Microsoft Azure, previously known as Windows Azure, marks the company’s entry into the cloud computing market. Like any other cloud computing provider, it allows all the users with a host of cloud services. You would be able to compute, rent storage, and engage in some amazing machine learning and big data analysis. If you would like to learn Azure and all the things that come with it, then you should take up one of the many Microsoft Azure certifications available online.
Once you start preparing to gain Microsoft azure architect certification, the first thing you will learn is the goal of Microsoft Azure. The main aim of Microsoft Azure is to help businesses manage all the challenges (like storage and computation) they face and meet the goals which they have set for themselves. There are four main types of services which Azure offers. And, they are IaaS or Infrastructure as a Service, PaaS or Platform as a Service, SaaS or Software as a Service, and serverless architecture.
Before we discuss the things, which are required to be Azure certified, let us first compare the foothold which Azure has in the cloud computing market.
How is Azure performing in the overall cloud service market?
There is no doubt that in the cloud computing market Amazon Web Services (AWS) has a huge lead over its competitors. But, this only means that Azure has only one way to go, and that is up. According to a market share breakdown, which was done by the analyst Canalys and published in 2018, Azure has a comfortable lead over Google Cloud. However, it lags behind AWS and hence, has the second position in terms of the market share. Amazon, which happens to be the leading vendor, takes about a third of the entire market, leaving 15% of all the clout of the cloud to Azure and then 5% to Google.
One cannot be surprised about these findings because Bezos-owned Amazon not only has properly funded R&D backing its services but also has had almost a decade of a head start in the cloud computing space. Not only did these 7 years allow AWS to create a sizeable audience for its service, but they also allowed it to hone its craft and make it better.
Azure certifications and benefits of achieving them
There are many Azure certifications that you would be able to find online. Each one that you find will have its quirks and use cases.
Benefits of getting Azure certifications:
- Knowledge of Public Cloud: Cloud is one of those techniques which is being increasingly adopted across the world. Cloud pundits have estimated that by the end of 2021 it would become a 300 million US dollar business. Since cloud technology is coming more into the mainstream, the demand for skilled cloud professionals is also said to increase. Further, with all the cloud offerings, Azure will prove to be advantageous when it comes to learning about the cloud and be cloud-ready.
- Azure is Popular: Besides Google, all the other cloud vendors have greater than 10% of the market share. And, Azure stands at a proud 15% and hence, is considered to be very popular. It means that getting an Azure certification would be a great way to break into the space of cloud computing.
- Easy to Learn and Adapt: There is no denying the fact that Microsoft, with its Windows, dominates the space of personal computers. Hence, it is not naive to admit that when it comes to familiarity most of the users would be more familiar with Windows than with any other operating system. Since Azure uses Windows for most of its tasks, this makes learning Azure not a very difficult task. And, once you have learned Azure, it will not be very difficult to adapt.
Different Azure certifications:
- Azure Architect Training: The AZ-300 exam is designed for people who want to become the cloud architect with Azure. You would be learning key things, such as how to deploy and configure solutions on Azure.
- Azure Developer Associate Training: It is a combination of AZ-200 and AZ-201 exams. It checks the ability to select, develop, and implement cloud-based solutions on Azure.
- Azure Admin Associate: It is the EZ-103 exam by Azure. This exam is best suited for those working professionals who are willing to become successful Azure administrators.
What are the requirements before one thinks of getting Azure certified?
There are no hard and fast rules or requirements that one is expected to have before getting certified by Azure. Even if you visit the official website of Azure, you will notice that it does not have any such requirements. In fact, it only has suggestions and the mention of which skills would be tested. While these skills and recommendations would change based on the Azure certification you are going for, however, knowing one or all of them would surely help. And, here are some of them:
- Knowledge of cloud computing
- Knowledge of Azure’s interface
- Familiarity with how to do things on Azure
- Planning and managing Azure services
- Knowledge of compute engines and virtual machines
- Knowledge of Kubernetes
There are many reasons why you should gain Azure certification as soon as possible. And, we hope that you were able to learn a great deal about Azure and how its certifications work.