Which Certification?

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

Decision tree

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)

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)

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)

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)

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

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.