

I was very surprised to find many questions about the Aria suite during the exam. And I have to admit that I wasn’t prepared to correctly answer all related questions. So, make sure to review the architecture and best practices for each Aria product. I think I got at least 8 questions just on Aria.

What you need to keep in mind is that, unlike regular VCP exams, this one is not just about the product itself or its components. You’ll be tested on your ability to design a VCF platform while considering multiple factors listed in each question to achieve the desired outcomes that can be more business-oriented than technical.

In a given scenario, you must be able to identify where there is a requirement, a constraint, an assumption, or a risk (RCARs). I suggest you have a look at Jeffrey Kusters’ blog post here which details very well all the aspects of a conceptual design as well as AMPRS.

However, I highly recommend attending the “vSphere Design” and the “VCF Deploy, Configure and Manage” courses, or taking them on-demand if you have access to VMware Digital Learning.

About the exam

The VCP-VCF Architect exam was challenging but fair. I believe it should be classified in the VCAP Design category rather than VCP. Having taken several VCAP design exams for DCV or NV these last couple of years, I found their difficulty to be very similar. Note that having prior experience as an architect is of course preferable.

As mentioned in the blueprint, you’ll have to answer 60 questions in about 135 minutes, depending on the selected language. This time is more than enough to answer each question and then go for a review.

Some Tips for the Exam

• Read well the Exam Guide. You’ll find everything you need in the “Exam Sections” to succeed.
• During the exam, read each question very carefully, at least twice to ensure you fully understand what is being asked. Pay attention to details, as you may get the same questions several times with slight variations.
• Do not rush to answer the questions, you have plenty of time to complete the exam. But if you hesitate, just flag the question for review and move on.

Conclusion

Broadcom’s strategy is now clear. VMware Cloud Foundation is the future of Private Cloud Computing and the way to go moving forward. With the release of the new VMware Certified Professional – VMware Cloud Foundation Architect 2024 certification, you will have the opportunity to validate your skills and demonstrate your ability to design a VCF platform.

Now, I just have to wish you a good preparation and best of luck with the exam!