Tag: Certification

Jan102019January 10, 2019January 15, 20193Commentsby Thomas Maurer
Azure Solutions Architect Expert

Passed Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert

Posted in Certification, Cloud, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Work

Today I am on my way to Geneva for a customer meeting. Before I left I quickly check my email and had some exciting news in my inbox. I got the confirmation that I passed the Microsoft Exam AZ-302 Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Certification Transition, which together with my previous exam, 70-535 Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions, gives me the certification as Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert.

Earning the Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification demonstrates skills and knowledge to advise stakeholders and translate business requirements into secure, scalable, and reliable solutions. Candidates have advanced experience and knowledge across various aspects of IT operations, including networking, virtualization, identity, security, business continuity, disaster recovery, data management, budgeting, and governance – managing how decisions in each area affects an overall solution.

I took this exam as a beat exam back in September at Microsoft Ignite 2018. For people who do not have already done 70-535, you will need to take AZ-300 and AZ-301 to get the Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect certification. The AZ-Series are basically the new edition of the Microsoft Azure Certification path. These exams were announced at Microsofts Partner conference, Microsoft Inspire in 2018.

There is a great blog post by Chris Pietschmann, about the state of the current Microsoft Experts exams.

I am happy about getting the confirmation about my second successful Microsoft Azure exam this year, after passing AZ-900 Microsoft Azure Fundamentals last week.

If you want to know more about the exam and the skills measured in this exam, check out the official Microsoft Exam page for AZ-302. If you have any questions, please let me know in the comments.

Congrats to all the others which got the Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification today. Otherwise I wish you good luck taking the exam, let me know how it was in the comments.


Oct042018October 4, 2018February 19, 20190Commentby Thomas Maurer
Microsoft Learn

Microsoft Learn – A Great Place To Learn!

Posted in Certification, Cloud, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, PowerShell, Work

In a world with always evolving and fast changing technology, it can be hard to keep up with the latest innovation. However, in our just we need to keep learning and be more efficient. It can be difficult to find the right resources and the right content. This is why Microsoft launched Microsoft Learn, a new platform to learn technology and keep up with the fast pace of our industry.

Microsoft Learn

Microsoft recently switch the certification programs for Azure to role-based certifications, for example Azure Administrators, Azure Developers and Azure Architects. The new Microsoft Learn platform also gives you a training and modules based on your role selection.

Microsoft Learn Guide

Microsoft Learn Guide

The platform has a guided experience, explaining you the technology with text, videos, control questions, but also with hands-on training using sandboxes in Azure for free.

Microsoft Learn Sandbox and Hands-on

Microsoft Learn Sandbox

You cannot only read and watch videos, you also have a hands-on expierence. You can get a sandbox environment to live try code or even the portal experience to work with Azure or other Microsoft technology. In this example, I have the Microsoft Learn Guide on one site and Azure Cloud Shell on the other. I don’t even need to jump out of the learning experience, I just simply can try out the code.

Get started with Microsoft Learn

The Microsoft Learning platform is much more than I just explained. And Microsoft is working hard on adding even more content for more products and services to the page. If you want to get startet with Azure Certifications or just Azure in general, Microsoft Learn is the place to be!

And the best thing, it is free. You get amazing content guide and explained with labs to even try it out by yourself. The only thing you need is time and the willingness to learn. To try it out, just visit the Microsoft Learn homepage and let me know what you think!


Oct042018October 4, 2018October 5, 20182Commentsby Thomas Maurer
Microsoft Certified Azure Administrator Associate

Passed Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator

Posted in Certification, Cloud, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, PowerShell, Work

After the announcement of the new Microsoft Azure certifications at Microsoft Inspire in Las Vegas, I decided to take the beta exam which was available to upgrade my current Azure certifications. Since I had already passed Exam 70-533 Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions, I needed exam AZ-102 to do the transition. Today I got confirmation that I passed the Microsoft exam AZ-102 and earned the Microsoft Certified Azure Administrator Associate certification.

I already took the new available beta Exam for the Microsoft Certified Azure Architect at Microsoft Ignite, however for the results I still need to wait a bit.

What is Exam AZ-102 Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate

The new certifications are based on different job roles, like Azure Administrator, Azure Developer and Azure Architect. You can read more about the new Azure Certifications here on my blog.

Earning Azure Administrator Associate certification demonstrates understanding of services across the IT lifecycle, and ability to take requests for infrastructure services, applications, and environments. Candidates for this certification are typically Azure Administrators who manage cloud services spanning storage, security, networking, and compute cloud capabilities. They recommend services to use for optimal performance and scale, as well as provision, size, monitor, and adjust resources.

This is great news to start in the day while I am flying to a customer in Paris today for some more Azure work.

Exam Preparation

The skills measured in AZ-102 are a mix from AZ-100 and AZ-101 and will focus on Azure Infrastructure and deployment, Azure Integration and Azure Security.

I often get asked how I prepared for exams such as this. Obviously it makes sense to certify the knowledge you already have. I usually use Microsoft free online courses on Channel 9, Virtual Academy and now the new Microsoft Learn. However, I realized that also the Azure Documentation is a great resource to learn. I recommend you check the skills needed for the exam, in this case AZ-102 and read the specific Azure Documentation for these topics, and also try it out.


Jul172018July 17, 2018August 14, 20181Commentby Thomas Maurer
Microsoft Azure Certifications

New Microsoft Azure Certifications announced

Posted in Certification, Cloud, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Work

This week Microsoft Inspire takes place in Las Vegas, unfortunately I couldn’t make it this year. However, some of my colleagues from itnetX Switzerland and itnetX are there, don’t miss them and visit our booth! During the first day keynote at Microsoft Inspire, Microsoft quickly announced 3 new Azure Certifications for Administrators, Developers and Architects. You can already take the beta exams for the Azure Certified Administrator with more information on the Microsoft Learning Blog.

New Microsoft Azure Certifications

The three new Microsoft Azure Certifications are:

  • Microsoft Certified Azure Developer
  • Microsoft Certified Azure Administrator
  • Microsoft Certified Azure Architect
Read More

May312018May 31, 2018August 20, 20184Commentsby Thomas Maurer
Configuring and Operating a Hybrid Cloud with Microsoft Azure Stack

Passed 70-537 Configuring and Operating a Hybrid Cloud with Azure Stack Exam

Posted in Certification, Cloud, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Azure Stack, Work

Back in February Microsoft released the Azure Stack beta exam, 70-537 Configuring and Operating a Hybrid Cloud with Azure Stack Exam. As always I try to take the exam early as they are available and today I finally got the results that I passed exam 70-537.

Passing Exam 537: Configuring and Operating a Hybrid Cloud with Microsoft Azure Stack validates the skills and knowledge necessary to plan, deploy, package, update, and maintain the Azure Stack infrastructure. Candidates also demonstrate the ability to offer hybrid cloud resources and requested services, and to manage IaaS and PaaS.

This exam measures the following skills:

  • Deploying and Integrating an Azure Stack Environment
  • Configuring PaaS and IaaS for Azure Stack Environment
  • Providing Services to enabling DevOps for Azure Stack Tenants
  • Maintaining and Monitoring an Azure Stack Environment

This week I finally got the message that I passed the Beta exam. If you want to take that exam you should really be familiar with the products and solutions mentioned above, otherwise you will have a hard time passing the exam. There are both questions about Azure Stack ASDK as well as the multi node system, so I would recommend that you get some hands on experience with a multi node system as well.

If you want to know more about the exam, check out this link: Microsoft 70-537 Configuring and Operating a Hybrid Cloud with Azure Stack Exam

A lot of people are asking me for training resources. First of all it definitely helps if you have some hands-on experience with mutli-node systems but also with the ASDK. However it is almost impossible to cover all the topics by yourself, there for I recommend that you have a look at a free Microsoft online training. I think the best course I found is on the Microsoft Open EDX platform. There you can find the course Configuring and Operating Microsoft Azure Stack.


Jul132015July 13, 2015September 2, 20180Commentby Thomas Maurer
MCSD Azure Solution Architect

MCSD: Azure Solutions Architect

Posted in Certification, Cloud, InTune, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Office365, PowerShell, Virtualization, Web, Work

Today I just passed the last Microsoft Azure exam for the MCSD: Azure Solutions Architect. Since I focus on Microsoft technology I always try to be certified in the specific areas where I am focused. With Public and Hybrid Cloud scenarios becoming more and more important, I started to work with Microsoft Azure and other Microsoft Cloud Services such as Office 365, so it made sense to learn more about the solutions and earn the certifications. For the Azure part, Microsoft has a certification called MCSD: Azure Solutions Architect which includes three different exam:

  • 70-532 (Developing Microsoft Azure Solutions)
  • 70-533 (Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions)
  • 70-534 (Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions)

I already go 70-533 at the beginning of this year, since this was the topic I was working with for quite some time. With Developer and DevOps scenarios becoming more and more important, I decided to prepare also for 70-532, which is focused on the Developer site of Azure, and the 70-534, which is an overall architecture exam. Bringing IT Pro and Developer skills together in this Cloud focused world, makes totally sense. IT Pros will have to learn some basic developer skills to make sure they can keep up with the fast moving cloud world. I am proud the be the second certified MCSD: Azure Solutions Architect within itnetX, after Marcel Zehner. This shows our strong focus, knowledge and commitment to the Microsoft Cloud Strategy. If you want to do the exams as well, here are some recommendations:

  • Get a Microsoft Azure Subscription and start playing and testing. Btw, this is something you should have done a while ago.
  • Learn PowerShell, well I have been saying this for years now, learn PowerShell and get some knowledge on that topic, even if it’s not Azure related.
  • Install Visual Studio. Yes you will need this in the future, not just for the exams.
  • Check out the Microsoft Certification page and learn about the exams and which skills are measured. Login to Azure and start working with these topics. To be honest, it doesn’t take a lot of time to build some demos.
  • Check out the Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA) courses. Microsoft offers some great exam preparations and courses with several hours of video content, examples and preparation questions.
  • Check out the current Azure Portal and the new Preview Azure Portal.
  • Look out for some great blog posts with study guides for example from Keith Mayer, Anders Eide and Marius Sandbu.

With that you will not only pass the exams, you will also learn a lot about how things are going to work in the future.


Feb152015February 15, 2015February 15, 20151Commentby Thomas Maurer
Microsoft KiPi

Microsoft Learning: Know it. Prove it. Challenge for Hybrid Cloud

Posted in Certification, Cloud, Hyper-V, IIS, Licensing, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Office, Office365, PowerShell, Private Cloud, Sharepoint, Software, SQL Server, System Center, Virtualization, Visual Studio, Web, Web, Windows, Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows Server, Windows Server 2012 R2, Work

Some weeks ago I passed Microsoft Exam 70-533 Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions which means I am now Microsoft Certified on Microsoft Azure technology. Microsoft has just lunched a new certification challenge called Know it. Prove it. which leverages free resources at the Microsoft Virtual Academy and take  Microsoft exams afterwards.

A few things about the challenge:

  • There are 8 different learning tracks, ranging from Cloud Development over Web Development to Hybrid Cloud or Office 365.
  • Each track consists of a learning module which is accessible from anywhere so learners can watch video tutorials and do assessments whenever is easy!
  • During KiPi, learners can track their progress, earn badges and points, compete against other challenges, and share experiences with others who are participating.
  • Although the challenge officially kicked off on February 1st, it’s not too late to get started.
  • The “Know It” portion of the challenge runs all of February and the “Prove It” part (i.e. get certified) will start March 1st and end on March 31st

For all Virtualization and Cloud Architects and Engineers this makes really sense to prepare what is coming next for Microsoft Cloud or Windows Server as well as System Center and Hyper-V. So checkout the the Know it. Prove it. challenge on the Microsoft Virtual Academy.

 



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    Thomas Maurer

    My name is Thomas Maurer. I am a Senior Cloud Advocate at Microsoft. I am part of the Azure engineering team and engage with the community and customers around the world. I am located in Switzerland. I am focusing on Microsoft technologies, especially cloud and datacenter solutions based on Microsoft Azure, Azure Stack and Windows Server.
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