Over the past few years, there has been a paradigm shift in the world of computing, with cloud computing being on the forefront. It is a computing model based on the internet and it provides on-demand data and shared computer processing to computers and devices.
Cloud Certification courses train professionals in tools and technologies related to the cloud to bring efficiency into their work. You can find multiple options for top Azure certifications that train professionals at different levels in their careers in the cloud domain. Choosing one will direct your career and help you achieve great heights. For more information, check out Cloud certification course.
Since organizations all over the world are adopting cloud computing, there is a high demand for professionals. Here is a list of best Azure certifications to upskill your career in our blog.
Why Microsoft Azure Certification?
Getting certified in Microsoft Azure is indicative of a skill that certainly increases the chances of a candidate getting hired. Given the increasing demand, there has also been a drastic increase in opportunities for Microsoft Azure certified aspirants in recent years. Obtaining one of the best Azure certifications not only boosts your credibility but also aligns you with the most in-demand cloud computing roles in the industry.
- According to reports from Microsoft, more than 1000 new customers daily sign up to MS Azure. This means that around 365,000 companies adopt Azure over the course of a year
- More than 57% of the Fortune 500 companies are using Azure
- With the help of Azure, the commercial cloud revenue of Microsoft has increased by 104%.
- The UK government has officially accredited MS Azure
- There is also MS Azure Government offering that is backed by the US Government.
Microsoft Azure Certification Levels
Just like any other certification type, the most in-demand Azure certification options are also categorized into four levels. From beginner to advanced, there are multiple options that cloud enthusiasts can choose based on their current and target position.
- Fundamental: Certifications under this category are for beginners who have just begun their journey and plan to get a promising start. Even candidates from non-IT backgrounds should start from a fundamental level.
- Associate: If you have a fundamental understanding of the Azure principles, you are good to go with the associate-level certification. It will introduce you to advanced concepts and boost your career to reach an expert level.
- Expert: If you have prior experience in the cloud computing domain, expert-level AWS Certified Solutions Architect certification courses would be apt. You learn advanced-level skills and tools that help you gain proficiency.
- Specialty: As the name suggests, this category of Azure certifications is for those who wish to gain expertise in a particular cloud domain. For example, Azure security, SAP workloads, and other best Microsoft Azure certification options offering specialty.
Best Azure Certifications for IT Professionals 2024
In 2018, new Azure certifications were added for the IT professionals and some of the existing ones were retired. The new Azure role-based Azure certifications were launched after getting feedback from the previous exam takers. To choose the best Azure certifications, it's essential to understand the variety of certifications that Microsoft offers. Here, we are providing you with the top Azure Certifications path based on the roles:
- Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals - AZ-900
- Azure Administrator Associate - AZ-104
- Azure Developer Associate - AZ-204
- Azure Solutions Architect Expert - AZ-305
- Azure DevOps Engineer Expert - AZ 400
- Azure Security Engineer Associate - AZ-500
- Azure Data Fundamentals - DP-900
- Azure AI Fundamentals - AI-900
- Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals - SC-900
- Azure Data Scientist Associate - DP-100
- Azure Database Administrator Associate - DP-300
- Azure AI Engineer Associate - AI-100/AI-102
- Identity and Access Administrator Associate - SC-300
- Security Operations Analyst Associate - SC-200
- Azure IoT Developer Specialty - AZ-220
1. Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals - AZ-900
AZ-900 is the foundational level exam created for IT professionals wanting to validate their knowledge of the Microsoft Azure platform. You can take this exam even if you are not from a technical background but have a basic knowledge of the cloud concepts. This exam is also a stepping stone for other associate and expert level Azure certifications.
- Azure Fundamentals Certification exam will cover the cloud concepts, the core services of Azure, Azure support and pricing, and security, trust, compliance, and privacy.
- The exam is available in English and costs $99 USD.
- Certification Level: It is the fundamental level of Azure certification for beginners who are planning their careers in cloud computing.
- Skills Required: There are no skills required to attend the coaching. However, after getting trained, you will gain skills like proficiency in cloud computing.
- Required Exam: After you have completed the training, you are required to sit for the exam, qualifying for which you will get awarded the Azure fundamentals certification.
- Validity: The certification is valid for two years.
2. Azure Administrator Associate - AZ-104
For this role, you need to pass Exam AZ-103. To be eligible for this exam, you must have an understanding of Azure applications, cloud, operating systems, and storage infrastructure. To be eligible for this exam, you must have an understanding of Azure applications, cloud, operating systems, and storage infrastructure. Apart from this, you must know how the virtualization tools and networking components work. Having a basic understanding of Command Line Interface and PowerShell will act as an advantage.
- Azure Administrator Associate certification exam, there will be a number of different domains covered including Implementing and managing storage, configuring and managing virtual networks, managing Azure resources and subscriptions, managing identities, and deploying and managing virtual machines.
- It is available in English and costs $165 USD.
- Certification Level: It is a fundamental level certification in Azure.
- Skills Required: After completing this certification, your interpersonal skills get empowered. Additionally, you get trained in Azure resource deployment.
- Required Exam: You can clear the exam on your first attempt if you prepare well. There will be 60 questions in total, and you have to score a minimum of 700 marks.
3. Azure Developer Associate - AZ-204
For this role, you need to pass AZ-203 exam. The prerequisites for this exam include expertise in developing apps and services by implementing tools and technologies provided on the Azure platform. At least 1 year of working experience in developing solutions that are scalable is required. Also, the candidate must be proficient in at least one programming language supported by the cloud.
During the exam, you will be asked questions regarding developing for Azure storage, developing Azure infrastructure as a solution for service compute, implementing Azure security, troubleshooting, monitoring, and optimizing Azure solutions, and connecting and consuming services from third-parties and Azure.
- Azure Developer Associate certification exam is only available in English and costs $165 USD.
- Skills Required: After completing the certification, you get skilled in optimizing and troubleshooting solutions. Moreover, your interpersonal skills also get better.
- Required Exam: The qualifying exam will have 40 to 60 questions, and the minimum score is 700. You have to qualify for this exam to get certified.
- Validity: The certification is valid for only two years.
4. Azure Solutions Architect Expert - AZ-305
You need to pass two exams for this role, AZ-300 and AZ-301. For the AZ-300 exam: Microsoft Azure Architect Technologies, you must have at least 1 year of experience working with the Azure platform. A basic knowledge of data management, identity, security, and IT operations is also required. Also, you must be familiar with DevOps, Azure administration, and Azure development. The exam covers several domains including deploying and configuring infrastructure, implementing security and workloads, creating and deploying apps, architecting solutions using cloud technology, developing for the cloud, securing data, and implementing authentication. The exam, costing about $165 USD, is only available in English.
For the AZ-301 exam: Microsoft Azure Architect Design, the prerequisites are the same as for the AZ-300. However, you also need to pass the AZ-300 exam to be eligible for the AZ-301 exam.
- The domains of this exam include determining requirements of the workload, designing for security and identity, designing a strategy for business continuity, designing a solution for data platform, designing to deploy, migrate, and integrate, and designing a strategy for infrastructure.
- The exam is only available in English and costs $165 USD.
5. Azure DevOps Engineer Expert - AZ 400
The exam for this role is the AZ-400: Microsoft Azure DevOps Solutions. To be eligible for this exam, candidates must have knowledge of Azure administration and development. You must have the ability of designing and implementing DevOps practices for version control, infrastructure as code, configuration management, releasing, compliance, building, and testing using the Azure technologies. Also, you must be proficient in Agile practices.
- The exam will include domains like designing a DevOps strategy, implementing continuous integration and delivery, DevOps Development Processes, continuous feedback, dependency management, and application infrastructure.
- The exam costs $165 USD and is only available in English.
6. Azure Security Engineer Associate - AZ-500
For this new role, you need to pass the AZ-500 exam: Microsoft Azure Security Technologies. The prerequisites for this exam include knowledge of how to implement security controls on the Azure platform, virtualization, Amazon Kubernetes Service, and cloud N-tier architecture. You must have the ability of using security tools for recognizing and addressing vulnerabilities and protecting applications, data, and networks by implementing the security solutions. Expertise in maintaining security status, identity and access management, and scripting and automation is also required.
- The domains covered in this exam include management of identity and access, and security operations, implementing platform protection, and securing applications and data.
- The exam is available in English and costs $165 USD.
7. Azure Data Fundamentals - DP-900
The certification trains the candidates to implement efficient solutions on the basis of new-age cloud data services. Furthermore, you learn the best practices for working with data in the cloud. It is the best azure certification for beginners.
- Prerequisites: As a prerequisite, you should have a thorough understanding of relational and non-relational data.
- Price: The cost of this certification is $99.
- Certification Level: It is a foundation-level certification course.
- Skills Required: To clear the certification exam, you should be skilled enough to describe how to work with relational data. Furthermore, your core data concepts should be clear.
- Required Exam: To get certified, you have to sit for the exam and qualify for it. The exam is available in different languages, and you have to get 70% marks to pass it.
- Validity: The certification remains valid for a lifetime.
- Certification Salary : The average salary after completing this certification is $121K.
8. Azure AI Fundamentals - AI-900
This certification provides you with an overview of the machine learning and AI concepts. After completing the certification, your basic understanding of cloud concepts and client-server applications will get better.
- Prerequisites: There are no prerequisites for the certification course. The candidate should have the zeal to learn and a basic awareness of computing.
- Price: The cost of this certification is $99.
- Certification Level: It is an associate-level certification course.
- Skills Required: After completing the coaching, the skills you will acquire include describing fundamental principles of machine learning and demonstrating features of conversational AI workloads.
- Required Exam: To get certified, you have to sit for the exam and qualify for it. The exam is available in different languages, and you have to get 70% marks to pass it.
- Validity: The certification remains valid for a lifetime.
9. Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals - SC-900
This certification is for those who want to learn about the fundamentals of security, compliance, and SCI across cloud-based services.
- Prerequisites: As prerequisites, you should have experience and knowledge in operating systems, networking, storage structures, and databases.
- Price: The cost of this certification is $99.
- Certification Level: It is an associate-level certification course.
- Skills Required: The skills required for completing this certification are an understanding of basic concepts of security and compliance.
- Required Exam: To get certified, you have to sit for the exam and qualify for it. The exam is available in different languages, and you would have to answer 40 to 60 questions.
- Validity : The certification remains valid for a lifetime.
10. Azure Data Scientist Associate - DP-100
The certification allows you to create optimized environments for data science workloads on Azure. You also learn to run data experiments and create predictive models.
- Prerequisites: To earn the certification, you should have knowledge of Python and Machine learning frameworks.
- Price: The cost of this certification is $165.
- Certification Level: It is an advanced-level certification.
- Skills Required : You should have an understanding of machine learning models before sitting for this certification.
- Required Exam : The exam to acquire DP-100 certification is not so difficult. It has an open-book feature that makes it easier.
- Validity: The certification remains valid for one year.
11. Azure Database Administrator Associate - DP-300
This certification is for database administrators and data engineers who wish to gain specialization in Azure data management. It trains you in designing and implementing strategies to move databases between Azure and on-premises.
- Prerequisites: There are no prerequisites that you should fulfill before this certification. However, fair knowledge of IT skills is beneficial.
- Price: The cost of this certification is $165.
- Certification Level: It is a fundamental certification level for security experts.
- Skills Required : To qualify for the exam, you should be proficient with database administration skills and managing Azure data solutions.
- Required Exam: If you prepare well, you can crack the exam on your first attempt. It is available in different languages, and the qualifying mark is 700.
- Validity : This certification comes with a validity of one year.
12. Azure AI Engineer Associate - AI-100/AI-102
It is a basic certification that covers machine learning and AI concepts in Azure. This certification is for software developers wishing to build a career in Azure AI services.
- As a prerequisite of this certification, you should have knowledge of Microsoft Azure and the ability to navigate the Azure portal. Furthermore, knowledge of C# or Python is a plus.
- Price: The cost of this certification is $165.
- Certification Level: It is a foundation-level certification course.
- Skills Required: To qualify for the exam, you should be skilled in describing considerations for AI-enabled application development. Furthermore, you should be skilled in creating conversational solutions with Bots.
- Required Exam: It is one of the hardest exams, with a total of 40-60 questions. Only if you have prepared well can you qualify and get certified.
- Validity: The certification is only valid for one year from the date of qualifying for the exam.
13. Identity and Access Administrator Associate - SC-300
This certification helps individuals acquire skills like managing and implementing an identity management solution. The certified professionals also become proficient in enforcing policies and troubleshooting.
- As a prerequisite, you should have a fair understanding of Microsoft Azure resources and applications.
- Price: The cost of this certification is $165.
- Certification Level: It is an advanced-level certification in Microsoft Azure.
- Skills Required: To sit for the qualifying exam, you should be skilled in managing Azure and identity protection. Furthermore, you should know how to implement app registration.
- Required Exam: The qualifying exam is immediately difficult. There are 40 to 60 questions in total, and you should get at least 700 marks.
- Validity : The certification is valid for only one year.
14. Security Operations Analyst Associate - SC-200
The certification trains you to reduce organizational risks by eliminating active attacks on the cloud environment. Furthermore, you learn to improve the company's protection practices.
- Candidate must be familiar with cyber attacks, potential threats, and incident management. Additionally, he must be familiar with Microsoft 365 and Azure services.
- Price: The cost of this certification is $165.
- Certification Level: It is an advanced-level certification in Azure
- Skills Required: You should be skilled in writing scripts and sharpen your interpersonal abilities before opting for this certification.
- Required Exam: There are 40-60 questions in the qualifying exam, and you need 700 as a passing mark to get certified.
- Validity: The certification is valid for one year.
15. Azure IoT Developer Specialty - AZ-220
The certification trains the candidate in coding required to build and manage the cloud. The certified IoT developer also sets up the physical devices for the organization.
- Prerequisites: The candidate should have a basic awareness of cloud solutions in IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS
- Price: The cost of this certification is $165.
- Certification Level: It is an associate-level certification
- Skills Required: You should be skilled in Microsoft Azure fundamentals.
- Required Exam: The exam is a little challenging. You require more than 700 marks to qualify it.
- Validity: The certification is valid only for one year.
Do You Need to be Cloud Certified?
Before thinking of Azure certification, it is important to know whether getting any cloud certification is worth it for your career.
- Immense growth of the cloud: The cloud is rapidly transforming the IT industry, with market revenue for cloud services increasing by 20% annually, according to IDC, Gartner, and Forbes.
- Businesses powered by the cloud: Companies of all sizes are adopting cloud solutions. Enterprises view PaaS as a scalable, secure application development platform, and it's predicted that most IT spending will soon focus on cloud-based infrastructure, applications, and services.
- Shortage of cloud expertise: Despite the cloud's growing importance, many businesses struggle to maximize its benefits due to a lack of skilled professionals. This skill gap not only limits cloud adoption but also results in revenue loss for enterprises. Cloud expertise is in high demand, making certification valuable for career growth.
Which Cloud Certification Exam Should You Take?
Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) certifications demonstrate IT and developer expertise through industry-recognized exams. Upon passing your first qualifying MCP exam, you automatically become a Microsoft Certified Professional.
Though the MCP certification is no longer available, it will still be added to your transcript upon passing an MCP exam. However, full program benefits may only be accessible once you earn your first certification.
The main question is which exam to take first. Consider these factors:
- Technological experience: Your experience in the technical field will help determine if you should pursue an advanced or fundamental certification. For example, a professional with two years of experience shouldn't attempt an architect-level certification, which requires a strong technical background.
- Present job role: It's advisable to choose a certification related to your current job. A Windows or network admin might pursue Azure Infrastructure Solutions, while a .NET developer could focus on Azure developer certification. If you're new to the field, start with the Fundamentals certification.
- Objective: Your certification should align with future career goals. For example, aspiring big data architects should first pursue a big data cloud certification, followed by an architect-level one. A solid background prepares you for roles that match your certifications.
Key Reasons to Get a Certification in Microsoft Azure
- Public cloud is on the focus: Around 88% of companies have already used the public cloud, 13% of which are already running over 1000 virtual machines in the public cloud. It is an impressive statistic that should convince you to take some time to learn cloud technologies such as MS Azure.
- Microsoft Azure holds a fair share of the market: Azure is catching up to its competition at an amazing rate. In fact, a recently conducted survey has found the user base of Azure to be quite comparable to that of AWS.
- A future-proof technology: The rate at which cloud technologies such as Azure are evolving is tremendous. It is growing at a rate that is faster than the IT sector in its entirety.
- Easy to learn and adaptable: Microsoft has monopolized the American personal computer market. Most regular users are familiar with the Windows operating system from Microsoft. What this means is that the learning curve for Microsoft is flatter as compared to other platforms. It is definitely advantageous to be aware of the working principles of Azure. If you are exposed to Microsoft tools at work, you will find it easy to learn concepts like Operational Insights and Azure automation.
- Extreme Potential: The IT space is set to be dominated by the cloud infrastructure. The potential of MS Azure is evident from its rate of growth, which is faster than any other cloud services provider.
- Extremely efficient tool: Azure can handle most of the conventional tasks of designing, deploying and managing platforms. For gauging the efficiency of cloud platforms such as Azure, the following factors need to be considered:
- The value added to a large app development project.
- Assistance provided to the Ops facet of Dev/Ops
- Integration provided with Powershell integration
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Why Azure Certification over AWS Certification?
An IT professional considering taking a cloud certification may be confused whether to go for Microsoft Azure or AWS (Amazon Web Services) certification. For such professionals, the following points should be considered before making a decision:
- Azure is growing rapidly: The rate of growth of Azure has been better in comparison to AWS over the recent past. It seems Microsoft is beginning to bridge the gap that exists between the two. Microsoft is also improving integration with on-premise software.
- Azure for Microsoft products: Microsoft has always been associated with large enterprises. Microsoft’s products and services are being used by almost all Fortune 500 companies. Azure remains a worthy proposition for those enterprises that have heavily invested in Microsoft based developer skills and technology.
- Open source and Linux incorporation: Microsoft didn’t have an open source community until recently. On the other hand, AWS has been open source since the beginning, which is what gave it an advantage over Azure in the open source cloud hosting space. Microsoft and Azure are incorporating open source both in the cloud and on-premises. Moreover, around 1 in every 3 Azure virtual machines run on Linux. .NET Core and PowerShell are open sourced, Hyper-V will run Docker and SQL Server is running on Linux.
Microsoft Azure meets all the needs for satisfying millions of users across the world. Now that you have all the information regarding the different Azure certifications, you can select the one that best suits your needs. To learn about the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, check out Microsoft Azure Fundamentals course.
Conclusion
A career in cloud computing is promising and secure and comes with excellent monetary advantages. Moreover, the demand for cloud experts is high and expected to increase even more, which makes it an attractive career option. However, building a career in this competitive market is challenging. As it is an alluring option, you will find many enthusiasts trying their luck in this industry. So, you should stand out and brush your skills to an exceptional level to sail through.
That is where the best Azure certifications help. You can choose the certification program you want depending on the level you are at and where you want to reach as a cloud expert. It will prepare you to do the job efficiently, win the trust of your employers, and enjoy a fruitful professional journey.
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