Passed Microsoft exam AZ-103 - Azure Administrator Associate

Six weeks ago, I passed the Microsoft AZ-103 exam and earned the Azure Administrator Associate. A last minute pass, because AZ-104 was already launched. But better late than never. I had to re-schedule the exam a couple of times because the test center was closed due to COVID19.

The Azure Administrator Associate is a Administrator-role certification and it is all about implementing, managing and monitoring the Azure identity, governance, storage, compute, and virtual network solutions.

The exam covers a couple of topics and you should have knowledge and hands-on experience in administering Azure services using the Azure Portal, PowerShell, Azure CLI, and Azure Resource Manager templates.

Your knowledge is tested over a broad band of topics. These topics are:

• Manage Azure identities and governance
• Implement and manage storage
• Deploy and manage Azure compute resources
• Configure and manage virtual networking
• Monitor and back up Azure resources

How to prepare for the exam

Fortunately I have a monthly Azure credit which I can use to gain new skills. I used these Azure credit together with the Microsoft Learning Path for AZ-103 (now 104).

It is pretty important no only to focus on VMs, storage or networking. Web Apps was one of my blind spots, and I had to get my head around it. Azure identities and governance is not so hard, if you are already familiar with Office 365.

I learned a lot from the Microsoft Documentation for Azure, and I was really impressed how much I was able to find, read and learn from there.

Next stop: Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert

Microsoft has announced to retire all remaining exams associated with Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA), Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer (MCSD), Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) on January 31, 2021, so the role-based certifications introduced in September 2018 are the way to go.

I’m currently holding a MCSE for Core Infrastructure and one for Productivity. Based on this, the Azure Solutions Architect Expert is the next step for me.