# Which Certification?

A decision framework for choosing between CCAO-F, CCDV-F, CCAR-F and CCAR-P, with side-by-side blueprints.

Two questions settle it: **do you write code most days?** and **do you design systems or build them?**

## Decision tree

```text
Do you write integration code (API, SDK, MCP, agents) as part of your job?
├─ No  → Do you advise, sell, manage, analyse or operate with Claude?
│        └─ Yes → CCAO-F (Associate – Foundations)
└─ Yes → Do you mainly BUILD what others design, or DESIGN what others build?
         ├─ Build  → CCDV-F (Developer – Foundations)
         └─ Design → Do you own discovery → design → handoff → monitoring → iteration,
                     including stakeholder communication, RAG and governance?
                     ├─ Not yet → CCAR-F (Architect – Foundations)
                     └─ Yes     → CCAR-P (Architect – Professional)
                                  (Anthropic recommends CCAR-F first unless you have
                                   deep, current production experience)
```

## Side-by-side blueprints

### CCAO-F – Associate – Foundations (60 items, $99)

| # | Domain | Weight |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | Prompting and Task Execution | 14% |
| 2 | Output Evaluation and Validation | **21%** |
| 3 | Product and Model Selection | 12% |
| 4 | Workflow Integration and Solution Design | 16% |
| 5 | Configuration and Knowledge Management | 12% |
| 6 | Governance, Risk, and Responsible Use | 15% |
| 7 | Troubleshooting and Optimization | 10% |

Evaluation, workflow design and governance together exceed half the exam. It tests **judgment about using AI responsibly** more than prompting technique.

### CCDV-F – Developer – Foundations (53 items, $125)

| # | Domain | Weight |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | Applications and Integration | **33.1%** |
| 2 | Model Selection and Optimization | 16.8% |
| 3 | Agents and Workflows | 14.7% |
| 4 | Prompt and Context Engineering | 11.0% |
| 5 | Tools and MCPs | 10.6% |
| 6 | Security and Safety | 8.1% |
| 7 | Claude Code | 3.1% |
| 8 | Eval, Testing, and Debugging | 2.6% |

The top three domains cover almost two-thirds of the items. Claude Code and Eval together are under 6%.

### CCAR-F – Architect – Foundations (60 items, $125)

| # | Domain | Weight |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | Agentic Architecture and Orchestration | **27%** |
| 2 | Claude Code Configuration and Workflows | 20% |
| 3 | Prompt Engineering and Structured Output | 20% |
| 4 | Tool Design and MCP Integration | 18% |
| 5 | Context Management and Reliability | 15% |

Questions are drawn from **4 of 6 published scenarios** per sitting. Candidates report Agentic Architecture as the hardest domain.

### CCAR-P – Architect – Professional (63 items, $175)

| # | Domain | Weight |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | Solution Design and Architecture | 17% |
| 2 | Claude Models, Prompting and Context Engineering | 13% |
| 3 | Integration (incl. RAG) | **19%** |
| 4 | Evaluation, Testing and Optimization | 16% |
| 5 | Governance, Safety and Risk Management | 14% |
| 6 | Stakeholder Communication and Lifecycle Management | 14% |
| 7 | Developer Productivity and Operational Enablement | 7% |

All five CCAR-F domains reappear at higher altitude inside domains 1–5. Domains 3 (RAG), 4 (evals/A-B testing), 5 (regulated compliance) and 6 (stakeholders/lifecycle) are the **deltas** to study on top.

## Intended and not-intended audiences

| Credential | Intended for | Explicitly not intended for |
| --- | --- | --- |
| CCAO-F | Operations, marketing, PM, education, communications, general knowledge work; limited-to-moderate technical expertise | Developers building against APIs or designing agentic systems |
| CCDV-F | AI/ML engineers, technical leads, senior software engineers; 1–5 yrs SWE, 6+ months with Claude, Python/TypeScript | Non-technical users; roles limited to prompt writing |
| CCAR-F | Solution architects with 6+ months on Claude APIs, Agent SDK, Claude Code, MCP | Those without system-design responsibility |
| CCAR-P | Mid-to-senior solution architects, AI/ML engineers, technical leads; 3+ yrs architecture, 6+ months Claude in production | Entry-level developers, casual users, isolated-task roles |

## Common pairings

- **Developer + Architect Foundations ($250):** the most common technical pairing; heavy overlap in agents, tools/MCP, Claude Code and context management, so study time is shared.
- **Associate first, then a technical track:** good for consultants moving toward solution work.
- **Architect Foundations → Professional:** the intended ladder. Professional assumes Foundations-level fluency and adds lifecycle, RAG and governance depth.

:::tip[There is no ladder requirement]
You may sit any exam in any order. Failing one exam does not block registration for a different one. But the retake waits (14/30/90 days) and full fees per attempt make benchmarking with a practice exam before booking the cheapest decision you will make.
:::