Certification Challenge Completed

Last week, I challenged myself to get four Azure certifications (Administrator, Security, Developer and DevOps Expert). I got my only certificate, Azure Solutions Architect Expert, last July, so [I wanted to get a few others]({% post_url Software/2020/2020-04-11-my-azure-exam-marathon %}) while being locked up because of COVID-19 stuff.

And I did it, I got all four of them. It's been quite a challenge, studying while working and under lockdown, the mental strength can stretch a bit. But thanks to my previous role at M&G Investments, I have learned a lot on many Azure resources. We were the team that would find out the best technologies available on Azure for a specific task or project, and then deep dive into it, make it operational and train the development teams. It worked quite well and although having a spearhead team like this is a luxury, it pays off.

Anyways, the certification exams weren't that difficult. Microsoft has been criticised about the quality of their exams, and these actually didn't feel like they were testing me on how good I can can do something. They were testing if I know how to do it. They're not the best way to evaluate someone's capabilities, but they're what we have at the moment. Sometimes you get a lab or two, which didn't come up with these exams. I'm not sure if these exams didn't have it before or the rumour going around (Microsoft cutting back on labs because of Azure resource usage peaks since COVID-19) took part in it.

Will try to write briefly on each exam (preferably without comprimising the NDAs I signed) and what would be best way to prepare them, in a few days.