It has been more than 3 years when Microsoft reported and delivered a couple of significant changes in the current Azure certification path, in 2018 at Ignite Conference. This declaration was no not exactly the start of the advanced period of innovation. The adjustments in the certificate tracks were made to make the Azure certifications more role-based.
Alongside the appearance of the new Azure certifications, the news contains the retirement of a portion of the current Microsoft Azure exams at the end of 2018.
Indeed, even in 2020, with the declaration of new Azure Services, Microsoft supplanted a portion of the new role-based Azure certifications and dispatched the new ones, based on the criticism got from the exam takers. However, AZ 900 certification is still the entry point for any other Azure certification. Let’s go through this Azure learning path to get the most recent updates of Azure Certifications.
The new role-based Azure certifications establish a learning path from the Fundamental level to the Associate level and then to the Expert level. There are five Microsoft Azure Certifications path for five different roles particularly based on Azure; the roles are –
Azure Fundamentals (AZ 900 exam) is the foundational level exam in the new Azure certifications path. This exam is intended for those who want to demonstrate their basic knowledge of cloud services with Microsoft Azure. Even if you are from a non-technical background but if you have some basic understanding of the concepts of cloud, you can take this certification exam.
Prerequisites: There are no particular prerequisites for the Microsoft Azure Fundamental exam but one should be familiar and have a basic understanding of the cloud services and the Microsoft Azure platform.
2. Azure Administrator AssociateThe AZ-104 certification exam is the ideal Azure certification for the role of Microsoft Azure Administrator. AZ-104 is the updated version of the existing exam for the Microsoft Azure Administrator exam (AZ-103). The exam tests the capabilities of candidates in implementation, management, and monitoring of identity, storage, virtual networks, compute, and governance in cloud environments.
Prerequisites: At least six months of practical experience in Azure administration, Formidable understanding of core Azure services, security, governance, and Azure workloads, Hands-on experience with the use of PowerShell, ARM templates, Command Line Interface, and Azure Portal.
3. Azure Developer AssociateFor the Azure Developer Associate role, you need to pass only one certification Exam AZ-204: Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure. After passing the certification exam for AZ-204, you will become Microsoft Certified Azure Developer Associate and will receive a badge of Azure Developer Associate.
Prerequisites: In-depth proficiency in Azure SDKs, APIs, data storage options, app authentication, and authorization, debugging, monitoring, compute and container deployment, data connections, monitoring, and performance tuning, At least one to two years of hands-on experience in professional development, Practical experience in working on the Microsoft Azure platform, Knowledge of at least one programming language supported by Azure.
The AZ-303 Azure Certification exam is the updated version of the existing certification for Azure Solution Architects, AZ-300. The exam tests capabilities of candidates to advise stakeholders and convert business requirements into solutions with higher security, reliability, and scalability.
Prerequisites: Detailed knowledge and comprehensive experience in IT operations such as virtualization, business continuity, networking, identity, data platform, governance, disaster recovery, and budgeting, High-level expertise in Azure administration, Hands-on experience in DevOps processes and Azure development processes.
5. Azure DevOps Engineer ExpertOne who has already received the badge of Azure Administrator Associate or Azure Developer Associate can become an Azure DevOps Engineer Expert. Whether be the Azure Administrator Associate or Azure Developer Associate, the candidate needs to pass Exam AZ-400: Microsoft Azure DevOps Solutions to become Azure DevOps Engineer. Let’s have a look at the details of the AZ-400 exam.
Prerequisites: Familiarity with both the Azure development and Azure administration and expertise in at least one of these areas, Ability to design and implement DevOps practices for infrastructure as code, version control, configuration management, compliance, release, build, and testing with the use of Azure technologies, Proficiency in Agile practices.
