The current pandemic/endemic has had a major impact on the world as we know it. The new norm is hybrid work and online meetings. Whilst this new reality has provided lots of challenges, it has also opened up new opportunities. With a lot of learning opportunities having moved from being limited by physical constraints and capacity to opening up to online events and learning workshops open to all!
Like many others, I have been taking advantage of the availability of great online learning platforms and the time saved on the daily commute to invest in learning and building my tech intensity. In this article I am summarizing some of my learning advise based on studying for and passing the AI Business school diploma and the Azure Data & AI Fundamentals (DP-900 and AI-900) exams. I also pushed myself to take some of the advanced Azure certifications (AZ-104, AZ-305, AI-102, DP-203) which is the next step up from Fundamentals.
To get your head around what Azure certifications are available you can find the overview here: Microsoft Certifications | Microsoft Docs. Some of the most popular Azure certifications include:
- Azure Administrator - this is the first certification I would recommend for anyone getting hands on with Azure. This exam is very heavy on the Azure plumbing and is very heavy on Azure networking, security, IAM, storage.
- Azure Solutions Architect Expert - this build on from the Administrator certification to more advanced concepts, introduces more PaaS services, and focuses on how do design and architect solutions on Azure.
- Azure Developer - this certifications is targeted at developers and covers PaaS services like App Service and serverless with Azure Functions.
- Azure Data Engineer - this certification focuses on key Azure Data & Analytics services e.g. Azure Data Factory, Azure Synapse Analytics and Azure Databricks.
- Azure AI Engineer - this certification focuses on the Azure Cognitive Services.
- Azure Database Administrator - this certification is very focused on Azure SQL. There is also an exam focused on NoSQL: Azure Cosmos DB Developer Specialty. There isn't an exam for our Azure Database for PostgreSQL and MySQL services but plenty of great learning paths!
Below are my recommendations on online learning platforms that have helped me with my online learning:
- LinkedIn Learning offers high-quality training on a wide range of topics from business to tech, and offers a 1-month free trial. More business than tech.
- Microsoft Learn offers great well-structured Learning Paths spanning Azure, M365, D365, Power Platform and more, and the best part, MS Learn is always free! You will get far by going through the modules and labs in the learning paths for Azure Admin (AZ-104), Azure Architect (AZ-305) Data & AI Fundamentals (DP-900 and AI-900) and Data & AI Advanced certs (DP-203 and AI-102), Azure Security Expert (AZ-500) etc. This is a great place to start your cert prep!
- Microsoft Docs provides great detailed documentation on all key Azure services and really helped me drill deeper to better understand key topics during my studies. Microsoft Docs is also a great reference library for your daily IT work. If there are concepts or solutions you are struggling to fully understand from the Learning Paths MS Docs is great for going deeper on some of the more complex concepts.
- PluralSight has great video-based training content and was really helpful to complement MS Learn when I studied for my Azure certifications.
- Instructor-led Training by Microsoft Learning Partners. I attended instructor-led training for the Data Engineer and Azure Administrator training, delivered virtually by one of the Microsoft Learning partners. It really does add a lot of value and context to be able to learn from and ask questions to a domain expert as well as discuss with your class mates. I would have struggled with DP-203 and AZ-104 without this help, so instructor-led Learning Partner training is definitely something I would recommend, particularly for the advanced Azure courses (e.g. AZ-104, AZ-204, AZ-305, DP-100, DP-203 etc).
Microsoft also organizes a lot of great online webinars and events that you can attend for free, including the Azure Fundamentals, Data Fundamentals and AI Fundamentals training, keep an eye out here for upcoming Free Live Azure Sessions and here for on-demand sessions: https://aka.ms/AzureOndemandSG e.g.
All the best with your own learning journey, and stay safe in there! :)
Consultant|Cloud Data Engineer|Data Modeler| 3xSnowflake|2xDatabricks|Data Vault|3x Azure|2x Palantir|Python|ADF
3 年It's really helpful. Thank you!
Oracle Database on Azure Lead, Microsoft ANZ & ASEAN
3 年Wow, 7000 reads of this article! Great to see that it’s proving helpful!
Senior Technical Program Manager - Azure OpenAI Service | Customer eXperience Engineering (CxE) ?? ?? @ Microsoft | 39x Azure Certified | GenAI Speaker
3 年Great advice, links and amazing to see your list of Certs.
Asia Leader - International Customer Success (iCSU) | Author | Mentor | Coach | Lead International Customer Cloud Technology Teams
3 年Learning is a journey not destination Patrik Bihammar. Love the dedication to invest in yourself and chase your own dream. Great to see how you kept pushing the limits of what can be done in 2020. Set the bar even higher for this learning expedition.
| Network Administration | Cloud Administration | Technology Analyst | Cybersecurity Professional | Relationship Management | ITIL? | MCSE? | CCNA? | PCNSA? | 3 x AZURE? |
4 年Patrik Bihammar: Please share URL to event. TIA