Passing The Microsoft AZ-900 Exam

Getting Microsoft Certified for Azure Fundamentals

I decided to challenge the AZ-900 Exam, as I got a Microsoft voucher for a free exam attempt. So, I decided to give the exam a crack. Basing it off other peer’s experience, who had already taken this exam. The consensus I had heard is that it should be a simple exam if you have used Azure before and worked on different services (e.g., IaaS, PaaS, SaaS.) I probably spent about less than 8 hours prepping, as I felt the topics seemed general and things I have already been exposed too.

Prepping to take the exam

My personal experience with Azure is that I have worked with it for 3+ years. If you have spent a lot of time in the Azure environment building things, configuring things and managing different items. You will have no problem challenging this exam. Most of the concepts are related to everyday tasks that you would be working on. Or tasks you would have been exposed to at some point while engineering designs in Azure.

Here is a score list of what you need to know –> https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/exams/az-900

• Cloud concepts (20-25%)
• Core Azure services (15-20%)
• Core solutions and management tools on Azure (10-15%)
• General security and network security features (10-15%)
• Identity, governance, privacy, and compliance features (20-25%)
• Azure cost management and Service Level Agreements (10-15%)
  

Official Free Microsoft Training

Microsoft also provides free training on the fundamentals of Azure and all the Azure services. I briefly went through this prepping before the exam. Though, most of what I learned from this training were topis that I already had worked on in Azure. So, it really was more of a re-enforcement training module for me. If you are totally new to Azure, then I really recommend you go through all the training modules and fully learn each concept. As it will be tested on the exam. Check out the training modules here –> https://docs.microsoft.com/en-ca/learn/modules/intro-to-azure-fundamentals/

Exam Practice Questions

To brush up on the types of questions I might face, I decided to test myself with an exam bank. The website called Exam Topics has a great set of questions that will better prepare you for the exam. I recommend you check their site out and put your knowledge to the test here –> https://www.examtopics.com/exams/microsoft/az-900/

I did find there are some new topics that were not covered in the practice questions. Things like Azure IoT Services came up. So be sure you read up on all the newest and latest Azure Services that are released. They can be thrown into the exam at any time. Luckily, for me I had gone through and reviewed any new services Azure had out in the last 6 months. Just in case questions came up about them, which they did! So, I am glad I had gone out and read up on it.

What is next?

For my next Microsoft certifications, I plan to take the new Security Operations cert. It looks like it has just come out this year (2021). The exam is in beta right now, but I believe by the time I get to it. That there will be a final and full format on it.  The other cert I plan to look at is either the Azure – Security engineer or the Microsoft Security Administrator. Both are relevant to the security world, and I think would provide a great benefit in terms of putting my Azure and MS security skills to the test.

Have you taken any recent Microsoft certs? Share your experiences below in the comments section!

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