Hello and welcome everyone! In my first post I mentioned I would cover the AZ-104 exam, after successfully passing this test here it is. So, you want to prepare for the AZ-104 exam. But you aren’t sure the best path to take in order to successfully pass this test. Well, look no further as I will guide through my test taking strategy.
First and foremost, if you are just starting into your Azure journey, there is a $200 free credit available you from Microsoft, as well as a ton of extra goodies through the Microsoft Dev Essentials program. Some good friends of mine turned me on to this program when I first got involved with Azure, I will be the first to tell you it has helped me immensely and still makes an impact.
Microsoft AZ-104 Exam Outline
Excellent, now that you created, your azure subscription with a free $200 dollar credit, head over to the AZ-104 Exam Outline. I recommend downloading this PDF locally and using the strike through feature with Microsoft Word once you have completed specific exam sections.
Now that you have the exam outline, you can now start preparing for your test. As someone who typically gets tired of doing the same thing over and over again, I like to take a multifaceted approach to studying to keep me on track and not get bored. Time to dive into each section, and into the specifics to hopefully save you some time!
Microsoft Documentation
I believe there is simply no replacement from getting it straight from the source. I also went through the trouble of linking the relevant Microsoft documentation.
Azure governance documentation | Microsoft Docs
Azure Active Directory fundamentals documentation | Microsoft Docs
Azure RBAC documentation | Microsoft Docs
Azure Blob Storage documentation | Microsoft Docs
ARM template documentation | Microsoft Docs
Virtual machines in Azure – Azure Virtual Machines | Microsoft Docs
Azure Container Instances documentation | Microsoft Docs
Azure App Service documentation – Azure App Service | Microsoft Docs
Azure Networking documentation | Microsoft Docs
Azure Monitor documentation – Azure Monitor | Microsoft Docs
Azure Backup Documentation – Azure Backup | Microsoft Docs
Microsoft Learn modules
Navigate here, these modules contain sandbox environments that are completely free to use. This allows you to get some hands-on experience without even touching that $200 free credit. Knock out all six of these modules and I guarantee you that you will gather more familiarity with the Azure platform.
Lab Everything!!!
Labs, lab everything all the time. However, if you are unsure about which labs to undertake. You’re in luck, because Microsoft has a GitHub repository with all the labs that Microsoft Certified Trainers update on a semi-regular basis. Run through these labs in your Dev Essentials subscription, I guarantee you will improve your overall familiarity with Azure by running through these labs.
Training Videos
There is a TON of different instructor lead content for this exam available on the internet. However, in my opinion there are two stand out instructors that I’ve been following for a few years now.
Scott Duffy, since the early days for Azure Scott has had content up for Microsoft Azure certifications. You can find his content on Udemy. Please check him out, I’ve used Scott for all of the certifications I have passed.
John Savill, I discovered him about a year ago and I love his content. He really knows his stuff, and it shows. He has a wide array of videos for all types of Microsoft Azure certifications available on Youtube. In particular his AZ-104 cram exam was INCREDIBLY helpful in order to successfully pass this exam
Well, there you have it. I firmly believe if you do all of the above here you will most certainly pass this exam. The best part of all of these resources is the cost, you can get away with building everything for free. If you play your cards right, you will most likely still have $ available in your Azure subscription to play around with after. Anyways, I hope this post saves someone time in their pursuit of this certification. And hope you all a great day ahead.
Thanks,
Ted
