As this question appears from time to time in Tanzu community I’ve decided to summarize the available VMware’s certification focused on Tanzu, containers and kubernetes in general. Below you will find currently available certifications, exams as well as links to exam guides and additional resources that could be helpful to prepare for each of them.

Containers, kubernetes and Tanzu topic is still pretty fresh in terms of VMware certification. Therefore there is no complete certification path that would include entry, professional, advanced and expert level certification as we got used to with others VMware’s tracks such as datacenter or network virtualization. We’ve got both certificates and badges related to different exams available as listed on the diagram below.

Certification paths are based on two sub-tracks as follows:

1. Application modernization certification

• VMware Certified Technical Associate – Application Modernization 2023 (VCTA-AM 2023)
  • No authorized training required
• VMware Certified Professional – Application Modernization 2023 (VCP-AM 2023)
  • An authorized training is required – see resources section below
  • It’s not required to hold VCTA-AM 2023 before taking VCP

2. Spring certification

• Certified Professional 2023
  • An authorized training is required – see resources section below

Badges:

• VMware Certified Master Specialist – vSphere with Tanzu 2023
  • An authorized training is required – see resources section below
• VMware Certified Master Specialist – Cloud Native 2023
  • To obtain the badge the candidate must hold a VCP-AM 2021 or newer
  • To obtain the badge the candidate must hold Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) exam and send the proof to VMware
  • There is no exam associated with this badge

Study Resources

Official VMware Tanzu courses (attending at least one of them is required for VCP-AM 2023 certification).

• VMware vSphere with Tanzu: Deploy and Manage [V7]
• VMware Tanzu Kubernetes Grid: Install, Configure, Manage [V1.5]
• VMware Tanzu Mission Control: Management and Operations 2022
• Kubernetes Fundamentals and Cluster Operations

Spring courses (attendence is a prerequisite for Spring Certified Professional exam):

• Spring: Core Training

Other VMware official Tanzu courses:

• Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated: Install, Configure, Manage [V1.10]

Exam guides:

• VCTA-AM 2023 – contains sample questions!
• VCP-AM 2023
• Spring Certified Professional 2023
• vSphere with Tanzu Specialist 2023

Miscellaneous

• Kube Academy – Container, Kubernetes and Tanzu courses available for free – from begginer to advanced level
• Spring Academy – Spring courses – released recently but the library will grow for sure!
• Tanzu Tech Zone – tremendeus amount of knowledge in one place – read more here.
• Hands-on Labs – search for tanzu related content.