Microsoft Azure Certification Path

Which Microsoft azure Certification Is Right For You Among 12 Different Tracks?

Technology is changing more than ever before. Newer technologies are taking place more rapidly than ever before and cloud computing is one of those. According to a globally recognized tech report, cloud computing is the most rapidly evolving technology in the IT Industry across the world and the recent market of around £176 billion market is forecasted to be explored nearly £385 billion, by the year 2023. The necessity of cloud computing is neither an option nor a luxury for the IT industries across the world.

Tech giants like Amazon, Microsoft, Google and IBM have already started transferring their workload to the cloud. A study showed that around 29% workload of such tech giants have already been shifted to the cloud. Most of these companies put tremendous effort to develop, manage and configure their own cloud platform.

IT professionals are now more after the cloud market than ever before, as both the job opportunities and the market growth of cloud computing is going high. Microsoft Azure is one of the reliable and tested cloud based computing services to test, deploy and manage services and applications using high-tech data centers, managed by Microsoft. Microsoft Azure training library is the most useful resource to know details about the courses, learn about the career path, participate in practice certification exams, learn through practical examples, solving LAB challenges and so on. Most of the Microsoft Azure Training centers are following a step by step learning process to train the candidates with hands-on skill and experience.

Certifications Based On Microsoft Azure

Microsoft recently declared some alternatives in Azure Certified job roles like Azure Solution Architect, Azure AI Engineer, Azure Administrator, Azure developer along with three more new certifications, as well. Two of these certifications are designed as the fundamental career path for Azure certification, one is Azure AI Fundamentals (Exam Code: AI – 900), and another one is Azure Data Fundamentals (Exam code: DP – 300).

Microsoft is now offering 12 different certifications on Azure platform including 14 exams. All these exams and certification programs are categorized in three different levels, namely Expert, Associate and Fundamentals. Curriculum of these certification programs are designed to train the IT professionals to work effectively and efficiently at their workplace.

Following is a list of Microsoft Certified Azure course, from where you may get an idea about the topic/title of the course and the exam code:

Exam TitleExam Code
Microsoft Certified: AzureFundamentals Exam AZ-900
Microsoft Certified: Azure AIFundamentals Exam AI-900 (beta)
Microsoft Certified: Azure DataFundamentals Exam AI-900 (beta)
Microsoft Certified Azure AdministratorAssociate Exam AZ-103
Microsoft Certified: Azure DeveloperAssociate Exam AZ-203
Microsoft Certified: Azure Security EngineerAssociate Exam AZ-500
Microsoft Certified: Azure AI EngineerAssociate Exam AI-100
Microsoft Certified: Azure Data ScientistAssociate Exam DP-100
Microsoft Certified: Azure Data EngineerAssociate Exams DP-200 and DP-201
Microsoft Certified: Azure Database AdministratorAssociate Exam DP-300 (beta)
Microsoft Certified Solutions ArchitectExpert Exams AZ-300 and AZ-301
Microsoft Certified: Azure DevOps EngineerExpert Exam AZ-400

A Brief Review Of Fundamental Level Microsoft Azure Certifications

Microsoft Azure Fundamental Exam AZ – 900

Topics Covered:

  • Earn enough knowledge about the basics of cloud infrastructure like scalability, Disaster Recovery Mechanism, Fault Tolerance, availability, etc.
  • Be able to explain resource Group, Azure architectural components, available working spaces and resources.
  • Be able to clarify DDoS threats and protection mechanisms, Security group activities, and a firewall.
  • Have a clear understanding of the Azure subscription process, purchasing and renewal fees and mechanism for Azure infrastructure and the workability of Azure free infrastructure.

Details About The Exam:

  • There is no particular prerequisite for the exam.
  • You have to answer a total of 30 to 40 questions.
  • The total Duration of the exam is one hour.
  • You have to score at least 700 marks to pass the exam.
  • The total cost of the exam is: £76.

A Brief Review Of Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals

Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals AI – 900

Topic Covered:

  • For the best outcome from Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals, the candidates must have some basic knowledge on the most trending tech topics like Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence.
  • Candidates must be able to describe how to integrate the basic features of Machine Learning on Azure Platform.
  • Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals AI – 900 candidates must have common understanding on computer vision tasks and the services of azure tools and the capacity to deal with NLP workloads.
  • Candidates must be able to define and explain workload of Artificial Intelligence on Azure infrastructure and identify the generic AI service for conversational AI service.

 Details About theExam

  • There is no pre requisite for the exam.
  • The cost of the exam is £76.

 A brief about Microsoft Azure Data Fundamental Exam DP – 900

Professionals seeking this certification must possess strong understanding about raw data and the implementation of relational databases in collaboration with Microsoft Azure infrastructure.

Topics Covered:

  • Define the process of data streaming, batch data processing, deep understanding about data analytics and so on.
  • Be able to demonstrate the workload of relational data and the significance and importance of Azure infrastructure based data services like SaaS, PaaS, IaaS and similar data models.
  • Be able to segment the management related activities on relational data using mostly the SQL language.
  • Be able to demonstrate the workload of non relational data and the impact and the uses of non relational data on Azure platform.

Details About The Exam

  • No particular prerequisite is there for this exam.
  • The cost of Microsoft Azure Data Fundamental Exam is £76.
Associate Level Microsoft Azure Certification

A Brief About Microsoft Azure Administrator – Associate Exam (Exam Code- AZ – 103)

Microsoft offered this certification on 1st May, 2019 for the first time. The aim of this certification is to enhance the skill, knowledge and work experience of an individual on implementing, managing and configuring Microsoft Azure Services along with computing and storage capacity and converged and secured computer networking system. The knowledge and experience of two different exams, exam code: AZ – 100 and AZ – 101 (expired by Microsoft) could be considered as a blend curriculum of Associate Level Microsoft Azure Certification.

Topics Covered

  • Supervising subscription, managing resource groups, analyzing and utilizing the maximum utilization of resources and ensuring role based access mechanism.
  • Generate, manage, backup and storage Azure files system.
  • Implement and Configure Virtual Machines (VMs).
  • Be able to troubleshoot and configure virtual computer networks, properly deploy Azure load balancers, and ensure network security group policy.

 Details About the Exam

  •  It is recommended that candidates for Associate Level Microsoft Azure Certification exam have already passed Microsoft Azure Fundamental Exam AZ – 900.
  • You have to answer 40 to 60 questions in the exam.
  • Duration of the exam is 2 hours 30 Minutes.
  • Total cost of the exam is £127.

Microsoft Certified Azure Administrator Associate Exam (Exam code: AZ – 104, beta version)

A Brief About the Exam

Associate Level Microsoft Azure Certification, AZ – 104 is the updated version of Microsoft Azure Administrator AZ – 103. August 31, 2020 was the last date to appear for the exam AZ – 103.

The new version (AZ – 104) is still in its beta phase and you will not get your score immediately after the exam. It happens due to the intervention of Microsoft, as Microsoft verifies the quality of the exam based on the pattern and the quality of the exam. The new version of the exam will evaluate the skill and capacity of the individuals regarding their managing expertise on computing systems, network programmability, storage management, monitoring mechanism of the Azure Environment and so on.

The primary responsibility of an Azure Administrator is to deploy the Azure based cloud environment.

Common Job Responsibilities Of An Azure Developer

  • Administer Azure objects, perform role based access control, ensure appropriate subscription for authentic access control process and configure the resources and policies of Azure infrastructure.
  • Supervise Azure data storage and storage accounts, manage-update and modify Azure files and be able to configure data storage tires for Azure architecture.
  • Configure and update the virtual machines for both the scalability and high availability and efficiency in deploying virtual machines on Azure platform.
  • Design and develop virtual machine, web based applications and containers, as per the service plan of Azure infrastructure.
  • Create, control, manage and monitor virtual networking and take required backup of necessary Azure resources.

Details About The Exam

  • It is recommended that Associate Level Microsoft Azure candidates have already passed Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Exam AZ – 900, which of course is not a mandatory prerequisite for this certification exam.
  • The cost of Associate Level Microsoft Azure Certified Exam is £127.

 Microsoft Azure Developer –  Associate Exam AZ – 203

This certification is considered as the best achievement for IT professionals who are passionate about designing, developing and maintaining cloud based service and application in collaboration with  cloud centric Database Administration. Usually, certified Azure developers are capable of dealing with solution based design, debugging and testing with the coordination of cloud based Azure architecture.

Candidates for these certified exams are expected to master at least one cloud based programming language with at least one year of working experience as a software developer on a cloud platform.

Details About the Exam

  • It is preferred that candidates for this certification exam have passed the AZ – 900 exam, which is optional.
  • You have to answer in between 40 to 60 questions for this exam.
  • Duration of this exam is three hours.
  • Total cost of this exam is £127.

Microsoft Azure Developer Associate Exam (Exam code: AZ – 204)

Microsoft Azure Developer Associate Exam AZ – 204 is the updated version of Microsoft Azure Developer Associate Exam AZ – 203. Microsoft has launched the new version of this exam in February 2020.

IT professionals seeking this certification are expected to design, develop, debug, update and configure both the applications and services built on Azure infrastructure. Individuals are also expected to have one or two years working experience of debugging, managing and configuring data storage, using Azure SDK.

Topics Covered

  • Candidates are expected to work with IaaS, like enabling virtual machines through the implementation of Azure functionalities.
  • Be able to develop tailor made database solutions for the clients.
  • Properly implementation of Azure security procedure like authorization, authentication and role based access mechanism.
  • Configure and manage Azure based solution for application development.knowledge
  • Be able to develop event and management based solutions and implement the most appropriate API management on Azure infrastructure.

 Details About The Exam

  • Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Exam AZ-900 is a recommended prerequisite for the candidates, though it is not a mandatory prerequisite.
  • The total cost of the exam fee is £127.

Microsoft Azure Security Engineer – Associate Exam (Exam Code: AZ-500)

A brief details about Microsoft Azure Security Engineer – Associate Exam

This certification exam is solely designed for the IT professionals who would like to work with the security issues of the system like access control management, identity verification and so on. The primary role of Microsoft Azure Security Engineer is to secure, control and configure both the cloud based and hybrid cloud based solution, which is considered as an end to end infrastructure.

A deep understanding and knowledge on scripting and automation in Azure platform is a must for Azure based virtual technology and virtual networking as well. Familiarities with Microsoft Azure products are also a primary requirement to appear for this exam.

Topic Covered

  • Be able to manage the identity to secure the Azure platform and effectively distribute the workloads.
  • Ensure the security of the Computer Network and the hosts under the Azure infrastructure.
  • Configure the security and the monitoring of Azure infrastructure, control the security alerts and fine tune the security policy of the organization.
  • Ensure the security of the data infrastructure, manage and configure the SSL certificates for security purposes and apply effective encryption mechanisms on data, under the Azure infrastructure.

Details About The Exam:

  •  Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Exam AZ-900 is a recommended prerequisite for this exam, which is not essential.
  • You have to answer around 40 to 60 questions in the exam.
  • The total duration of the exam is one hour thirty minutes.
  • The total cost of the exam is: £127.

Microsoft Azure AI Engineer – Associate Exam (Exam Code: AI-100)

A Brief Overview of Microsoft Azure AI Engineer

This is an associated level certification, offered by Microsoft, designed for the T Professionals who are willing to work with Microsoft’s Artificial Intelligence based services and solutions like speech processing,  Cognitive Learning Mechanism, Natural Language Processing, Machine learning, Data Mining, Knowledge Mining and so on.

IT Professionals who are willing to earn this certificate must be able to

  •  Go through the requirements for Artificial Based services and Solution.
  •  Suggest the most effective tools and technologies.
  •  Deploy such a solution, which satisfies both the performance and scalability requirement.

Topics Covered

  •  Find and figure out the most data processing mechanism, appropriate for AI models and service.
  • Design, develop and configuration process for AI pipeline, required for AI based solutions and assist the authentication process for AI based services.
  • Be able to keep an eye on AI components for both maintenance and continuous improvement purposes.

Details About The Exam

  • Recommended perquisite for this exam is Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (Exam code: AZ-900), but this is not mandatory.
  • You have to answer 30 to 50 questions in the exam.
  • Total duration of the exam is 3 hours.
  • Total cost of the exam is £127.

Microsoft Azure Data Scientist – Associate (Exam code: DP-100)

IT professionals who are willing to implement Data Science tools and technologies on Azure infrastructure, may find this one as the right certification for the development of their career. Through this training program they will learn how to deploy machine learning technologies in the business process, running under Azure technology.

Topics Covered

  • Develop and configure data science infrastructure inside the Azure environment.
  • Be able to manage and manipulate data in its usable format, figure out and resolve any anomalies in data and go through the review process of data visualization in order to discover the pattern of the data.
  • Be able to identify the features and scaling.
  • Find and figure out any imbalance in the dataset with a purpose to evaluate the data model.

Details About The Exam

  • Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Exam (exam code:AZ-900) is an optional prerequisite for this certification.
  • You have to answer 40 to 60 questions in the exam.
  • Duration of the exam is three hours.
  • Cost of the exam is £127.

Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect – Expert Exams AZ-300 and AZ-301

In order to become a Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect, you must pass two different exams, which are AZ -300 and AZ – 301.

Exam AZ-300: Microsoft Azure Architect Technologies

This certification program is designed for a bit high level IT professionals, having some advanced level of experience and working experience on Azure platform. Individuals looking forward to getting this certification are expected to possess some advanced level of experience and skills of different and diversified IT operations like security issues, virtualization, virtual and enterprise level network management, disaster recovery management system, business contingency process, budget allocation and procurement process and so on. Such level of expertise also requires adequate knowledge on the administration process of Azure infrastructure, development and configuration process.

Topics Covered

  • Maximum utilization of resources, managing provision for Virtual Machines, developing templates for resource management, create and verifying connectivity between virtual networks, configuring accounts for storage management and managing the active directory under the Azure infrastructure.
  • Expert in Azure migration process, control and monitor role based access, implementing load balancing mechanism for application, developed under Azure platform and configure server less computing system.
  • Design and Develop Application, be able to configure Azure Kubernetes Services (AKS) and so on.
  • Deploy multi-factor authentication in order to implement secure data transmission.

Details About The Examination

  • Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Exam AZ-900 is recommended but not as an essential prerequisite for this certification.
  • You have to answer around 40 to 60 questions in the exam.
  • The duration of the exam is one hour thirty minutes.
  • Total cost of the exam is £127.

Microsoft Azure Architect Technologies (Exam code:AZ-303)

This certification exam (code: AZ – 303) is the updated version of the Azure Solution Architect (exam code: AZ – 300). The updated version of the exam is available fromm29th June, 2020.

 Individuals interested in earning this certificate must have clear ideas about the implementation of cloud technology on Azure infrastructure, storage management technology, understanding about the networking infrastructure and the means to ensure the maximum protection of data.

Topics Covered

  • Be able to implement Azure infrastructure, have adequate knowledge and experience of working with virtual networks, the capacity to implement a proper monitoring system of the file storage and user accounts.
  • Be able to distribute the workloads over the Azure cloud platform, optimize the security of the computer network and properly balance the load for transferring data.
  • Implement both Azure SQL and No SQL.

Details about the exam

  • The official language of the exam is English.
  • Total cost of the exam is £127.

Microsoft Azure Architect Design (Exam code: AZ-301)

A Brief Detail About the Exam

This certification exam is considered for the IT Professionals having a mid-level expertise on Azure infrastructure. Microsoft Azure Architect design is one of the most prestigious and the most demanding jobs in the industry. In order to earn this certificate, the candidates are required to have different and diversified level of skills and expertise in the IT field, like virtualization, disaster recovery management, data management policy, data and network security and so on. The expert level of Microsoft Certified Azure Architect Design Certified Professionals is more proficient in Azure Administrating, monitoring, developing and operating process, as well.

Topics Covered

  • Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Exam (Exam Code: AZ-900) is an optional prerequisite for this certification exam.
  • You have to answer 40 to 60 questions in the exam.
  • Duration of the exam is one hour thirty minutes.
  • Total cost of the exam is: £127.

Microsoft Azure Architect Design (exam code:AZ-304)

The Microsoft Azure Architect Design exam, AZ – 304 is the most current and updated version of Microsoft Azure Architect Design AZ – 301. The exam AZ – 301 exam is available from 29th June. Candidates were allowed to appear for AZ – 301 exam till 30th September, 2020.

Topics Covered

  • Collect all requirements, develop an optimized strategy for consumption and allocating the budget and procurement procedure.
  • Develop the mechanism for authentication and authorization for managing the identities of the users.
  • Ensure the availability of the system, develop and implement the strategy to protect data and properly maintain the work strategy.
  • Confirm effective deployment procedure, data and process migration mechanism and effective strategies for integrating API.
  • Design and develop storage and monitoring strategies along with flawless data transmission through the network.

Details About The Exam:

  • Official language of the exam is English.
  • Total cost of the exam is £127.

Microsoft Azure DevOps Engineer – Expert (Exam code: AZ-400)

An overview Of The Exam

This certification program is designed for DevOps Professionals, who are solely responsible to accumulate the most appropriate process, skilled and experienced People and all required technologies in order to deliver the quality product and/or service within the given deadline to meet the requirement of the business and the objectives. DevOps Professionals are usually responsible for proper delivery of the cloud services through effective collaboration of all required tools, means and resources. For this purpose, interested candidates are recommended to be familiar with software development lifecycle like Agile in order to work smoothly and efficiently with Azure infrastructure.

Topics Covered

  • Develop a standard lifecycle and accumulate required accumulated resources for an effective integration process.
  • Be able to implement the version control method and mechanism while developing the software and properly maintain the DevOps strategy, as well.
  • Manage, control and configure the hosting control panel for the development purpose.
  • Develop an optimized mechanism in order to get proper feedback from the end-user.

 Details About The Exam

  •  Azure Administrator Associate or Azure Developer Associate certification is a prerequisite for this certification.
  • You have to answer 40 to 60 questions in the exam.
  • The duration of the exam is three hours.
  • Total cost of the exam is £127.

As one of the largest tech giants, Microsoft occupied almost 29% of cloud based applications in the market. For IT Professionals, this is the right time to make decision one developing career on Microsoft Azure Technology.

 These 12 role-based certification exams evaluate the capacity of an individual to work with the development process, storage management, Administrating Networks, integrating ability, ensuring the security of data and network, workability with Microsoft Azure infrastructure, problem-solving attitude, and so on.