Earn the new Azure Network Engineer Associate certification. Exam AZ-700 out of beta
We’re happy to announce that Exam AZ-700: Designing and Implementing Microsoft Azure Networking Solutions, is now live. Passing this exam is the only requirement to earn the new Azure Network Engineer Associate certification. If you passed the beta exam, the certification and exam will be reflected on your online transcript approximately 10 business days from today. Check your Microsoft Certification Dashboard, where you’ll also find your new digital badge. Don’t forget to celebrate and share your achievement. Add your newly acquired skills and badge to your LinkedIn profile to stand out in your network. Follow the instructions in the congratulations email you will receive. Or find your badge on your Certification Dashboard, and follow the instructions there to share it. Considering this certification? To help you prepare, check out the three-day Course AZ-700T00: Designing and Implementing Microsoft Azure Networking Solutions. This instructor-led training teaches network engineers how to design, implement, and maintain Azure networking solutions. To discuss training solutions customized to your project plans and goals, connect with a Microsoft Learning Partner. If you prefer to learn on your own, explore the Designing and Implementing Microsoft Azure Networking Solutions learning path on Microsoft Learn. For exam details, review the exam page. The Exam AZ-700 skills outline alerts you to the key topics covered. Gear up with the AZ-700 Study Guide created by Microsoft Cloud Advocate @thomasmaurer. Get hands-on guidance for using Azure networking services in the free Azure Networking Cookbook from Packt. Get started now Are you ready to let the world know that you have the Azure networking experience and skills that enable you to plan, implement, and maintain your organization’s Azure networking solutions? Get started learning about the Azure Network Engineer Associate certification today, and prepare to take your career to the next level.Now live: Exam AZ-305: Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions
Start or continue your journey to become a Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert. We’re happy to announce that Exam AZ-305: Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions is now live. Candidates who want to achieve Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification must earn the Azure Administrator Associate certification and pass this exam. If you passed Exam AZ-305 while it was in beta, that will be reflected on your Microsoft Certification Dashboard online transcript approximately 10 business days from today. If you already earned the Azure Administrator Associate certification, the new certification badge for Azure Solutions Architect Expert will also be there. Don’t forget to celebrate and share your achievement. To add your newly acquired skills and badges to your LinkedIn profile and to help you stand out in your network, follow the instructions in your congratulations email. Or, to share your badge, follow the instructions in your Certification Dashboard. Considering this certification? Regardless of where you are on your journey, there’s a path for you to earn the Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification. Choose one of the following options: If you’re just starting out, earn the Azure Administrator Associate certification and pass Exam AZ-305. If you have a current Azure Administrator Associate certification, you’re halfway there—just pass Exam AZ-305. If you’ve already passed Exam AZ-303, pass the new Exam AZ-305. If you’ve already passed Exam AZ-304, be sure to pass Exam AZ-303 before it retires on March 31, 2022. Pass both Exam AZ-303 and Exam AZ-304 before they retire on March 31, 2022. If you’ve already earned the Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification and it’s time to renew it, don’t take Exam AZ-305. Instead, renew your certification by passing a free online assessment on Microsoft Learn. For instructions, check out this short video. Get ready to take Exam AZ-305 Review the Exam AZ-305 page for details. The Exam AZ-305 skills outline details the key topics covered on the exam. Refresh your solutions architecture design skills with this Microsoft Learn collection of learning paths. Want more in-depth training? Take Course AZ-305: Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions. Connect with Microsoft Learning Partners in your area for in-person training. Gear up with the AZ-305 Study Guide created by Microsoft Cloud Advocate Thomas Maurer. Are you ready to let the world know that you have the experience and skills which enable you to design cloud and hybrid solutions that run on Azure, including compute, network, storage, monitoring, and security? It’s time to spotlight your solution architecture design and implementation skills and strengths with Exam AZ-305 and the Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification.Exams DP-203 & AI-102, data courses, practice tests: Updates to Azure certs and exams – May 2021
Updated May 6, 2021 Exam AI-102 is live! We’re happy to announce Exam AI-102: Designing and Implementing a Microsoft Azure AI Solution has moved from beta to live status on May 6, 2021. If you took the Exam AI-102 in beta, you should be receiving your scores in about 10 business days after May 6th. Exam DP-203 is live! We’re happy to announce Exam DP-203: Data Engineering on Microsoft Azure has moved from beta to live status on May 4, 2021. If you took the Exam DP-203 in beta, you should be receiving your scores in about 10 business days after May 4th. May is the month of data & AI training—new courses available We recently released these courses to help you move forward on your training and certification journey on Azure data & AI. Check out with them these recently released courses: Course DP-203T00: Data Engineering on Microsoft Azure. This is probably one of the best data engineer trainings available in the market (yes, I’m biased, but I truly believe it). This course not only will help you prepare for the Exam DP-203, but also will give you plenty of practical hands-on experience to apply in your job immediately. Course DP-090T00: Implementing a Machine Learning Solution with Microsoft Azure Databricks. In this one-day course, you'll learn how to use Azure Databricks to explore, prepare, and model data; and integrate Databricks machine learning processes with Azure Machine Learning. This course will help you prepare for Exam DP-100: Designing and Implementing a Data Science Solution on Azure. Course DP-080T00: Querying Data with Microsoft Transact-SQL. Top recommendation for anyone starting with relational databases. With this course you’ll learnt the basics of Microsoft's dialect of the standard SQL language: Transact-SQL. Topics include both querying and modifying data in relational databases that are hosted in Microsoft SQL Server-based database systems, including: Microsoft SQL Server, Azure SQL Database and, Azure Synapse Analytics. Don’t forget to reach one of our many Microsoft Learning Partners to talk about these courses. New practice test available More goods news if you are getting prepared for Azure data certifications: I’m glad to share that our partner MeasureUp recently released the DP-300: Administering Relational Databases on Microsoft Azure Microsoft Official Practice Test. This practice test is designed to help you prepare for the Exam DP-300. See all the practice tests available for Azure at MeasureUp. Azure Security Engineer Associate periodic refresh We are going through the regular certification update and we'd love your input through our exam blueprinting survey. The blueprint determines how many questions each skill in the exam will be assigned. If your expertise is in Azure security, please complete the online survey by May 19, 2021.Feedback needed - Modern Work/Microsoft 365 Technical Skilling Content Survey
The Modern Work/Microsoft 365 Worldwide Learning team is looking for feedback on future technical skilling learning content investment areas. Are you seeing a technical skills gap in certain areas? Are there Microsoft 365 products, topics, and/or scenarios where you are having difficulty finding the right training content? Please take 5 minutes to complete the following survey. Your feedback is critical to shaping future technical skilling offerings Link to Survey (approx. 5 minutes): https://forms.office.com/r/Cp0KBaLDxpNow live: Take Exam AZ-800 and Exam AZ-801
Start your journey: Become a Microsoft Certified: Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate. We’re happy to announce that Exam AZ-800: Administering Windows Server Hybrid Core Infrastructure and Exam AZ-801: Configuring Windows Server Hybrid Advanced Services are now live. To earn the new Microsoft Certified: Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate certification, you need to pass both of these exams. If you passed either of them while they were in beta, that achievement will be reflected on your Microsoft Certification Dashboard online transcript approximately 10 business days from today. If you passed them both, your new Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate certification badge will also be there. Don’t forget to celebrate and share your achievement. To add your newly acquired skills and badges to your LinkedIn profile and to help you stand out in your network, follow the instructions in your congratulations email. Or, to share your badge, follow the instructions in your Certification Dashboard. Considering this certification? You’re a great candidate for the Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate certification if you have subject matter expertise in configuring and managing Windows Server on-premises, hybrid, and infrastructure as a service (IaaS) platform workloads. You should also have extensive experience working with the Windows Server operating system. Typical responsibilities for administrators in this role include: Integrating Windows Server environments with Azure services and managing Windows Server in on-premises networks. Managing Windows Server IaaS workloads in Azure, in addition to migrating and deploying workloads to Azure. Collaborating with Azure administrators, enterprise architects, Microsoft 365 administrators, and network engineers. Implementing and managing on-premises and hybrid solutions, such as identity, management, compute, networking, and storage. Get ready for the exams Explore the exam pages for details. The Exam AZ-800 skills outline and the Exam AZ-801 skills outline alert you to key topics covered on the exams. Review the Level up: Windows Server hybrid administrator Microsoft Learn collection. Check out Course AZ-800: Administering Windows Server Hybrid Core Infrastructure and Course AZ-801: Configuring Windows Server Hybrid Advanced Services. To discuss training solutions customized to your project plans and goals, connect with a Microsoft Learning Partner. Watch on demand the Learn Live: Hybrid Infrastructure Study Hall. This seven-part series walks you through how to configure advanced Windows Server services using on-premises, hybrid, and cloud technologies and the Microsoft Learn modules related to the Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate certification. Gear up with the AZ-800 Study Guide and the AZ-801 Study Guide created by Microsoft Cloud Advocate Orin Thomas. Are you ready to shine a spotlight on the skills you’ve honed working in hybrid environments? Do you have the experience you need to integrate Windows Server environments with Azure services, manage Windows Server in on-premises networks, and manage Windows Server IaaS workloads in Azure? If so, skill up for the Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate certification and signal that you have what it takes to manage and deploy apps in today’s—and tomorrow’s—hybrid IT environment.Microsoft Exam Readiness Zone
Join Microsoft experts as they provide tips, tricks, and strategies for preparing for a Microsoft Certification exam. the exam prep videos will help you identify the key knowledge and skills measured on the exam and how to allocate your study time. Each video segment corresponds to a major topic area on the exam. Microsoft trainer will point out objectives that many test takers find difficult. In these videos, they include example questions and answers with explanations. I recommend that you watch these videos after you have completed training or had some practice. However, you can watch them at any point in your certification journey. They also provide additional exam preparation resources. Exam Readiness Zone | Microsoft Docs
Modern Desktop Administrator track roadmap
For those interested in the Modern Desktop Administrator track, I wanted to share some of the recent and upcoming changes regarding MD-100 and MD-101. Last month, The MD-100 course was updated to include Windows 11. The update consisted primarily of the inclusion of Windows 11, and the name of MD-100 changing to "Windows Client", covering both Windows 10 and 11. While there are some differences between Windows 10 and 11 (and the course has been updated to reflect those), Windows 11 is built on the same management fundamentals as Windows 10. The skills needed for Windows 11 remain largely unchanged. This should be considered a minor update, and students who recently took the MD-100 course should not feel compelled to take it again following the December update. Regarding future updates, the annual review of the track (the JTA) was recently completed. Additional updates will be coming in the Q2 CY 2022 timeframe. We'll also be refreshing the labs and incorporating changes based on feedback from MCTs and students that we've received since the last update. A couple highlights of those changes: MD-100 will still focus primarily on the Windows OS, however, more attention will be given to troubleshooting. Course 10982 (which retired in December 2021) and MD-100 cover many of the same topics, while 10982 contained more depth on support and troubleshooting. These are skills that align to the MDA role, and we will be updating MD-100 to include the depth similar to what 10982 covered. Some of the more advanced topics (such as imaging) will move to MD-101. With MD-101, we’ve seen some concerns with timing. Several reporting concerns of too much to cover in five days, while some reporting not enough. Given the breadth of topics that MD-101 covers, MCTs should have no problem filling five days. Obviously, in addition to the course content itself, we anticipate a certain amount of time for MCTs to spend providing anecdotal context, personal experience, whiteboarding, demos, and class discussion. After all, the value the MCT provides why students choose a learning partner for training. We'll be working to update content and materials to provide better guidance on this. We're also focusing efforts on labs that have a significant "wait time" and trying to be more strategic about how time can be better utilized when these scenarios occur.Azure training scholarships available on Coursera for Women in Cloud
“I have been out of a career since the pandemic, but I started taking some classes and self-teaching myself about data science and I have come to love it, as it has always been a dream of mine to go into IT but didn’t have the support when I was younger. Learning Cloud will put me back in the market of IT job seeking, and maybe I would land my dream job.” These are words from a brave woman, talking about the program that may help her transform not only her career, but her life. In April, we announced we are teaming up with Coursera on new Azure Specializations and Scholarships. Today, we are excited to share that Azure AI Fundamentals and Azure Data Fundamentals are now live on Coursera and included in the Women In Cloud scholarship program. This initiative offers 625 scholarships to all three specializations and the respective certification exam vouchers at no cost. One in four women have considered downshifting their careers or leaving the workforce due to Coronavirus. With nearly 150 million new tech jobs expected to come in the next five years in fields like cyber security, software development and machine learning, we cannot afford to not have women in these jobs. Instead, we want to enable women to learn new skills and be ready for these opportunities. “Digital skilling is becoming a critical necessity in today’s world and women are struggling to get access to career building education. That’s why we are excited to partner with Microsoft and Coursera on this special initiative,” said Women in Cloud President Chaitra Vedullapalli. Two additional specializations available now Microsoft Azure DP-900 Data Fundamentals Exam Prep Specialization: In this new Specialization, students can learn the core database concepts in a cloud environment. Students build foundational knowledge of cloud data services within Microsoft Azure, and prepare for the Exam DP-900: Azure Data Fundamentals. Microsoft Azure AI-900 AI Fundamentals Exam Prep Specialization: In this new Specialization from Microsoft, students gain foundational knowledge about core AI concepts and become familiar with services in Microsoft Azure that can be used to create AI solutions. Students learn how to implement common machine learning and AI workloads on Azure and prepare for the Exam AI-900: Azure AI Fundamentals. What to expect from this Azure skilling program? Applicants who are accepted into this program will enroll in and complete the three Azure digital skilling Specializations via the Coursera platform: Azure Fundamentals, AI Fundamentals and Data Fundamentals. What’s more, scholars who complete these trainings will also receive a certification voucher for each Specialization to take the respective exams for free. With all three Azure Fundamental specializations now accessible, scholarship recipients can gain a strong foundation of the cloud skills needed for in-demand tech jobs. We all at Microsoft, Coursera, and Women in Cloud are fully invested in this initiative. Kim Akers, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Worldwide Learning said it better: “At Microsoft, our mission is to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more. To make this happen, we need to ensure everyone has access to the education and skills they need to be successful—this includes expanding ways and places to learn.” Help us spread the word on this great initiative, so more women get access to it. Go to aka.ms/AzureFundamentalsScholarships.Check out recent updates to Azure certs and exams – February 2021
Stay tuned: New beta exams coming on February 23 For the Azure AI Engineer Associate certification, the new Exam AI-102: Designing and Implementing a Microsoft Azure AI Solution will replace Exam AI-100; for the Azure Data Engineer Associate certification, the new Exam DP-203: Data Engineering on Microsoft Azure will replace both Exam DP-200 and Exam DP-201. Check out the Microsoft Learn Blog for the announcements on February 23. Coming in March: Windows Virtual Desktop Specialty certification We announced at the Windows Virtual Desktop Master Class digital event the upcoming Windows Virtual Desktop Specialty certification. The new certification and corresponding beta Exam AZ-140: Configuring and Operating Windows Virtual Desktop on Microsoft Azure will be released late March 2021. Azure training and certifications swag Get inspired with our 1-minute Azure certifications video. Check out (and download) the new Azure Training + Certification Guide. Download the Azure certifications poster.
