Microsoft Azure Certifications Explained

Microsoft Azure Learning & Certification Paths

Want to boost your career in Azure? Click on the roles below to see QA‘s learning pathways, specially designed to give you the skills to succeed.

Required Star = Required
Certification = Certification
Data Scientist
Data Engineer
Developer .NET Experience
Architect Enterprise Architecture Experience
Administrator DevOps Windows Administration Experience
Administrator Security Windows Administration Experience
Administrator Architect Windows Administration Experience
AI Engineer
Data Engineer Average salary: £70,000

Microsoft Azure Certifications & Exams

Microsoft’s best of breed range of certifications for cloud engineers, cloud architects, software developers, DevOps Engineers, Data and Security professionals will serve to provide recognition of your skills and expertise, increase your employability, expand your knowledge and skills, and increase your earning potential.

Explore Microsoft Azure Certifications by Specialism

Azure Data and AI

Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Fundamentals (Exam AI-900)

Gain a foundational level knowledge on cloud concepts; core Azure services; and Azure management and governance features and tools.

Prepare with: Azure AI Fundamentals - 1 day

Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Engineer Associate (Exam AI-102)

Design and Implement an Azure AI Solution. Build AI infused applications that leverage Azure Cognitive Services, Azure Cognitive Search, and Microsoft Bot Framework.

Prepare with: MAI102 Designing and Implementing an Azure AI Solution - 4 days

Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Engineer Associate (Exam DP203)

Learn about the data engineering patterns and practices as it pertains to working with batch and real-time analytical solutions using Azure data platform technologies.

Prepare with: MDP203 Data Engineering on Microsoft Azure - 4 days

Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Fundamentals (Exam DP-900)

Explore the fundamentals of database concepts in a cloud environment. build your foundational knowledge of cloud data services within Microsoft Azure.

Prepare with: MDP900 Azure Data Fundamentals - 1 day

Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Scientist Associate (Exam DP-100)

Operate machine learning solutions at cloud scale using Azure Machine Learning. Use Python and machine learning to manage data ingestion and preparation, model training and deployment, and machine learning solution monitoring in Microsoft Azure.

Prepare with: MDP100 Designing and Implementing a Data Science Solution on Azure - 4 days

Microsoft Certified: Azure Database Administrator Associate (Exam DP-300)

Administer a SQL Server database infrastructure for cloud, on-premises and hybrid relational databases. Work with the Microsoft PaaS relational database offerings.

Prepare with: MDP300 Administering Microsoft Azure SQL Solutions - 4 days

Azure Administration

Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate (Exam AZ-104)

Manage their Azure subscriptions, secure identities, administer the infrastructure, configure virtual networking, connect Azure and on-premises sites, manage network traffic, implement storage solutions, create and scale virtual machines, implement web apps and containers, back up and share data, and monitor your solution.

Prepare with: MAZ104 Microsoft Azure Administrator - 4 days

Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals (Exam AZ-900)

Gain a foundational level knowledge on cloud concepts; core Azure services; and Azure management and governance features and tools.

Prepare with: MAZ900 Azure Fundamentals - 1 day

Microsoft Certified: Azure Network Engineer Associate (Exam AZ-700)

Design, implement, and maintain Azure networking solutions. Explore Azure Hybrid Networking connections, load balancing traffic, network routing, private access to Azure services, network security and monitoring.

Prepare with: MAZ700 Designing and Implementing Microsoft Azure Networking Solutions - 3 days

Microsoft Certified: Azure Virtual Desktop Specialty (Exam AZ-140)

Plan, deliver, and manage virtual desktop experiences and remote apps, for any device, on Azure.

Prepare with: MAZ140 Configuring and Operating Windows Virtual Desktop on Microsoft Azure - 4 days

Microsoft Certified: Azure for SAP Workloads Specialty (Exam AZ-120)

Prepare with: MAZ120 Planning and Deploying SAP on Azure - 3 days

Microsoft Certified: Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate (Exams AZ-800 & AZ-801)

Manage core Windows Server workloads and services using on-premises, hybrid, and cloud technologies. Explore identity, management, compute, networking, and storage in a Windows Server hybrid environment.

Prepare with: MAZ800 Administering Windows Server Hybrid Core Infrastructure - 5 days

and

MAZ801 Configuring Windows Server Hybrid Advanced Services - 4 days

Azure Devops

Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert (Exam AZ-400)

Candidates must hold one of Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate or Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate as pre-requisite

Design and implement DevOps processes and practices. Plan for DevOps, use source control, scale Git for an enterprise, consolidate artifacts, design a dependency management strategy, manage secrets, implement continuous integration, implement a container build strategy, design a release strategy, set up a release management workflow, implement a deployment pattern, and optimize feedback mechanisms.

Prepare with: MAZ400 Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions - 4 days

Azure Security

Microsoft Certified: Azure Security Engineer Associate (Exam AZ-500)

Implement security controls, maintain the security posture, and identify and remediation of vulnerabilities by using a variety of security tools.

Prepare with: MAZ500 Microsoft Azure Security Technologies - 4 days

Azure Architecture

Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert (Exam AZ-305)

Candidates must hold one of Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate or Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate as pre-requisite

Design Azure infrastructure solutions. Explore Azure tools and design considerations for governance, compute, application architecture, storage, data integration, authentication, networks, business continuity, and migrations.

Prepare with: MAZ305 Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions - 4 days

Azure Software Engineering

Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate (Exam AZ-204)

Create end-to-end solutions in Microsoft Azure. Implement Azure compute solutions, create Azure Functions, implement and manage web apps, develop solutions utilizing Azure storage, implement authentication and authorization, and secure their solutions by using KeyVault and Managed Identities.

Prepare with: MAZ204 Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure - 5 days

Microsoft Applied Skills Credentials

Microsoft Azure Applied skills credentials are aimed at technical professionals and will validate a single specific skill or narrow set of technologies. Applied skills credentials are project/scenario related.  Applied skills credentials are assessed via an interactive lab environment.

Build a natural language processing solution with Azure AI Language

Use Azure Natural language processing (NLP) solutions to build language models for your applications.

Prepare with: MAI3003 Build a natural language processing solution with Azure AI Services - Applied Skills Workshop - 1 day

Build an Azure AI Vision solution

Use Azure AI Vision services to Analyse and classify images; Detect and recognise objects and faces. Read text in images and documents and analyse video.

Prepare with: MAI3004 Build an Azure AI Vision solution with Azure AI services - Applied Skills Workshop - 1 day

Configure secure access to your workloads using Azure networking

Configure secure access to workloads using Azure networking.

Prepare with: MAZ1002 Configure Secure Access To Your Workloads Using Azure Virtual Networking - 1 day

Create an intelligent document processing solution with Azure AI Document Intelligence

Use Azure AI Document Intelligence solutions to capture data from typed or hand-written forms. Build a solution for your custom form types and integrate that solution into an Azure Cognitive Search pipeline.

Prepare with: MAI3002 Create document intelligence solutions with Azure AI Document Intelligence - Applied Skills Workshop - 1 day

Deploy and configure Azure Monitor

Implementing Azure Monitor to collect, analyse and act on monitoring telemetry from Azure environments.

Prepare with: MAZ1004 Deploy and configure Azure Monitor - Applied Skills Workshop - 1 day

Deploy cloud-native apps using Azure Container Apps

Configure a secure deployment solution for cloud-native apps. Learn how to build, deploy, scale, and manage containerized cloud-native apps using Azure Container Apps, Azure Container Registry, and Azure Pipelines.

Prepare with: MAZ2003 Deploy cloud-native apps using Azure Container Apps - Applied Skills Workshop - 1 day

Deploy containers by using Azure Kubernetes Service

Practice deploying containers, container orchestration, and managing clusters on Azure Kubernetes Service.

Prepare with: MAZ1001 Deploy and manage containers using Azure Kubernetes Service - Applied Skills Workshop - 1 day

Develop generative AI solutions with Azure OpenAI Service

Use the Azure OpenAI Service and large language models for building generative AI applications.

Prepare with: MAI050 Develop Generative AI Solutions with Azure OpenAI Service - 1 day

Implement security through a pipeline using Azure DevOps

Implement security through a pipeline assessment using Azure DevOps. Configure secure access to pipeline resources, configuring, and validating permissions, configure a project and repository structure, extending a pipeline, configure pipelines to use variables and parameters securely, and managing identity for projects, pipelines, and agents.

Prepare with: MAZ2001 Implement Security Through A Pipeline Using Azure DevOps - 1 day

Migrate SQL Server workloads to Azure SQL Database

Migrate SQL Server workloads to Azure SQL Database. Assess SQL Server components and compatibility for migration using the Azure SQL Migration Extension and Database Migration Assistant.

Prepare with: MDP3001 Migrate SQL Server workload to Azure SQL - Applied Skills Workshop - 1 day

Secure storage for Azure Files and Azure Blob Storage

Practice storing business data securely by using Azure Blob Storage and Azure Files. Validate your skills with storage accounts, storage containers, and file shares. Also, configuring encryption and networking to improve the security posture.

Prepare with: MAZ1003 Secure Storage For Azure Files And Azure Blob Storage - 1 day

Train and deploy a machine learning model with Azure Machine Learning

Train a machine learning model with Azure Machine Learning. Deploy your model to an online endpoint and track model metrics with MLflow.

Prepare with: MDP3007 Train and deploy a machine learning model with Azure Machine Learning - Applied Skills Workshop - 1 day

Why QA?

In 2023 QA trained over 5000 learners on Microsoft Azure technologies.

QA is one of the largest Microsoft learning partners in the UK, and one of the only Microsoft learning partners to be recognised as a Microsoft Solutions Partner for Microsoft Cloud.QA is a Microsoft Gold Learning Partner

QA has earned training services designations in all 6 Microsoft solution areas: Digital & App Innovation, Infrastructure (Azure), Data & AI (Azure), Modern Work, Business Applications, and Security. These designations showcase our proficiency and depth of knowledge in each solution area, which earns QA the unique status of Microsoft Solutions Partner for Microsoft Cloud.

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Azure Certification FAQs

What is Microsoft Azure?

Microsoft Azure is a comprehensive Public and Hybrid cloud computing platform.  Azure offers a range of Service models including Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS) which collectively enable organisations to build, deploy and manage applications, virtual networks, virtual machines, databases, data storage, AI and Machine Learning, IoT and other services in the cloud.

 

Which roles work with Microsoft Azure?

Microsoft Azure technologies are used by a wide range of IT Professionals including systems/cloud Engineers and systems/Cloud Analysts; Software Developers; Systems and Enterprise Architects; DevOps and SRE Engineers; Security professionals; Data professionals including Data Engineers, Data Scientists and AI Developers.

What are the career benefits of learning Azure?

Microsoft Azure skills are applicable to a broad range of IT Professions and roles. Whether you intend to develop your career in IT systems support and operations; Software development or a career as a data professional, skills and credentials with Microsoft Azure technologies will be relevant and valued throughout your career.

What skills do I need before learning Microsoft Azure?

Candidate pre-requisite skills depend on the role you are looking to certify upon within the Microsoft Azure technology stack.

Those looking to achieve Cloud engineering, security or architecture associate or expert certifications will generally have a strong background in modern IT systems. Specifically, you will have experience with operating systems, virtualization, cloud infrastructure, storage structures, and networking.

Those looking Cloud application development associate level certifications must be able to program in an Azure Supported Language and will have a general understanding cloud and of the software development lifecycle (Version control, Agile software development, and core software development principles).

Candidates for Azure DevOps certification should possess some Cloud administration and development experience and have proven expertise in at least one of these areas. Candidates should also possess strong knowledge of version control, Agile software development, and core software development principles.

Data professionals looking to gain Azure data engineering, data science or AI Development credentials should all possess a fundamental knowledge of Microsoft Azure. and depending on the role, should have Experience of writing Python or C# code to work with data and an understanding of core data principles and the key principles of data science (preparation of data, training ML models and using common ML libraries).

Do Microsoft Azure certifications expire?

Microsoft Azure associate and expert level certifications offer learners the opportunity to renew their credentials every 12 months (fundamentals certifications do not expire).  Holders of Associate and Expert level certifications have the option to sit a short, un-proctored renewal exam focusing on latest changes and features to the given Azure technology upon which they initially certified.  Renewal assessments are free and can be sat within a six-month window before the expiry of the candidate’s certification.

What's the difference between Fundamentals, Associate and Expert certifications?

Fundamentals certifications are generally suitable for non-technical professionals who are required to demonstrate a broad foundational level of knowledge of Microsoft Azure. Fundamentals certifications can also be used by technical professionals as a stepping stone to Associate level credentials.

Associate certifications are aimed at technical professionals who generally have two years or more experience working with Azure technologies.

Expert certifications validate more advanced levels of expertise and generally candidates will have 2-5 years of experience.