Microsoft Azure Certification Path 2024 | Which Certificate is Right for You and Your Team? (2024)

What is Cloud?
Cloud computing is one of the fastest-growing segments of the technology industry. Cloud computing is on-demand access, via the internet, to computing resources — applications, servers (physical servers and virtual servers), data storage, development tools, networking capabilities, and more — hosted at a remote data center managed by a cloud services provider (or CSP). The CSP makes these resources available for a monthly subscription fee or bills them according to usage.

According to Oracle’s Cloud Predictions, “80% of all enterprise (and mission-critical) workloads will move to the cloud by 2025”.

Why to choose Azure & Azure Certification ?
Organizations all over the world recognize Microsoft Azure over Amazon Web Services (AWS) as the most trusted cloud for enterprise and hybrid infrastructure. AWS can be complex and is known for lots of documentation, whereas Azure uses technologies that you and your users are already accustomed to using, like Windows, Active Directory and Linux, so the transition to the cloud is less obvious.

We can do a search with Intricately, seeing who is spending $500K+ on Azure. We have found these big tech giants are also using Microsoft Azure services Google, Verizon, General Electric, AT&T, Facebook, YouTube, Yahoo Finance, NTT, Apple Inc., Adobe, Alibaba Group Holding Limited, Instagram etc.
Microsoft Azure is used By 95 Percent Of Fortune 500 Companies.

What are the benefits of Getting Microsoft Certified ?
Microsoft Azure Certification demonstrate your commitment to superior professionalism, upholding industry standards. It will also enhance professional credibility and prestige within your own network, with your current clients, when pursuing new business opportunities or bidding on projects and help you keep an edge in the market. It will increase your market demand and amazing opportunities.

• The average salary of Azure Solutions Architects in the U.S. is at $152,142, according to ZipRecruiter.
• PayScale finds the average salary to swing around $122,956 but it tracks total pay (i.e., the value of all the perks and benefits) swinging as high as $173,000
• The salary ranges vary in different regions and different areas of the world. The average salary of a Microsoft Azure certified professional starts from $40,914 and makes around $180,000 per year for the senior roles.

Azure Certification Learning Path

Microsoft’s Azure certifications are role-based. They’re organized into 4 levels: Fundamentals, Associate, Expert, and Specialty. These certifications focus on building knowledge and skills related to job roles.

• Fundamentals Certifications: Fundamentals Certification is for beginners who have started their journey into learning cloud. Azure fundamental Certificates offer ideal starting points for anyone new to Azure to boost career.

• Associate Certification: If you already familiar with Azure well, you will feel comfortable starting here. you are ready to go to get these certifications listed in your journey. Starting with Associate level certification will add feather in your Cap and you will become a Certified Pro.

• Expert Certification: You are ready for these with earlier experience, deep understanding, and associate-level knowledge in Azure. An Associate certification (either the Azure Developer Associate or Azure Administrator Associate) is required for the Azure DevOps Engineer Expert, and the Azure Administrator Associate is required for the Azure Solutions Architect Expert. It will establish Professional Credibility and enhance marketability.

• Specialty Certifications: There certifications are available for SAP Workloads Specialty and Azure IoT Developer Specialty certifications. And there are no pre-requites to earn these certification.

1. AZ-900: Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals

Azure Fundamentals exam who are beginning to work with cloud-based solutions and services, or those who are new to Azure, and want to validate their skills.
They should be able to be familiar with the general technology concepts, including concepts of networking, storage, compute, application support, and application development, and it is beneficial for everyone from technical and non-technical backgrounds.
Exam Name: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals
Exam Code: AZ-900
Cost: $99 USD*
Number of Questions: 40–50
Duration: 60 Minutes
Passing Score Required: 700/1000
Practice Tests: https://courses.kloudsaga.com/courses/azure-fundamentals-practice-tests

Exam Pre-requisites: There are no pre-requisites for taking Microsoft certification AZ 900 exam. You should be familiarity with concepts of networking, storage, compute, application support, and application development.
Azure AZ-900 Exam Objectives:
* Describe cloud concepts (25–30%) (Study Material)
* Describe Azure architecture and services (35–40%) (Study Material)
* Describe Azure management and governance (30–35%) (Study Material)

2.DP-900: Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Fundamentals

Azure DP Fundamentals exam for beginners of core data concepts and related Microsoft Azure data services.
They should be able to be familiar the concepts of relational and non-relational data, and different types of data workloads such as transactional or analytical.
Exam Name: Microsoft Azure Data Fundamentals
Exam Code: DP-900
Cost: $99 USD*
Number of Questions: 40–50
Duration: 60 Minutes
Passing Score Required: 700/1000
Practice Tests: [NEW] Practice Sets | DP-900: Azure Data Fundamentals 2024

Exam Pre-requisites: There are no pre-requisites for taking Microsoft certification DP 900 exam. You should be knowledge of core data concepts and how they are implemented through Microsoft Azure data services.
Azure DP-900 Exam Objectives:
* Describe core data concepts (25–30%) (Study Material)
* Identify considerations for relational data on Azure (20–25%) (Study Material)
* Describe considerations for working with non-relational data on Azure (15–20%) (Study Material)
* Describe an analytics workload on Azure (25–30%) (Study Material)

3. AI-900: Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Fundamentals

Azure AI Fundamentals exam for beginners of both technical and non-technical backgrounds. You get the basics of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in Azure.
They should be able to be familiar with some general programming knowledge or experience, but it is not required. You can use Azure AI fundamentals to reinforce your basics for other Azure role-based certifications, like Azure Data Scientist Associate, Azure AI Engineer Associate, or Azure Developer Associate, but it’s not a prerequisite for any of them.
Exam Name: Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals
Exam Code: AI-900
Cost: $99 USD*
Number of Questions: 40–50
Duration: 60 Minutes
Passing Score Required: 700/1000
Exam Pre-requisites: There are no pre-requisites for taking Microsoft certification AI 900 exam. You should be familiarity some general programming knowledge or experience, but it is not required
Azure AI-900 Exam Objectives:
* Describe Artificial Intelligence workloads and considerations (15 —
20%) (Study Material)
* Describe fundamental principles of machine learning on Azure (20 —
25%) (Study Material)
* Describe features of computer vision workloads on Azure (15–20%) (Study Material)
* Describe features of Natural Language Processing (NLP) workloads
on Azure (15–20%) (Studies Materials)
* Describe features of generative AI workloads on Azure (15–20%) (Study Materials)

4. AZ-104: Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate

Azure Administrator exam should have subject matter expertise in implementing, managing, and monitoring an organization’s Microsoft Azure environment, including virtual networks, storage, compute, identity, security, and governance.
Exam Name: Microsoft Azure Administrator
Exam Code: AZ-104
Cost: $165 USD*
Number of Questions: 45–60
Duration: 120 Minutes
Passing Score Required: 700/1000
Practice Tests: [NEW] Practice Sets | AZ-104: Azure Administrator Exam 2024

Exam Pre-requisites: They should be able to implement, manage, and monitor identity, governance, storage, compute, and virtual networks in a cloud environment. (Study Material)
Azure AZ-104 Exam Objectives:
* Manage Azure identities and governance (20–25%) (Study Material)
* Implement and manage storage (15–20%) (Study Material)
* Deploy and manage Azure compute resources (20–25%) (Study Material)
* Configure and manage virtual networking (15–20%) (Study Material)
* Monitor and maintain Azure resources (10–15%) (Study Material)

5. AZ-204: Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate

Azure Developer exam should have subject matter expertise in Azure SDKs, data storage options, data connections, APIs, app authentication and authorization, compute, and container deployment, debugging, performance tuning, and monitoring.
Exam Name: Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure
Exam Code: AZ-204
Cost: $165 USD*
Number of Questions: 45–60
Duration: 120 Minutes
Passing Score Required: 700/1000
Practice Tests: [NEW] Practice Sets: AZ-204 Azure Developing Solutions 2024
Exam Pre-requisites: They should have 6months–2 years professional development experience and experience with Microsoft Azure. They should be able to program in an Azure-supported language, and should be proficient using Azure CLI, Azure PowerShell, and other tools.
Azure AZ-204 Exam Objectives:
* Develop Azure compute solutions (25-30%) (Study Material Link1, Link2, Link3)
* Develop for Azure storage (15–20%) (Study Material Link1, Link2)
* Implement Azure security (20–25%) (Study Material Link1, Link2)
* Monitor, troubleshoot, and optimize Azure solutions (15–20%) (Study Material Link1, Link2)
* Connect to and consume Azure services and third-party services (15–20%) (Study Material Link1, Link2, Link3)

6. AZ-500: Microsoft Certified: Azure Security Engineer Associate

Azure security engineers exam 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.
Exam Name: Microsoft Azure Security Technologies
Exam Code: AZ-500
Cost: $165 USD*
Number of Questions: 45–60
Duration: 150 Minutes
Passing Score Required: 700/1000
Practice Tests: [NEW] AZ-500: Azure Security Technologies Exam 2024

Exam Pre-requisites: They should be able to manage the security posture, identify and remediate vulnerabilities, perform threat modelling, implement threat protection, and respond to security incident escalations.
Azure AZ-500 Exam Objectives:
* Manage identity and access (25–30%) (Study Material)
* Secure networking (20–25%) (Study Material)
* Secure computing, storage, and databases (20–25%) (Study Material)
* Manage security operations (25–30%)(Study Material)

7. AZ-700: Microsoft Certified: Azure Network Engineer Associate

Azure security engineers exam should have subject matter expertise in planning, implementing, and maintaining Azure networking solutions, including hybrid networking, connectivity, routing, security, and private access to Azure services.
Exam Name: Designing and Implementing Microsoft Azure Networking Solutions
Exam Code: AZ-700
Cost: $165 USD*
Number of Questions: 45–60
Duration: 120 Minutes
Passing Score Required: 700/1000
Exam Pre-requisites: They should be able to recommending, planning, and implementing Azure networking solutions. Professionals in this role manage the solutions for performance, resiliency, scale, and security. They deploy networking solutions by using the Azure Portal and other methods, including PowerShell, Azure Command-Line Interface (CLI), and Azure Resource Manager templates (ARM templates).
Azure AZ-700 Exam Objectives: (Study Material)

• Design and implement core networking infrastructure (20–25%) (Study Material)
• Design, implement, and manage connectivity services (20–25%) (Study Material)
• Design and implement application delivery services (20–25%) (Study Material)
• Design and implement Private access to Azure Services (5–10%) (Study Material)
• Secure network connectivity to Azure resources (15–20%) (Study Material)

8. AI-102: Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Engineer Associate

Azure security engineers exam should have subject matter expertise in Designing and Implementing a Microsoft Azure AI Solution build, manage, and deploy AI solutions that leverage Azure Cognitive Services and Azure Applied AI services.
Exam Name: Designing and Implementing a Microsoft Azure AI Solution
Exam Code: AI-102
Cost: $165 USD*
Number of Questions: 45–60
Duration: 120 Minutes
Passing Score Required: 700/1000
Exam Pre-requisites: They should be able to plan and manage an Azure Cognitive Services solutions, implement Computer Vision solutions, implement natural language processing solutions, implement knowledge mining solutions, and implement conversational AI solutions.
Azure AI-102 Exam Objectives: (Study Material)

• Plan and manage an Azure AI solution (15–20%) (Study Material)
• Implement decision support solutions (10–15%) (Study Material)
• Implement computer vision solutions (15–20%) (Study Material)
• Implement natural language processing solutions (30–35%) (Study Material)
• Implement knowledge mining and document intelligence solutions (10–15%) (Study Material) Link1 Link2
• Implement generative AI solutions (10–15%) (Study Material)

9. DP-203: Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Engineer Associate

Azure security engineers exam should have subject matter expertise in integrating, transforming, and consolidating data from various structured and unstructured data systems into a structure that is suitable for building analytics solutions.
Exam Name: Data Engineering on Microsoft Azure
Exam Code: DP-203
Cost: $165 USD*
Number of Questions: 45–60
Duration: 120 Minutes
Passing Score Required: 700/1000
Practice Tests: [NEW] Practice Sets | DP-203: Azure Data Engineer Exam 2024

Exam Pre-requisites: They should be able to helping stakeholders understand the data through exploration, building and maintaining secure and compliant data processing pipelines by using different tools and techniques. This professional uses various Azure data services and languages to store and produce cleansed and enhanced datasets for analysis.
Azure DP-203 Exam Objectives: (Study Material)
* Design and implement data storage (15–20%) (Study Material Link1, Link2)
* Develop data processing (40–45%) (Study Material Link1, Link2, Link3, Link4, Link5)
* Secure, Monitor and optimize data storage and data processing (30–35%) (Study Material Link1)

10. AZ-800: Microsoft Certified: Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate

Azure Windows Server Hybrid Core Infrastructure exam should have subject matter expertise in configuring and managing Windows Server on-premises, hybrid, and infrastructure as a service (IaaS) platform workloads.
Exam Name: Administering Windows Server Hybrid Core Infrastructure
Exam Code: AZ-800
Cost: $165 USD*
Number of Questions: 45–60
Duration: 120 Minutes
Passing Score Required: 700/1000
Exam Pre-requisites: They should be able to deploy and manage Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) in on-premises and cloud environments, manage Windows Servers and workloads in a hybrid environment, manage virtual machines and containers; implement and manage an on-premises and hybrid networking infrastructure, and manage storage and file services.
Azure AZ-800 Exam Objectives:
* Deploy and manage Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) in on-premises and cloud environments (30–35%) (Study Material Link1, Link2, Link3)
* Manage Windows Servers and workloads in a hybrid environment (10–15%) (Study Material)
* Manage virtual machines and containers (15–20%) (Study Material Link1)
* Implement and manage an on-premises and hybrid networking infrastructure (15–20%) (Study Material Link1)
* Manage storage and file services (15–20%) (Study Material Link1)

11. AZ-801: Microsoft Certified: Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate

Azure Windows Server Hybrid Core Infrastructure exam should have subject matter expertise in configuring and managing Windows Server on-premises, hybrid, and infrastructure as a service (IaaS) platform workloads.
Exam Name: Configuring Windows Server Hybrid Advanced Services
Exam Code: AZ-801
Cost: $165 USD*
Number of Questions: 45–60
Duration: 120 Minutes
Passing Score Required: 700/1000
Exam Pre-requisites: They should be able to secure Windows Server on-premises and hybrid infrastructures,, implement and manage Windows Server high availability, implement disaster recovery, migrate servers and workloads, and monitor and troubleshoot Windows Server environments.
Candidates who already passed AZ-800 exam, will earn the Microsoft Certified: Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate certification by passing the AZ-801 exam.
Azure AZ-801 Exam Objectives:
* Secure Windows Server on-premises and hybrid infrastructures (25–30%) (Study Material Link1)
* Implement and manage Windows Server high availability (10–15%) (Study Material Link1)
* Implement disaster recovery (10–15%) (Study Material Link1)
* Migrate servers and workloads (20–25%) (Study Material Link1)
* Monitor and troubleshoot Windows Server environments (20–25%) (Study Material Link1)

12. AZ-305: Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert

Azure Solutions Architect Expert exam should have subject matter expertise in designing cloud and hybrid solutions that run on Microsoft Azure, including compute, network, storage, monitoring, and security.
Exam Name: Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions
Exam Code: AZ-305
Cost: $165 USD*
Number of Questions: 45–60
Duration: 120 Minutes
Passing Score Required: 700/1000
Practice Tests: [NEW] AZ-305 Azure Architect Design Exam 2024

Exam Pre-requisites: They should be able to design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions, design data storage solutions, design business continuity solutions, and design infrastructure solutions.
Candidates who have already passed the AZ-104(Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate) exam, will earn the Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate certification by passing the AZ-305 exam.
Azure AZ-305 Exam Objectives: (Study Material)
* Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions (25–30%) (Study Material Link1)
* Design data storage solutions (20–25%) (Study Material Link1)
* Design business continuity solutions (15–20%) (Study Material Link1)
* Design infrastructure solutions (30–35%) (Study Material Link1, Link2, Link3)

13. AZ-400: Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert

Azure Solutions Architect Expert exam should have subject matter expertise in working with people, processes, and products to enable continuous delivery of value in organizations.
Exam Name: Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions
Exam Code: AZ-400
Cost: $165 USD*
Number of Questions: 45–60
Duration: 120 Minutes
Passing Score Required: 700/1000
Practice Tests: [NEW] AZ-400 Designing & Implementing Azure DevOps Exam 2024

Exam Pre-requisites: They should be able to configure processes and communications; design and implement source control, design and implement build and release pipelines, develop a security and compliance plan, and implement an instrumentation strategy.
Candidates who already passed AZ-104(Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate) or AZ-204(Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate)exam, will earn the Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert certification by passing the AZ-400 exam.
Azure AZ-400 Exam Objectives: (Study Material)
* Configure processes and communications (10–15%) (Study Material Link1, Link2)
* Design and implement source control (15–20%) (Study Material Link1)
* Design and implement build and release pipelines (40–45%) (Study Material Link1, Link2, Link3, Link4)
* Develop a security and compliance plan (10–15%) (Study Material Link1)
* Implement an instrumentation strategy (10–15%) (Study Material)

Microsoft Azure is one of the largest and fastest-growing cloud markets. I highly advise choosing one or more of the certifications mentioned above.

Companies are rapidly adopting Microsoft Azure cloud services, and the demand is growing for certified Azure Administrators, DevOps experts, Solution Architects, Developers, Data engineers and Security engineers. More than 70% of IT functions will be completely automated in the future.

We are providing Microsoft Azure Certifications Learning practice Tests that not only help you pass the Azure certification exams but also allow you to test your knowledge and brush up on your skills. Practice Tests fully prepare you with the knowledge and upgrade your skills which you need to start or advance your Azure career.

Microsoft Azure Certification Exam Survey 2024

What challenges are you facing while preparing for Azure Certification Exam?
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