RISC-V International, the global non-profit home of the open standard RISC-V Instruction Set Architecture (ISA), related specifications, and stakeholder community has partnered with the Linux Foundation to bring you the RISC-V Foundational Associate (RVFA) certification.
RISC-V adoption has grown exponentially in recent years, as evidenced by expanding industry alliances and investments by leading hardware manufacturers around the globe. To ensure vendors have the skills necessary to meet their goals and continue this growth, the talent pool must also grow.
The RVFA certification, which is the first of its kind to certify professionals working with RISC-V technology, is ideal for those pursuing a career in roles such as embedded systems engineer, RTL design engineer, design verification engineer, software developer, or documentation engineer.
Candidates for the exam should already have familiarity with git, high-level programming languages such as C, debuggers like GDB, and system architecture. They should also have programming or design experience, and it may be helpful to have completed computer science, software engineering, computer engineering, or electrical engineering coursework.
The RVFA is a multiple-choice exam that takes 90 minutes to complete and tests areas including the RISC-V ISA; embedded hardware design including IoT, industrial, medical, and automotive applications; the ability to write, debug, optimize, and compile code in RISC-V assembly language; the ability to use toolchains including GCC and LLVM; and an understanding of RISC-V calling conventions.
Domains and competencies covered by the exam include:
- A RISC-V overview (10%)
- RISC-V Instruction Set Architecture (35%)
- Assembly Language for RISC-V (25%)
- High Level Languages for RISC-V: C Programming (15%)
- RISC-V Operating Systems & Tools (15%)
Learn more about the RVFA and register for the exam on the Linux Foundation’s Training & Certification website.