What is Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Certification?

Microsoft Azure Fundamentals is a foundation-level Cloud certification that develops your skills and validates expertise in basic Cloud computing concepts.  It is based on Azure, which is the Cloud service offered by Microsoft.

The certification is primarily designed for individuals with non-technical backgrounds who want to start a career in Cloud computing.

The Microsoft Azure Cloud platform has an over 18% share of the nearly $100 billion Cloud market, as of the fourth quarter of 2019.

Azure is used by thousands of small, medium, and large companies worldwide, including Starbucks, Pixar, Apple iCloud, Easy Jet, Samsung, eBay, and Boeing.

Due to Azure’s significant share of the Cloud services market, getting the Azure Fundamentals certification would provide you with a strong jumpstart if you want to launch a career in the Cloud industry.

Microsoft offers three types of certifications:

1. Fundamental Certifications: These certifications teach and validate foundation technological concepts.
2. Role-Based Certifications: These certifications teach and validate more complex technological concepts and prepare you for specific job roles.
3. Expert Certifications: These certifications teach and validate in-depth technical skills for managing and integrating Microsoft platforms in the Cloud.

Azure Fundamentals belongs to the first category, as it teaches and validates core concepts and skills related to the Azure Cloud platform and overall Cloud industry.

According to Robert Half’s 2020 IT salary report, Cloud Architect and Cloud Administrator are two of the top 10 highly paid and in-demand jobs of 2020.

According to Global Knowledge’s Top-Paying IT Certifications 2020 report, Azure Fundamentals is the 11^th most lucrative IT certification for 2020, with an average salary of over $126,000 US dollars.

The Microsoft Azure Fundamentals exam tests your understanding of four main areas:

1. Understanding of Cloud Concepts
2. Understanding of Core Azure Services
3. Understanding of Security, Privacy, Compliance, and Trust, and
4. Understanding of Azure Pricing and Support

To pass the test, you must get a score of at least 700.

According to the latest exam guidelines, the Azure Fundamentals certification exam has 40-60 questions.

The certification exam costs $99.

Most of the questions in the Azure Fundamentals certification exam are Multiple Choice Questions.  You will be asked to answer some questions that include specific architecture scenarios and diagrams.

Ok, let’s look at the…

Skills Measured by Azure Fundamentals Certification

The Microsoft Azure Fundamentals certification tests your skills and understanding of basic Cloud computing, with an emphasis on the Azure Cloud platform.

For example, the certification teaches you to evaluate the feasibility of migrating to the Cloud, costs involved, scalability, Cloud storage, and Cloud security.

In addition to the general Cloud concepts, the certification also validates your skills on Azure’s core concepts, such as Azure’s data storage, Azure IoT solutions, Azure Kubernetes, Azure Container services and more.

Specifically, the Azure Fundamentals certification will give you an opportunity to learn the following concepts.

Cloud Concepts

• Understanding of key concepts such as high availability, scalability, elasticity, agility, and fault tolerance
• Capital Expenditure (CapEx) and Operational Expenditure (OpEx)
• PaaS, SaaS, and IaaS, and
• Public, private, and hybrid Cloud

Core Azure Services

• Azure Architecture
• Regions, Availability Zones, Azure Resource Manager
• Virtual Machines
• Azure Container Instances
• Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
• Azure SQL Database
• Azure DevOps, and
• Azure Portal

Understand security, privacy, compliance, and trust

• Network Security Groups (NSG)
• Application Security Groups (ASG)
• User Defined Rules (UDR)
• Azure Firewall
• Azure DDoS Protection
• Azure Active Directory
• Azure Security Center, and
• Azure Monitor

Understand Azure pricing and support

• Azure subscriptions, and
• Azure Service Level Agreements (SLA)

For a more complete curriculum, download the latest Microsoft Azure Fundamentals objectives .

Pre-requisites for the Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Certification

There are no pre-requisites for the Azure Fundamentals certification. This is mainly because Azure Fundamentals is a beginner-level certification.

According to Microsoft, you don’t need any prior IT experience for this certification. However, having a basic understanding of technology would help in preparation for the certification exam.

Anyone from any background could register for and attempt the Azure Fundamentals certification.

How to Prepare for the Azure Fundamentals Certification Exam

There are several options to prepare for the Azure Fundamentals certification such as:

Self-Study Resources

Utilizing self-study resources is a great option to prepare for this exam.

Let’s look at all of these resources and understand their pros and cons.

Books

Using books to prepare for the Azure Fundamentals exam will give you an in-depth understanding of Azure Cloud computing concepts. If you have time and the discipline to learn from books, this self-study method can be worthwhile for you.

Microsoft has an official reference book for the Azure Fundamentals exam which you can use to prepare. It’s called Exam Ref AZ-900 Microsoft Azure Fundamentals written by Jim Cheshire.

One thing to remember, books often take a lot of time. If you want to prepare for the exam faster, you may want to consider other options.

Azure Fundamentals is not a very complex or difficult certification exam. You can easily pass the exam using online learning resources other than books.

Let’s talk about the…

Azure Fundamentals Learning Path by Microsoft

One of the best resources to prepare for the Azure Fundamentals exam is to use the learning path designed by Microsoft.

The learning path is free. It has 12 modules. Each module has different units. The learning path is written in simple language, using diagrams and examples.

The learning path’s modules move from beginner to advanced levels slowly. You can always revisit units and modules. The learning path covers all the concepts that are tested in the exam.

Video Training

Videos help in the retention and understanding of new information. There are numerous video training courses available on YouTube to prepare you for the Azure Fundamentals certification.

A free strategy for using YouTube to prepare to the exam would be to print out or download the AZ-900 Microsoft Azure Fundamentals objectives and start searching for videos that thoroughly explain each of the objectives.  This might take some time and effort, but it’s free.

If you prefer an expert instructor led video training course, check out this link.

Instructor-Led Training

If you think you are not self-driven and prefer to ask questions directly to an expert, instructor-led training can be useful.

Global Knowledge offers instructor-led training for Azure Fundamentals.

Practice Tests

Even if the Azure Fundamentals certification exam is relatively easy, attempting 40-60 questions in a very limited time is not.

Before you go into the actual exam, you must attempt practice tests. This way, you will get to know your strengths and weaknesses in relation to the exam objectives and time management.

Practice Labs

It’s always a good idea to practice using the product in a real live environment.  This way you will be more prepared for scenario-based questions on the exam.

Two good free resources are Microsoft Self-paced Labs and creating a free account on the Azure portal.

Links to both resources can be found in the description below.

Now, let’s talk about…

What Jobs you can get with an Azure Fundamentals Certification

Jobs in the broader Cloud computing industry are expected to keep increasing for years to come. As companies move from on-premise infrastructure to the Cloud they benefit from more agility, efficiency, and cost management.

According to Gartner, the value of the public Cloud market is expected to cross $331 billion by 2022.

Because Microsoft has the second biggest chunk of this huge market, the demand for Azure experts is sure to rise.

Azure Fundamentals certification will give you a jumpstart in the Azure career path. It will make you eligible for advanced Azure certifications which give you higher chances of securing lucrative jobs in the Cloud industry.

According to Indeed, job seekers’ interest in Azure surged past Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud in 2019 because of the huge demand for Microsoft’s Cloud platform.

Here are some of the jobs you could expect to get after passing the Azure Fundamentals certification exam.

• Azure Cloud Solutions Architect
• Cloud Engineer
• Cloud Administrator
• Azure Cloud Systems Developer
• Azure IaaS Architect
• Azure Virtualization Engineer
• Azure IoT Expert, and
• Full Stack Cloud Developer for Azure

Keep in mind that this certification alone may not make you eligible for these jobs. Combining this basic certification with advanced Azure certifications and experience in the industry would be necessary to get some of the more senior and high paying jobs.

If you want to pursue the more lucrative jobs on Azure, complement your Azure Fundamentals certification with advanced Azure certifications like Azure Administrator Associate, Azure Developer Associate, Azure Solutions Architect, Azure Data Engineer Associate, and Azure AI Engineer Associate.

The advanced Azure certification that you choose will depend upon which career path you want to pursue.

Microsoft has developed learning paths and role-based career guidelines for Azure.

So, let’s talk about money

How much will you get paid after earning your Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Certification?

Your Azure Fundamentals salary will depend upon many factors, including prior experience in IT.

According to compensation data firm PayScale, the average salary for Azure skills is $96,000 US dollars.

And according to Indeed, the median salary for a Cloud engineer job is around $120,000.

As you can see gaining Azure cloud skills will make you very valuable in today’s IT industry.

Let’s see what other people think about this certification.  Here are a few…

Observations from Successful Azure Fundamentals Certification Holders in the Industry

The best advice comes from people who have actually passed the Azure Fundamentals certification exam.

One of the most common observations is that the Azure fundamentals exam is not very tough.

If you focus on the exam objectives, use the learning path designed by Microsoft, use practice labs, and attempt practice questions, you’d be able to pass the exam pretty easily.

Here is a comment from Reddit User “DevDnn” who passed the certification exam.

Just cleared my AZ-900 and it was just what it says in the title “Fundamentals”. I was little worried there could be few curve balls, but all the questions were straight forward to make sense and options were clear.

Microsoft Learn Docs was more than enough and I feel light practice on the portal would be sufficient to crack this cert – https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/paths/azure-fundamentals/

Going in I was expecting many questions on policy, networking implementation and other practical stuff like ARM’s, it was not that complex.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AZURE/comments/b1kh15/az900_certification_cleared_my_thoughts/

If you don’t have an understanding of basic Cloud computing concepts, jumping to advanced Azure certifications is not recommended.

Here’s a comment from Reddit user “Mister_Coggy”

It’s mostly concepts around the technology, billing and support. It’s definitely worth doing if you’re a beginner. I work as a Cloud Architect but started with the 900 before 100/103 etc. and I definitely learnt a few bits for sure.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AZURE/comments/bzek7n/just_finished_the_az900_certification_exam/

Another important point that keeps coming up is that the Fundamentals certification is just the start.

It’s a foundation where you can build your advanced knowledge of the Azure platform. Therefore, you should definitely pursue advanced certifications after this if you really want to advance in the industry.

Here is a comment from Reddit user “rockchalk6782”

I just passed the 900 last week, also admin experience and zero cloud. I think it is worthwhile it’s more a terminology certificate if anything do the study guide for 900 and get used to cloud basics, I doubt it will help boost your job much other than a footnote on your resume but I thought it was very informative about grouping, price structure and basic terminology.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AZURE/comments/dlkesx/az900_microsoft_azure_fundamentals_study_guide_is/

Here’s the Truth About Azure Fundamentals

It is an excellent foundational certification that helps you get a strong grasp of Cloud computing concepts.  But to really make an impact on your IT career and earning potential you need to pursue additional advanced Azure certifications.

Is the Azure Fundamentals Certification for You?

This certification is one of the most popular Cloud certifications because it gives you an understanding of all the important concepts of the world’s second biggest Cloud platform.

The certification is relatively easy to pass and people often pass the test after just a few days of preparation.

If you don’t have a Computer degree, and want to start a career in Cloud computing, the Azure Fundamentals certification is for you.

With Azure Fundamentals, you can pursue advanced Azure certifications and get high-end jobs with salaries ranging up to $120,000 US dollars and even more.

So, is the Microsoft Azure Fundamentals certification worth it?

If you are new to IT and looking for a Cloud computing certification to build a foundation for a career in Cloud computing, this certification is definitely worth it.