Dell EMC Offers Surprising Range and Variety of IT Certs

Back in September 2017, I put together an overview of the Dell EMC certification offerings in a GoCertify blog post entitled Dell EMC Lays Out Certification Framework. That was more than a year ago, so I called up my old buddy Jedi Hammond, the Strategy Lead for Dell EMC Proven Professional Certification and asked him to bring me up to speed on what's changed since then.

If you take a look at the latest version of the Dell EMC Consolidated Framework and Exam Roadmap (PDF format) you'll see right away that the programs have been more tightly integrated, and that Dell EMC has added a Master level certification to its overall mix. Here's a snapshot of what's available in a very general sense:

Source: Dell EMC Certification

What We've Got Here Is a 2-D Matrix: Levels and Tracks

I like this particular infographic (it comes from page 4 of the aforelinked PDF document) because it puts all the pieces together in a single, fairly coherent view. Not all tracks (the blue blocks at the bottom) support all levels (the Associate – Specialist – Expert – Master pyramid at the top), but it's a good conceptual layout for the overall program and its various technology niches.

As you work your way through the Dell EMC Certification jungle, if you're anything like me, its Find Exams and Training page will quickly become your go-to reference for seeing what's what (and which courses and exams lead to which specific credentials).

I find it absolutely fascinating that Dell includes a raft of EMC exams and certs along with offerings on Data Science, Information Storage and Management, Networking, and even PowerEdge servers in a constellation of 60 individual certs with related exams. This includes a surprisingly large number of Expert level exams and certs (15 in all), as well as a single Master level cert (with two exams).

According to Mr. Hammond, there will be additions coming in the next year at most levels as Dell EMC continues to build out its certification portfolio. This may or may not include a Master level addition as time and resources permit.

If you work in a company that uses Dell or EMC equipment, platforms, or technologies, then it's probably worth visiting the aforelinked resources to do some exploring. As I said in the preceding paragraph, the "Find Exams and Training" page is particularly useful, because you can filter its display by certification track and/or also by certification level to pick the big list (87 items or so) apart by slicing and dicing its constituent elements in various ways.

Thus, for example, its Implementation Engineer view is especially interesting because it mixes and matches items from many parts of the Dell empire together under a single display. If you're involved with Dell or EMC stuff as an IT professional, this is definitely worth spending some time with. Enjoy!