Azure DevOps Certification Path: A Step-by-Step Guide

The Azure DevOps certification path is designed to help you demonstrate your expertise in DevOps practices and technologies. It's a great way to boost your career and earning potential.

There are several certification paths to choose from, including the Azure Developer Associate and the Azure DevOps Engineer Expert. These paths are outlined in the Azure DevOps certification program.

To get started, you'll need to meet the prerequisites for your chosen certification path. For example, the Azure Developer Associate requires a basic understanding of Azure services and experience with Azure development tools.

To become a Microsoft Certified DevOps Engineer, you need to have at least one of two Azure certifications and then pass the AZ-400 exam. You'll also need to take a prep course to pass the exam.

To qualify for the AZ-400 exam, you need to verify that you meet the qualifications, which includes having at least one of the required pre-certifications, such as the Azure Administrator Associate or Azure Developer Associate certification. Once you have one of these certifications, you can take a training course to prepare for the exam.

Here's a summary of the Azure DevOps certification path:

Note that the AZ-400 exam covers a broad array of subjects, including logging, telemetry, authentication and authorization strategies, and more. It's recommended to take a training course to prepare for the exam.

To become an Azure Administrator Associate, you need to pass the AZ-103 exam, which is a prerequisite for the Azure's DevOps Engineer Expert exam. This exam is a must-have for anyone looking to get into the role of Azure Administrator Associate.

The AZ-103 exam requires a thorough understanding of Azure applications, storage infrastructure, cloud, and operating systems, as well as virtualization tools and network components. You'll also need to be familiar with the command line interface and PowerShell.

If you've already passed the 70-533 exam certification, you can take the Exam AZ-102: Microsoft Azure Administrator Certification Transition. However, this transition exam was retired on June 30, 2019, so you'll need to take the AZ-103 exam instead.

Here are the key skills you'll need to pass the AZ-103 exam:

Once you've passed the AZ-103 exam, you'll become a Microsoft Certified Azure Administrator Associate and earn an Azure Administrator Associate badge.

To become a Microsoft Certified DevOps Engineer, you need to have at least one of two Azure certifications and then pass the AZ-400 exam. You'll also need to take a prep course to prepare for the exam.

The AZ-400 exam covers a broad array of subjects, including logging, telemetry, alerting strategies, and security and compliance. It's a rigorous exam, and you'll want to make sure you're fully prepared before taking it.

To qualify for the AZ-400 exam, you'll need to hold an Azure Administrator Associate certificate or an Azure Developer Associate certificate. You'll also need to have expertise in at least one of these areas.

The exam is designed for individuals who want to learn and understand DevOps practices, Agile practices, and establish themselves in the market for success. It's also beneficial for those working in Administration, Software development, Lead Engineer, or Project Management Role and looking to move into the DevOps domain.

Here are the specific skills and knowledge areas that the AZ-400 exam covers:

After obtaining the Azure DevOps Engineer Expert certification, you'll have plenty of lucrative career prospects to choose from. According to Microsoft, the DevOps Engineer certification is one of the most popular, and it's not uncommon for DevOps Engineers to hold multiple Azure certifications.

Here are some of the career opportunities available to you once you obtain the DevOps Engineer certification:

To integrate logging and monitoring solutions, you'll need to configure and integrate container monitoring and monitoring tools. This includes tools like Azure Monitor, Prometheus, and Dynatrace.

You'll also need to create a feedback loop from platform monitoring tools, such as Azure Diagnostics extension, Log Analytics agent, Azure Platform Logs, and Event Grid. This helps ensure that your monitoring tools are working effectively.

To manage access control to the monitoring platform, you'll need to configure access control to the monitoring tools. This ensures that only authorized personnel can view monitoring data.

Here's a list of some monitoring tools you might use:

By integrating logging and monitoring solutions, you'll be able to gain a better understanding of your application's performance and identify potential issues before they become major problems.

To prepare for the Azure DevOps certification path, you'll need to meet the prerequisites. You must hold an Azure Administrator Associate certificate or an Azure Developer Associate certificate to take the AZ-400 exam.

To get started, you'll need to study and prepare for the exam. Microsoft Learn offers a wealth of resources, including learning modules, instructor-led courses, and official practice exams. Official training providers like Infosec also offer specialized courses that are tailored to specific Azure certifications.

You should create a study plan to block out dedicated study time each week and schedule all the exam objectives. Taking practice exams under timed conditions helps identify knowledge gaps, build confidence, and hone your test-taking skills.

To verify that you qualify to sit for the AZ-400 exam, check if you have one of the required pre-certifications. You'll need to obtain the Azure Administrator Associate certification or the Azure Developer Associate certification before taking the exam.

Here's a summary of the steps to prepare for the Azure DevOps certification path:

By following these steps, you'll be well-prepared to take the AZ-400 exam and become a certified Microsoft Azure DevOps Engineer Expert.

Pursuing the Azure DevOps certification is a great career move, as it opens up many lucrative career prospects. You can expect to earn a salary of $132,086 per year as a DevOps Engineer.

The certification is role-based, meaning it will help you get into a position working with Azure in specific ways based on common company roles. This standardization helps businesses fill their DevOps roles with verifiable, qualified professionals.

With the Azure DevOps certification, you'll be qualified for senior roles such as DevOps Engineer, Azure Big Data Specialist, and Cloud Security Engineer. The average annual salary for a DevOps Engineer in the United States is $132,086, while an Azure Big Data Specialist can earn around $82,199.

Here's a breakdown of the average annual salaries for various Azure DevOps roles:

The Azure DevOps certification is a valuable asset to have in your career, as it demonstrates your proficiency in DevOps and cloud roles. It's essential to stay current with new DevOps practices to remain valuable in the tech field.

In today's fast-paced software development world, miscommunications and lack of IT foresight can lead to numerous problems. Software development is an intense process with many moving parts, and it's easy to see why DevOps has become a game-changer.

DevOps combines IT operations with software development to shorten the development cycle and provide continuous delivery of high-quality software. This is especially important because it streamlines the development process from start to finish.

The importance of DevOps cannot be overstated. Having a certified expert design and implement processes to streamline the development process is an invaluable asset to any company. In fact, having a certified DevOps engineer can help you qualify for better jobs in DevOps and cloud roles, possibly with higher pay.

Here are some key responsibilities of a DevOps engineer:

As a DevOps engineer, you'll be working with teams, processes, and products to facilitate continuous delivery of value. You'll be designing and implementing strategies for collaboration, security, source control, code, infrastructure, compliance, continuous integration, testing and delivery, monitoring and feedback.

As a certified Azure DevOps Engineer, you'll have a wide range of career opportunities to choose from, including roles like DevOps Engineer, Cloud Administrator, and Cloud Developer, which can lead to salaries ranging from $86,384 to $132,086 per year.

The Azure DevOps certification is role-based, meaning it's designed to help you get into a specific position working with Azure in a company. This standardization makes it easier for businesses to fill their DevOps roles with qualified professionals.

You can expect to work on various tasks as a DevOps Engineer, such as building systems to enhance customer experience, deploying product updates, and implementing integrations for customers. Your average annual salary will be $132,086.

The certification also opens up opportunities for you to work as an Azure Big Data Specialist, where you'll design and implement big data services to extract value from data. This role requires you to be highly analytical and love data.

Here are some key roles you'll be qualified for with the Azure DevOps certification:

These roles offer a great starting point for your career as a certified Azure DevOps Engineer, and with the right skills and experience, you can expect to move into leadership positions or take on more challenging roles within the company.

To become certified in Azure DevOps, you'll need to complete a certification process that's divided into two main types: individual and team certifications.

The individual certification is designed for professionals who want to demonstrate their expertise in a specific area of Azure DevOps, such as Azure Boards or Azure Pipelines.

You can choose from several individual certifications, including Azure Developer Associate and Azure DevOps Engineer Expert.

The team certification is designed for teams that want to demonstrate their ability to work together effectively using Azure DevOps tools.

To obtain a team certification, you'll need to complete a series of challenges and projects that test your team's skills and knowledge in Azure DevOps.

The certification process typically takes several weeks to complete and requires a significant amount of time and effort.

You'll need to study for and pass a series of exams to demonstrate your knowledge and skills in Azure DevOps.

The exams cover a range of topics, including Azure Boards, Azure Pipelines, and Azure Test Plans.

There are also several free study resources available to help you prepare for the exams, including online tutorials and study guides.

As a DevOps Engineer Expert, you'll be responsible for working with teams, processes, and products to facilitate continuous delivery of value. This involves combining people with processes and technologies to create efficient workflows.

Your main responsibilities will include designing and implementing strategies for collaboration, security, source control, code, infrastructure, compliance, continuous integration, testing and delivery, and monitoring and feedback. This is a broad range of tasks that requires attention to detail and a strong understanding of cloud solutions.

Here are some key responsibilities that DevOps Engineers typically handle:

In a day-to-day setting, you'll be responsible for optimizing your organization's development architecture through tasks like deploying Azure upgrades, monitoring software environments, and conducting regular system checks to ensure security, performance, and availability.

As a Collaboration Facilitator, your main goal is to help teams adopt DevOps tools and practices. You'll be responsible for providing training and creating documentation to ensure everyone is on the same page.

One of the key tasks is to help teams adopt DevOps tools and practices. This involves creating a culture of teamwork and improvement within the organization.

Here are some specific responsibilities of a Collaboration Facilitator:

By earning the Azure DevOps certification, you'll position yourself as a valuable team member, ready to help with faster and more efficient software development and deployment.

As a Security Advocate, your primary responsibility is to ensure the security of the organization's software and systems. This involves integrating security into the DevOps process.

You'll need to implement security measures in code, manage access, and ensure compliance with regulations. This means automating dependencies scanning for security and compliance, assessing and reporting risks, and designing a source code compliance solution.

To achieve this, you'll need to evaluate and configure a vault solution, such as Azure Key Vault or Hashicorp Vault, to manage security certificates and secrets storage and retrieval.

Here are some key tasks to focus on as a Security Advocate:

Maintaining a build strategy is crucial to ensure that your software development pipeline runs smoothly and efficiently. Monitoring pipeline health is key, and you should keep an eye on failure rates, duration, and flaky tests.

To optimize build performance, consider reducing costs, shortening build times, and improving reliability. Analyzing CI load can also help determine the right build agent configuration and capacity.

Here are some specific tasks to focus on:

By following these tasks, you can ensure that your build strategy is running efficiently and effectively.

Standardizing builds across organizations is crucial for maintaining consistency and efficiency. You'll want to manage self-hosted build agents, which can be done using VM templates or containerization.

To create reusable build subsystems, you can use YAML templates, Task Groups, Variable Groups, and other tools. This will help streamline the build process and reduce errors.

Standardizing builds also involves designing a process for managing self-hosted build agents. This can be achieved by creating VM templates or containerizing your build agents.

To create reusable build subsystems, consider the following tools:

By standardizing builds across organizations, you'll be able to reduce errors, improve efficiency, and maintain consistency. This will also make it easier to troubleshoot issues and identify areas for improvement.

If you're looking to get certified in Azure DevOps, you'll want to check out Pluralsight's AZ-400 training course, which is prepared by John Savill and covers a lot of the exam outline.

Pluralsight's course is a great place to start, but you may also want to consider instructor-led training, which can provide a full week of training and a free voucher at the end of the training.

There are also several classroom training programs and online classes available to help you prepare for the exam, including Microsoft's official training providers like Infosec.

To prepare for the exam, you'll want to study and develop a study plan, block out dedicated study time each week, and create a schedule that covers all the exam objectives.

Microsoft Learn offers a wealth of resources, including learning modules, instructor-led courses, and official practice exams, which can be a great place to start your studies.

Here are some essential resources to help you ace the exams:

To get the most out of your studies, it's also a good idea to take practice exams under timed conditions, which can help you identify knowledge gaps and build confidence.

Finally, it's also a good idea to join online forums and communities, like Infosec's TechExams, to connect with other Azure enthusiasts and cybersecurity professionals.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when taking the exam:

Cloud Academy's AZ-400 Learning Path offers a unique hands-on lab environment access, where you get free sandbox access to practice along with course and exam questions preparation.

The average annual salary for a Cloud Account Manager in the United States is $107,742, which can be a great motivator to get certified in Azure DevOps.

The AZ-400 exam covers a broad range of subjects, including logging, telemetry, and alerting strategies.

You'll also be tested on authentication and authorization strategies, logging and monitoring solutions, and governance enforcement mechanisms. These skills are essential for a Cloud Account Manager or Cloud Sales and Purchase Manager.

The exam format consists of multiple-choice questions, where you'll need to select the right answer from a list of options. Some questions may have multiple correct responses, so be sure to choose all that apply.

Here's a breakdown of what you can expect from the exam format:

In multiple-choice questions, you'll have to select the right answer from a list of options. This type of question assesses your comprehension of fundamental DevOps ideas, such as code management and build automation.

You'll have multiple responses to choose from, and it's possible for more than one to be correct. Make sure to choose all that apply, as this will be part of your assessment.

A question might look like "Which Azure service would you use to set up a continuous integration (CI) pipeline?" and you'll need to select the appropriate item from the list provided.

Scenario-Based questions are a key component of the AZ-400 exam, and they're designed to test your practical knowledge of Azure DevOps tools and processes. You'll be given a real-world problem, and you'll need to decide the best approach using your knowledge.

These questions are meant to simulate real-world scenarios you might face on the job as a DevOps engineer. You'll need to analyze the scenario, think critically, and pick the right steps.

Here's an example of what a scenario-based question might look like: "Your company wants to automate its deployment process. What steps should you take using Azure DevOps?" You'll need to use your knowledge of Azure DevOps tools and processes to solve the problem.

Scenario-based questions are designed to be challenging, but they're also an opportunity to showcase your skills and experience. By answering these questions correctly, you'll demonstrate your ability to think critically and solve problems in a real-world setting.

In addition to scenario-based questions, the AZ-400 exam also includes multiple-choice questions. These questions will test your comprehension of fundamental DevOps concepts, such as code management and build automation.

An Azure DevOps Engineer is a professional responsible for combining people, technologies, and processes to deliver services and products, meeting business objectives and customer needs. This role requires expertise in designing and implementing DevOps practices, including continuous integration and delivery, source control, and infrastructure as code.

To become an Azure DevOps Engineer, you'll need to pass the AZ-400 exam, which requires prior experience in DevOps and Azure administration. The exam covers topics such as DevOps culture, CI/CD, source control management, and security and compliance. You can prepare for the exam by taking courses and practicing with hands-on labs, such as those offered by Cloud Academy.

The AZ-400 certification is ideal for those who want to specialize in Azure DevOps practices, and it's a requirement for the Azure DevOps Engineer Expert role. This role involves designing and implementing DevOps strategies, implementing continuous delivery and integration, and ensuring security and compliance in the DevOps lifecycle.

As an Azure DevOps Engineer, you'll be responsible for designing and implementing secure, scalable, resilient, and cost-effective cloud solutions. This involves writing infrastructure as Code (IaC), providing systems support, and writing application deployment automation to scale delivery.

To become a certified Azure DevOps Engineer, you'll need to pass the AZ-400 exam, which measures your skills in developing an instrumentation strategy, developing a Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) strategy, and managing source control. You'll also need to have expertise as an Azure administrator or developer.

A DevOps Engineer is responsible for working with teams, processes, and products to facilitate continuous delivery of value. They'll design and implement strategies for collaboration, security, source control, code, infrastructure, compliance, continuous integration, testing and delivery, and monitoring and feedback.

Here are some key responsibilities of a DevOps Engineer:

The average annual salary for a DevOps Engineer in the United States is $132,086, and the role requires problem-solving skills, strong communication and collaboration skills, software engineering experience, and proficiency in Git and GitHub workflows.

Here are some of the key skills required for a DevOps Engineer role:

Case studies are a key part of becoming an Azure DevOps Engineer. They're like mini-projects, where you're presented with a detailed business scenario and asked to come up with a solution.

You'll be given a scenario, such as a company struggling with its DevOps processes, or wanting to improve efficiency using Azure. After reading the scenario, you'll answer several questions about how to solve the problem.

These case studies can be challenging, but it's all about staying calm and thinking through the problem step by step. Imagine you're an expert being called in to fix things, and you need to come up with the best solution.

Here are some key things to keep in mind when tackling case studies:

As an Azure DevOps Engineer, you'll want to ensure that your package management strategy is robust and efficient. Designing a package management strategy involves recommending the right tools for the job.

GitHub Packages, Azure Artifacts, Azure Automation Runbooks Gallery, Nuget, Jfrog, and Artifactory are all popular package management tools that can help streamline your workflow.

To implement Azure Artifacts, you'll need to design a strategy for linked feeds. This will allow you to manage multiple packages from a single location.

A well-designed versioning strategy is essential for code assets. SemVer and date-based versioning are two popular strategies that can help you keep track of changes.

When assessing and updating package dependencies, tools like GitHub Automated Security Updates, NuKeeper, and GreenKeeper can help identify vulnerabilities and suggest updates.

A versioning strategy for packages should be designed to ensure that each package has a unique version number. SemVer and date-based versioning are both effective strategies for this.

For deployment artifacts, a versioning strategy can help ensure that the right version is deployed to production. This can be achieved through a combination of SemVer and date-based versioning.

Here are some popular package management tools: