After this lesson, you will be able to: Plan an Azure certification path: AZ-900 (Fundamentals), AZ-104 (Administrator), AZ-204 (Developer); decide which matters for your goals.
Azure certs are well-recognized in Microsoft-heavy enterprises. This lesson maps the right path for engineers.
AZ-900 (Microsoft Azure Fundamentals): broad survey. $99. 2-4 weeks of study. Good first cert; HR-recognised. AZ-104 (Azure Administrator): ops focus, VMs, networking, storage, identity. $165. 2-3 months. The 'cloud engineer' cert. AZ-204 (Azure Developer): code focus, App Service, Functions, Cosmos, Service Bus, Key Vault. $165. 2-3 months. The 'developer' cert. AZ-305 (Solutions Architect Expert): senior; requires AZ-104. Specialty: SC-200 (Security), DP-203 (Data Engineer), AI-102 (AI Engineer), etc.
DevOps Engineer / Cloud Engineer: AZ-104 (Administrator). Backend Developer / App Engineer: AZ-204 (Developer). Solutions Architect (senior): AZ-305. Security Engineer: SC-200 (Operations Analyst) or SC-100 (Architect). Data Engineer: DP-203 then DP-300. Most learners should pair the cert with hands-on portfolio.
Microsoft Learn (free; official): courses + sandbox labs. Best free resource. Scott Duffy + John Savill on YouTube: high-quality free Azure cert courses. Tutorials Dojo practice exams: $15. Same brand as the AWS practice exams; same quality. Whizlabs: cheaper practice; slightly less polished. Budget: $150-300 (course + practice + exam). Often expensable.
Going straight to AZ-104 without hands-on Azure work. The exam tests scenarios you've never seen; you'll struggle. Stacking AZ-900 + AZ-104 + AZ-204 + AZ-305 in 6 months. Looks like paper-engineer. Space them; build portfolios. Treating certs as primary signal. Pair with deployed projects. Buying full-price exams when free voucher events happen quarterly.
Pick the right path.
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