Microsoft unveiled a new set of Azure Certification tracks at the recent #MSInspire. With the growing number of Azure services, existing Azure exams were becoming more complex. Candidates had to be able to understand all of it. This is practically impossible. In my 70-533 exam preparation training, I had participants tell me that the syllabus was too complicated and many of these services were not part of their job description. However, they must learn about them for the exam.
Why is this important?
Here’s a excerpt from Liberty Munson’s post at Microsoft Learning blog.
“First, we have received consistent feedback that our current Azure exams cover a wide range of skills that very few people, even experts, would have. Azure’s features are constantly expanding and so is the work that Azure Administrators have to do. We are working to fix that. We are removing unnecessary features from Azure Administrators and making sure that certification covers more of the skills you need to succeed.
Second, we have conducted research on the value of certification. We found that people get certified to not only build or update their skills but also to differentiate themselves from other professionals, increase job opportunities, and have more influence and impact in any future or current job.
What will the new certification stack look and feel like?
Role-based Certification & Training Approach. This slide is from #MSInspire 2018, which summarizes it all.
There will be three tracks in general.
Microsoft Certified Azure Administrator
Microsoft Certified Azure Developer
Microsoft Certified Azure Solutions Architect
The Azure Administrator track is the first track to receive the (beta-) light. This track is for:
Azure Administrators manage services around storage security, networking, and compute. Their current/future work involves provisioning these services, sizing them, and monitoring their performance.
They offer recommendations regarding performance and scalability
Candidates should be familiar using Azure Portal, ARM templates and PowerShell.
They should be familiar with general concepts like Operating Systems, Virtualization and Cloud Computing, Storage Structures, Networking, and Networking.
Three exams are currently being offered (in beta), for this track.
AZ-100: Microsoft Azure Infrastructure and Deployment
AZ-101: Microsoft Azure Integration and Security
AZ-102: Microsoft Azure Administrator Certificate Transition (upgrade).Covers delta topics between new certification and exam 70-533
Which one is right for you?
Microsoft plans to soon roll out exams for other Azure tracks. This model could also be used for other Microsoft technologies.
CloudThat will soon offer Certification BootCamps to prepare for these exams.
Stay tuned to https://blog.cloudthat.com/ for more updates on these new and upcoming Certification Tracks as well as our #ExamExperiences on these newly released tracks.