The Microsoft Azure Certification Paths

I cover the exams that you need to give for becoming a Azure Administrator , Azure Solution Architect and a Security Expert.

If you want to validate your skills as a Engineer , Developer or Architect the most appropriate step would be give a certifications exam. Certifications provide you with the confidence that you have the knowledge to perform the tasks meant for your role, that you have the capability to create solutions that can be backed with your knowledge and provides validation to your current employer that you have put in the effort to continuously update yourself. It also provides evidence to your future employer that this individual has got he skills necessary for the role.

Microsoft has a plethora of certifications path for their various products and services portfolio spanning Azure, M365, Power Platform, Business Applications and Desktop and Server Operating Systems. I am going to focus more on the Azure Architect Path for this post and cover other certification paths for other Azure services in future posts.

To give you the scope of certifications paths available to you depending on you role , here is a brief snapshot for your reference.

Microsoft offers the following three levels in Azure certification:

• Fundamental level Certification

• Associate level Certification

• Expert level Certification

Since my focus is more on Azure related services I wanted to emphasize the exams that you should give that will validate your knowledge on Azure and establish your credibility on configuring and managing infrastructure related services. This will comprise a combination of exams that will test your knowledge on Azure Administration, Architecting solutions on Azure and Securing your Azure deployments.

1. Azure Fundamentals : AZ 900 : This is an entry level exam. Although this exam is not mandatory for getting any of the Advanced Azure Certification paths , this will prepare you to validate your fundamentals. This is an easy exam and if you have any experience working with Azure this would be a breeze. This certification is intended for candidates who are just beginning to work with cloud-based solutions and services or are new to Azure.

   Azure Fundamentals certification is an opportunity to prove knowledge of cloud concepts, Azure services, Azure workloads, security and privacy in Azure, as well as Azure pricing and support. You should be familiar with the general technology concepts, including concepts of networking, storage, compute, application support, and application development.

2. Azure Administrator Associate : AZ 104: Passing this exam grants you the Azure Administrator Associate badge and provides validation of your experience and working knowledge on using the Azure Portal and configuring services and should have subject matter expertise implementing, managing, and monitoring an organization’s Microsoft Azure environment.

   Responsibilities for this role include implementing, managing, and monitoring identity, governance, storage, compute, and virtual networks in a cloud environment, plus provision, size, monitor, and adjust resources, when needed.

   For the Azure Administrator role , you should have experience using PowerShell, Azure CLI, Azure portal, and Azure Resource Manager templates.

3. Azure Solutions Architect Expert : AZ 305 ( In Beta ): This exam replaces the 2 exams that were required to get the Architect Expert certification - AZ 303 and AZ 304. To get this Badge you need to pass AZ 104 and AZ 305 ( when its released). Or you Pass Exam AZ-303 and Exam AZ-304 (before they retire on March 31, 2022), or Pass Exam AZ-303 (before it retires on March 31, 2022) and Exam AZ-305. Too many combinations to remember. I recommend waiting for AZ 305 and give only one exam if you plan to get the Expert Certification. You should have expertise in designing cloud and hybrid solutions that run on Azure, including compute, network, storage, monitoring, and security.

   If you are giving this exam, you should have advanced experience and knowledge of IT operations, including networking, virtualization, identity, security, business continuity, disaster recovery, data platforms, and governance. If you have experience in Azure administration, Azure development, and DevOps processes, this will be an additional bonus.

4. Azure Security Engineer Associate : AZ 500 : I strongly recommend all Azure Architects to give this exam. Security is a very important topic for every customer and cybersecurity knowledge is becoming a strong differentiation across candidates irrespective of the knowledge they have on other topics. If you are planning to attain this certification , you should have subject matter expertise in implementing Azure security controls that protect identity, access, data, applications, and networks in cloud and hybrid environments as part of an end-to-end infrastructure. You will be responsible for managing the security posture of all Azure assets deployed , identifying and remediating vulnerabilities, performing threat modeling, implementing threat protection, and responding to security incident escalations. Make sure you get deep hands on exposure and practical experience in administration of Azure Policy, Network Security, Governance and Defender for Cloud.

Hope the above summary of Azure Exams provides a path for you to achieve your certifications goals.