Whether you are a new entrant looking forward to a rewarding career in cloud computing or you are already a pro, getting Azure certifications to give you an unbeatable edge. Azure brings various technical opportunities as it validates your knowledge of cloud services and concepts and other related domains like security and support.
Who should look for Azure certifications?
You shall get Microsoft Azure certifications if
- You wish to validate your grasp of cloud computing concepts, models, and services. It also includes different types of cloud public, private, hybrid, IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service), and SaaS (Software as a Service).
- You wish to validate your knowledge of Azure when it concerns security, privacy, compliance, and trust.
- You are familiar with networking, storage, computing, application support, and application development concepts.
- You wish to prove your skills for role-based or specialty-based Azure certifications.
What Azure certifications shall you target in 2022?
As the market for cloud computing is evolving (it showed a growth of over 15% this year compared to earlier), it has become more important to get equipped with the proper certifications to stand out and excel. Various companies provide cloud services- Amazon AWS and Google Cloud, but Microsoft is the undoubted leader.
There are four broad categories of certifications for Microsoft Azure which have been categorized on the basis of skills, experience, and job roles.
- Beginner of Fundamental-Level Certifications
- Intermediate or Associate-Level Certifications
- Expert-Level Certifications
- Specialty Certifications
As one goes up the levels, the skill requirements also increase. However, to begin with, given below are the Azure certifications you shall aim for in 2022.
| Certification Exam | Level | Requirements | Cost (In INR) |
| Exam AZ-900 – Microsoft Azure Fundamentals | Beginners | Foundation level knowledge of Azure-based cloud services | 3696 |
| Exam AI-900 – Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals | Beginners | Basic concepts of artificial intelligence (AI) and Azure cloud | 3696 |
| Exam DP-900: Microsoft Azure Data Fundamentals | Beginners | Basics of data programming and database administration. Knowledge of relational and non-relational data, different types of data workloads like transactional or analytical. | 3696 |
| Exam DP-203: Data Engineering on Microsoft Azure | Intermediate | Knowledge of how to implement data solutions using the Microsoft Azure services such as Azure SQL database and Azure Synapse analytics.Knowledge of data processing languages- SQL, Python, Scala etc. and understanding of parallel processing and data architecture patterns. | 4800 |
| Exam DP-300: Administering Relational Databases on Microsoft Azure | Intermediate | Knowledge of on-premises and cloud relational databases built with Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Azure Data Services. | 4800 |
| Exam AZ-104: Microsoft Azure Administrator | Intermediate/Associate | Basic knowledge of Azure applications, cloud, operating systems, and storage infrastructureBasic knowledge of working with virtualization tools and networking components. Basic concepts related to the understanding of Command Line Interface and PowerShell. | 4800 |
| Exam AZ-204: Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure | Intermediate/Associate | Advanced knowledge in apps and service development by implementing tools and technologies provided on the Azure platformMinimum 1 year of work experience in developing solutions along with proficiency in at least one programming language that supports cloud | 4800 |
| Exam AZ-500: Microsoft Azure Security Technologies | Intermediate/Associate | Knowledge of implementing security controls on the Azure platformKnowledge of virtualization, Amazon Kubernetes Service, and clouds N-tier architectureKnowledge of security tools for recognizing and protecting applications and data | 4800 |
| Exam AZ-305: Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions | Expert | Basic knowledge in data management, identity, security and IT operations.1-year experience in working with the Azure platform | 4800 |
| Exam AZ-400: Microsoft Azure DevOps Solutions | Expert | Knowledge of Azure administration and development.Ability to design and implement DevOps practices for configuration management, building, and testing using the Azure technologies | 4800 |
The above table indicates the most sought-after Microsoft Azure certifications, each certification exam’s requirements, and azure certification costs. Only having the requisite skills or experience may not be enough.
The exams are designed to challenge you, and there are around 40-60 questions (minimum) to be solved within a stipulated time. Passing marks for most exams are 700. To score those marks, you may consider enrolling for Azure Certification training provided by several industry leaders like Koenig Solutions, who provide targeted, systematic training for such exams.
In conclusion:
Acquiring Microsoft certifications needs a lot of focus and dedication as your technical expertise as well as a hands-on experience are tested. But, once you have these certifications, a number of doors automatically open for you.
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