Dominating exam AZ-204 — Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure
#JustPassed #Azure #AZ204, #Cloud
Most important point first. Please note that this exam is developer level, blueprint is focused and streamlined the level of exam should be difficult(at least what I perceived). However, nothing beats hard work, dedication, commitment and the zeal to win. In the end no exam is unconquerable.
Here are things I did….
1. Check for exam outline changes at regular intervals
Kept a note that Microsoft revisits exam blueprint regularly every 3–6 months. So, I continuously checked blueprint for changes or if the exam is getting replaced. If you are preparing for this exam for sometime then it will be wise to check latest outline at regular intervals.
2. Going thru Microsoft Learn
This is the best place to learn Azure and its directly from Microsoft and its free. With MS Learn you will also get opportunities to experiment live on the virtual lab sessions.
3. Subscribing to a course with credibility
I found this course very very close to what you need to understand all the concepts and guidelines required:
Please note I have no commercial or financial benefits from sales or promotion of the above Udemy course any direct transfers by Alan Rodriguez. Usually this course is kept up to date as blueprint changes. Take my honest suggestion and go for this course.
4. Understand all the section of the exam blueprint
AZ-204 has 5 key sections, go to every word in the exam blue print, you may want to focus on areas with higher percentage as they may slightly high number of questions:
- Develop Azure Compute solutions — 25–30%
- Develop for Azure Storage — 15–20%
- Implement Azure Security — 20–25%
- Monitor, troubleshoot and optimise Azure solutions — 15–20%
- Connect to and consume Azure services and third party services-15–20%
Keep a note that above can change randomly, so make sure you look at most up to date blueprint on Microsoft Docs available here.
5. Do take out time for getting your hands dirty
This is a common fact — practice makes you perfect. Make sure you experiment all the skills required for Az-204 exam before you attempt it. Microsoft provides test subscription for Azure with up to 200 USD of free credits for a month, this will be enough for you to experiment with most of the features. You must:
- Spin a VM, Azure WebApp, Function, Cosmos DB using Azure CLI, PowerShell core, ARM template.
- Understand Azure Functions on how to use them, when not to use them, common errors, issues and resolutions.
- Must understand and comfortable spinning Storage and CosmosDB and able to use most of the service features.
- Have a good grasp of Azure CLI and Powershell. Syntax check will be common feature in at least 4–5 questions.
- Experiment with Azure AD security features
- Play with Azure Vault secrets storage and retrieval. Under differences of key
- Use integration service — push and pull messages, events to service bus, event management services.
- Understand Service Bus Queues, EventGrid options.
- Understand and modify monitor metric, alerts.
6. Creating a great summary for long term memory ;)
I made my own notes, made diagrams, memory maps which were based on exam outline and revised it two-three times before hitting practice tests and then the final test.
