As more businesses shift their data to the cloud, there is a growing demand for professionals with a deep understanding and expertise in cloud technology.
Microsoft's Azure platform is a leading player in the industry, with its hybrid feature and wide range of tools. According to Statista, Azure's market share has been on the rise and currently accounts for 21% of the global cloud market, making an Azure certification a valuable asset for advancing your IT career.
Here are 9 role-based Azure certifications that will give you a comprehensive understanding of the skills and knowledge needed to excel using Microsoft's cloud.
1. Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900)
Candidates who want to take the Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900) exam should have a basic understanding of cloud services and how they are delivered through Microsoft Azure. This exam is designed for those who are new to working with cloud-based solutions and services or are new to Azure. The Azure Fundamentals exam provides a chance to demonstrate knowledge of cloud concepts, Azure services, Azure workloads, security and privacy in Azure, as well as Azure pricing and support. Also, candidates must be familiar with general technology concepts such as networking, storage, compute, application support and application development.
Exam Details
- Exam Name: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Certification
- Exam Code: AZ-900
- Exam Duration: 90 minutes
- Number of Questions: 40-60
- Passing Score: 700
- Exam Cost: 99 USD
2. Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals (AI-900)
The Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals (AI-900) exam provides an opportunity to showcase knowledge of machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) concepts and the related Microsoft Azure services. It is recommended for candidates to have familiarity with the self-paced or instructor-led learning material for Exam AI-900. This exam is ideal for candidates with both technical and non-technical backgrounds. Knowledge of data science or software engineering is not necessary, but understanding of basic cloud concepts and client-server applications would be an advantage.
Exam Details
- Exam Name: Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals
- Exam Code: AI-900
- Exam Duration: 60 minutes
- Number of Questions: 40-60
- Passing Score: 70%
- Exam Cost: 99 USD
3. Microsoft Azure Data Fundamentals (DP-900)
The Microsoft Azure Data Fundamentals (DP-900) exam is a chance to prove knowledge of core data concepts and related Microsoft Azure data services. It is recommended for candidates to have familiarity with the self-paced or instructor-led learning material for exam DP-900. This exam is intended for individuals who are new to working with data in the cloud. Also, candidates should be familiar with the concepts of relational and non-relational data and different types of data workloads such as transactional or analytical.
Exam Details
- Exam Name: Microsoft Azure Data Fundamentals
- Exam Code: DP-900
- Exam Duration: 120 minutes
- Number of Questions: 40-60
- Passing Score: 700
- Exam Cost: 99 USD
4. Microsoft Azure Administrator (AZ-103)
Individuals who want to take the Microsoft Azure Administrator (AZ-103) exam are Azure Administrators who manage cloud services that encompass storage, security, networking, and compute capabilities. They have a thorough understanding of each service throughout the entire IT lifecycle, and handle requests for infrastructure services, applications, and environments. They provide recommendations on services to use for optimal performance and scale, as well as provision, size, monitor, and adjust resources as necessary. Candidates for this exam should possess expertise in using PowerShell, the Command Line Interface, Azure Portal, ARM templates, operating systems, virtualization, cloud infrastructure, storage structures, and networking.
Exam Details
- Exam Name: Microsoft Azure Administrator
- Exam Code: AZ-103
- Exam Duration: 150 minutes
- Number of Questions: 40-60
- Passing Score: 700
- Exam Cost: 165 USD
5. Microsoft Azure Administrator (AZ-104)
The candidates who are willing to take the Microsoft Azure Administrator (AZ-103) exam should have a strong understanding of implementing, managing, and monitoring an organization's Microsoft Azure environment, which includes virtual networks, storage, compute, identity, security, and governance. An Azure administrator typically works as part of a larger team dedicated to implementing an organization's cloud infrastructure. They also collaborate with other roles to deliver Azure networking, security, database, application development, and DevOps solutions. Candidates for AZ-104 exam must be familiar with operating systems, networking, servers, and virtualization. Additionally, professionals in this role should have experience using PowerShell, Azure CLI, the Azure portal, Azure Resource Manager templates (ARM templates), and Microsoft Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) which is part of Microsoft Entra.
Exam Details
- Exam Name: Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate
- Exam Code: AZ-104
- Exam Duration: 120 minutes
- Number of Questions: 40-60
- Passing Score: 700
- Exam Cost: 165 USD
6. Microsoft Azure Developing Solutions (AZ-204)
The Microsoft Azure Developer (AZ-204) exam is intended for cloud developers who participate in all phases of the development process, from requirements definition and design to development, deployment, and maintenance. These individuals collaborate with cloud DBAs, cloud administrators, and clients to implement solutions. Candidates should possess proficiency in Azure SDKs, data storage options, data connections, APIs, app authentication and authorization, compute, and container deployment, debugging, performance tuning, and monitoring. Also, candidates should have 1-2 years of professional development experience and experience with Microsoft Azure. They should have the ability to program in an Azure-supported language, and should be proficient using Azure CLI, Azure PowerShell, and other tools.
Exam Details
- Exam Name: Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure
- Exam Code: AZ-204
- Exam Duration: 150 minutes
- Number of Questions: 40-60
- Passing Score: 700
- Exam Cost: 165 USD
7. Microsoft Certified: Azure Security Engineer Associate (AZ-500)
Individuals seeking the Azure Security Engineer Associate certification should have a deep understanding of implementing Azure security controls that protect identity, access, data, applications, and networks in cloud and hybrid environments as part of a comprehensive infrastructure. The responsibilities of an Azure security engineer include managing the security posture, identifying and addressing vulnerabilities, performing threat modeling, implementing threat protection, and responding to security incident escalations. Azure security engineers often work as part of a larger team to plan and implement cloud-based management and security. Candidates who want to take the AZ-500 certification should have hands-on experience in administering Azure and hybrid environments. They should have experience with infrastructure as code, security operations processes, cloud capabilities, and Azure services.
Exam Details
- Exam Name: Microsoft Azure Security Technologies
- Exam Code: AZ-500
- Exam Duration: 120 minutes
- Number of Questions: 40-60
- Passing Score: 700
- Exam Cost: 165 USD
8. Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Scientist Associate (DP-100)
Azure Data Scientist Associate certification is ideal for candidates who have a strong understanding of applying data science and machine learning to implement and run machine learning workloads on Azure. The responsibilities of this role include designing and creating an appropriate working environment for data science workloads; exploring data; training machine learning models; implementing pipelines; running jobs to prepare for production; and managing, deploying, and monitoring scalable machine learning solutions. A candidate for DP-100 certification should have knowledge and experience in data science using Azure Machine Learning and MLflow.
Exam Details
- Exam Name: Designing and Implementing a Data Science Solution on Azure
- Exam Code: DP-100
- Exam Duration: 180 minutes
- Number of Questions: 40-60
- Passing Score: 700
- Exam Cost: 165 USD
9. Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert (AZ-400)
DevOps engineers are developers or infrastructure administrators who have specialized knowledge in working with people, processes, and products to enable continuous delivery of value in organizations. The responsibilities of this role include designing and implementing strategies for collaboration, code, infrastructure, source control, security, compliance, continuous integration, testing, delivery, monitoring, and feedback. DevOps engineers work on cross-functional teams that include developers, site reliability engineers, and Azure administrators. Candidates for AZ-400 certification should have experience in administering and developing in Azure, with strong skills in at least one of these areas. They should also be familiar with both Azure DevOps and GitHub.
Exam Details
- Exam Name: Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions
- Exam Code: AZ-400
- Exam Duration: 180 minutes
- Number of Questions: 40-60
- Passing Score: 700
- Exam Cost: 165 USD
The Final Verdict
Microsoft is a major player in the public cloud market and is rapidly expanding its wings. If you want to advance your career with Microsoft Azure technologies, obtaining the certifications mentioned above is highly recommended.
As Microsoft Azure continues to grow, there has been a significant increase in the number of job opportunities requiring Azure skills. Obtaining these certifications is one of the most effective ways to demonstrate that you possess those skills.
