HomeBlogCloud ComputingWhat is the Microsoft Azure Certification Path?
At the 2018 Ignite Conference, Microsoft released information about the proposed restructuring of its Azure certifications to convert it into a role-based model. The certifications are now more focused on aligning knowledge according to job roles. With every certification, there is a learning path. You start from the fundamental level and then move on to the associate level and then finally to the expert level. Enroll in the best Cloud Computing course in India to learn more about Cloud Computing. Here are the different roles associated with the different Microsoft Azure certifications:
This is the foundational level exam created for people who want to validate their skills in using basic cloud services of Microsoft Azure. You can take this exam even if you are not from a technical background. You should take this exam before moving on to any associate or expert level certifications. Although it is not compulsory, it is highly recommended to validate your foundational knowledge.
To ace this exam, you must be familiar with the Microsoft Azure platform and its cloud services. Also, you must have knowledge of security, compliance, privacy, support and pricing of Azure. This exam is available only in English at a cost of $99 USD.
You need to pass this exam to get the role of Azure Administrator Associate. After passing, you will get an Azure Administrator Associate badge and become a Microsoft Certified Azure Administrator Associate. If you had already passed the 70-533 exam certification, all you needed was to take the Exam AZ-102: Microsoft Azure Administrator Certification Transition. However, the Transition exam was shut down after 30th June, 2019. Now, for the role of Azure Administrator Associate Role, you have to take the AZ-103 exam. This exam is also a prerequisite for the Azure’s DevOps Engineer Expert exam. To ace this exam, you must have a thorough understanding of the following:
Just like the Azure Fundamentals exam, this exam is only available in English and costs $165 USD.
There was also an Azure Administrator Certification Transition Exam for people who have passed the 70-533 - Implementing Azure Infrastructure Solutions Exam, but this Transition exam too was retired on June 30, 2019..
This role is for developers working in cognitive services, knowledge mining, and machine learning. Their job is architecting and implementing Microsoft AI solutions using bots, agents, speech, computer vision, and natural language processing.
This role is for professionals working in designing and implementing the security, privacy, monitoring, and management of data. To do this and satisfy the business needs, the full stack of data services from Azure is used.
To get a job as an Azure Developer Associate, you need to pass the AZ-203: Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure. If you want to apply for the Microsoft Certified Azure DevOps Engineer Expert exam, you need to pass this exam as a prerequisite. All the candidates who want to take this exam must be familiar with the following:
The exam will cover topics such as development for Azure Storage, developing infrastructure of Azure as a Service Compute Solution, implementing Azure Security, monitoring, troubleshooting, and optimizing Azure solutions, and connecting and consuming services of Azure and from third-parties. The exam is available in English at a cost of $165 USD.
For the role of an Azure Solution Architect Expert, you need to pass two exams - Exam AZ-300: Microsoft Azure Architect Technologies and AZ-301: Microsoft Azure Architect Design. To ace these exams you need to be an expert in designing solutions running on the Azure platform. You must have knowledge of computing, security, storage, and network. You also need to have an understanding of planning solutions for meeting the needs of business.
For this role, you need to pass Exam AZ-400. The candidates for this examinations are the professionals working for combining people, technologies, and processes for delivering services and products. They are responsible for meeting the business objectives and the needs of the customers. A DevOps professional must be able to optimize practices, create automation, and improve collaboration and communication. Azure DevOps professional must have the ability of designing and implementing the practices of DevOps for configuration management, version control, building, testing, releasing, infrastructure as code using the Azure technologies.
This exam validates your knowledge of secure and reliable architecting solutions. All the candidates participating in this exam must be familiar with the following:
The domains covered in the exam include deployment and configuration of infrastructure, implementing security and workload, architecting cloud technology solutions, creating and deploying apps, developing for the cloud, authentication implementation and securing data.
The exam costs $165 USD and is only available in English.
The prerequisites for this exam is same as the AZ-300: Microsoft Azure Architect Technologies. You need to pass the AZ-300 exam to be eligible for the AZ-301 exam. The exam will cover the following domains:
The price of the certification is $165 USD and the exam is available only in English.
Candidate with a badge of Azure Developer Associate or Azure Administrator Associate can become an Azure DevOps Engineer Expert. In both cases, you have to take the AZ-400: Microsoft Azure DevOps Solutions Exam. the prerequisites for the exam includes the following:
The exam will cover the following domains:
The exam is available in English at a cost of $165 USD.
The role of Azure Security Engineer is the latest to be added in the Azure certification path based on roles. There is only on exam required to get this certification, AZ-500: Microsoft Azure Security Technologies. Although not a necessity, passing the AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals exam is recommended before you take the Azure Security Technologies exam. Here are the prerequisites for this exam:
This exam costs $165 USD and is available only in English.
After getting feedback from candidates, Microsoft launched new certifications and expired a few. Here are the expired Azure certifications for the role of Azure Developer Associate and Azure Administrator Associate:
Apart from the above-mentioned role-based certifications, Microsoft had launched 7 other certifications that contribute credit towards MCSE, MCSA, or MCP. Note that a few of the exams in this list have been retired in June 2019 (mentioned below).
The exam is created for professionals who know how to design and implement Microsoft data platform solutions. They must also have some experience working with cloud-based platform solutions. The exam will include areas like designing and implementing database solutions for Microsoft Azure SQL server and Microsoft SQL Database, designing for scalability, high availability, and disaster recovery, managing and monitoring Azure’s database implementations, and designing and implementing security.
This exam has been retired on 30th June, 2019.
This exam is for data developers, data architects, data management professionals, and data scientists who use the Microsoft Azure to design big data analytics. They also must have experience in working with big data analytics solutions. The exam objectives include:
This exam has been retired on 30th June, 2019.
All the candidates taking this exam must be a developer with at least 3 to 5 years of experience developing web services and at least 1 year of experience developing web APIs and Azure Solutions. The objectives of the exam are:
This exam is for service administrators and infrastructure administrators using Microsoft Azure Stack for providing cloud services. The candidates must also have experience managing and operating Azure Stack environments and have knowledge of Microsoft Azure, Windows Server 2016 and hybrid cloud resources. The exam objectives include:
Created for data analysts and data scientists working to build and deploy intelligent solutions through Azure cloud services. Candidates must have experience in Machine Learning, Data Science Processes, and Azure data services. Here are the objectives of this exam:
Intended for data developers, data architects, data engineers, and data scientists who are working on implementing big data engineering workflows on Azure HDInsight. Working experience in big data analytics solutions is also recommended. The exam objectives include:
Please note that this exam has been retired on 30th June 2019.
This exam is for professionals who design analytical solutions and build operationalized solutions on the Azure platform. Experience in handling issues related to data engineering is also recommended. Here are the objectives of the exam:
There are several classroom training programs and online classes to help you prepare for the new Microsoft Azure certifications. Various platforms also provide practice tests to take after the certification training. Here are a few steps that will help you prepare for the certification exam:
Get all the information you can get regarding the certification. This will also help you know about the criteria.
To prepare for the Azure certification, you need to check out the course content. Also, before you select the certification path, you need to take a look at the prerequisites as well.
The overview includes information, domains and objectives of the exam. You need to check this out before selecting the training.
Exam guides will help you understand the roadmap and the components of the Microsoft Certification deeply.
The certification whitepapers will help you understand the exam objectives and prepare you for the Microsoft Azure Certifications Path.
Recommended books are a great way for knowing more about the certifications. For this to work, you need to follow every instruction given in the book.
You need to check out the sample questions and take practice tests after preparing for the certification path.
Whether you should go for the Microsoft Azure Certifications or not depends on its scope in the future. There are different aspects covered by this certification including storage, integration, security, reliability, networking, and administration. As you know that all these certifications are cloud-based, you should pursue these certifications to get ahead in your Azure career path.
Now you know all there is to know about the Microsoft Azure Certifications and how they can benefit your career. This will help you in selecting the best certification for you. For more information on Azure cloud and certification, try the Microsoft Azure Fundamentals course by KnowledgeHut.
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