Microsoft Azure certifications validate your expertise in cloud computing using Microsoft's Azure platform. These credentials demonstrate your skills to potential employers and can significantly enhance your career prospects. However, with various certifications available, choosing the right azure certifications path can feel overwhelming. This blog clarifies the current Azure Certifications path, making your decision easier.
Understanding Certification Levels
Azure certifications are structured into three levels:
- Fundamentals: These entry-level certification exams (AZ-900, AI-900, DP-900) assess foundational knowledge of Azure cloud services. They are ideal for beginners or those new to cloud computing.
- Associate: These mid-level certification exams (AZ-104, AZ-204, etc.) validate core skills and knowledge for specific Azure roles like Administrator, Developer, or Data Scientist.
- Expert: These advanced certification exams (AZ-304, AZ-400) measure your ability to design and implement complex cloud solutions.
Choosing Your Path:
Microsoft offers multiple "Training Journeys," each recommending a sequence of certifications aligned with specific career goals. Here's a detailed breakdown of some popular paths:
Cloud IT Professional: This path focuses on core Azure administrator and security. It typically starts with AZ-900 (Fundamentals), followed by AZ-104 (Azure Administrator Associate), to build a strong foundation in managing and deploying cloud resources. From there, you can delve deeper into security with AZ-500 (Azure Security Engineer Associate) to gain expertise in safeguarding your cloud environment. Additionally, AZ-305 (Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions), an expert level certification, equips you with the skills to design and implement secure, scalable, and reliable cloud infrastructure solutions on Microsoft Azure.
Hybrid Cloud IT Professional: This caters to professionals managing both on-premises and cloud environments. Depending on your specific focus, you might begin with either AZ-800 (Azure Virtual Desktop) or AZ-801 (Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure: Microsoft Azure Stack HCI). These exams validate your ability to manage and integrate on-premises resources with Azure services. Following this, progressing to AZ-104 expands your Azure administrator expertise. Then we have AZ-140 (Configuring and Operating Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop) that equips you with the skills to containerize and manage containerized applications running on Azure Kubernates Service. For a deeper understanding of the networking aspects within Azure, there’s the AZ-700 (Designing and Implementing Microsoft Azure Networking Solutions) certification. This certification exam delves into designing, implementing, and managing secure, scalable, and reliable Azure network infrastructure, a crucial component for any hybrid cloud environment.
Azure Developer: This path caters to developers building and deploying cloud applications on Azure. The recommended path starts with AZ-900, followed by AZ-204 (Azure Developer Associate), which validates your expertise in developing, deploying, and managing cloud-based applications using Azure services. Further specialization such as the AZ-400 (Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions) certification, an advanced-level exam equipping you with the skills to design and implement DevOps processes, pipelines, and controls to streamline development, testing, and deployment within the Azure environment, is also recommended.
Data and AI Paths: These cater to professionals working with data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) on Azure. Options include the DP-900 (Azure Data Fundamentals) followed by role-specific certifications like Azure Data Scientist Associate (DP-100) or Azure Data Engineer Associate (DP-203). The DP-100 equips you with the skills to design and implement data science solutions using Azure Machine Learning services. While the DP-203 focuses on building, deploying, and managing data pipelines on Azure.
Important Tips:
Microsoft Azure with InfosecTrain
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