Do you want a fascinating career with good growth opportunities and lucrative salaries? If yes, then cloud computing might just be the best option for you. Today, many companies are moving their existing workloads to the cloud and reaping various benefits associated with it. Cloud-based solutions offer best-in-class safety and security of business information, thus making an environment of trust upon technology. In fact, the technology has the potential to transform a significant part of the IT industry, changing the way IT hardware is structured and purchased.
When you learn about cloud solutions, it is imperative to come across the top cloud service providers: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. Enterprises, as well as startups, have started to rely on these cloud platforms to achieve better efficiency, reduce costs, and innovate faster. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, cloud computing saw growth like never before and the cloud market has become bigger than ever. As a matter of fact, Gartner has predicted that 70% of organizations that use the cloud are expected to increase their cloud investments, an 18% growth in 2021.
Microsoft Azure is slowly getting a large chunk of the overall cloud market and continues to increase its revenue at an enormous rate. The company sees its cloud growth as fundamental to its success. Microsoft is accelerating its cloud capabilities and building the cloud for the next decade to help its clients become resilient and transform. In light of this trend, Azure has become a career of choice for many technology professionals. Nonetheless, a number of e-learning platforms are offering Azure training and certification to help aspirants upskill and step into the promising cloud landscape.
Are you curious to know more about Azure certifications and how to achieve them? If yes, then you are at the right place. This article will familiarize you with the top Azure certifications and what steps you can take to achieve them.
An Introduction to Azure Certifications
Microsoft Azure is not only a popular cloud platform that offers over 200 fully-featured cloud services, but it also offers various certifications to help professionals benchmark their cloud skills. The best part – you don’t need to gain expertise in all the services Azure offers, you only need to know about those which are relevant to your job role. Yes, you will find role-based Azure certifications and you can achieve the one that best suits your career needs.
Basically, Azure certifications are divided into three categories – fundamental certifications, role-based certifications, and additional certifications.
Among the role-based certifications, here are the popular ones you can choose from:
- Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Scientist Associate
- Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate
- Microsoft Certified: Azure DevOps Engineer
- Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate
- Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Engineer Associate
- Microsoft Certified Solutions Architect Expert
If you are unsure about the role and want to learn about Azure basics, then go for Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Certification and Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals.
Steps to Achieve an Azure Certification
Now that you are familiar with Azure certifications, you should know how to achieve them. First off, you should know that Azure certifications usually require candidates to qualify for an exam that contains around 40 to 60 questions typically. While the fundamental exams are of 45 minutes duration, the associate and expert role-based exams are of 100 minutes. Microsoft also offers certification training and practice exams to help candidates prepare better.
Some of the Azure certifications are designed for entry-level professionals, others require certain eligibility criteria to be fulfilled and experience to be possessed. Moreover, each certification comes with a curated list of free online learning paths and an exam details page. Based on either learning level, role, or product, you can browse a learning path or module and start learning. You will be engaged throughout the self-paced programs as the tutorials have step-by-step guidance and the modules are bite-sized.
When it comes to results, you will come to know your pass or fail status within a few minutes of completing the exam. There is also a detailed report that contains your exam score and feedback on your performance in the skill areas measured. If you have taken the exam with Pearson VUE, you will be able to access your score report by going to the Microsoft certification dashboard. All technical certification exams are reported on a scale of 1 to 1000. Any score of 700 or higher is a ‘pass’ and below it is a ‘fail.’ If you fail the exam, you have the option to retake it.
Overall, first you need to decide the type of certification you want to pursue, then go through its exam details, start preparing for the exam through an online course by Microsoft or other trusted training providers, schedule your exam, and pass it.
Bottom Line
The job market is full of opportunities for people who want to start a career in Azure. With growing demand, seasoned cloud practitioners also command high salaries across the world. So, you need to achieve an Azure certification and validate your cloud skills to take your career to new heights. The Information Technology world is changing rapidly, and by learning cloud computing, you are gaining a futuristic skill whose demand isn’t fading away any time soon.