The road to Microsoft certification
Since starting at Cmotions, one of my goals has been to obtain Azure certifications in the technical field (both data engineering and analytics). This is to update my own knowledge, but also to demonstrate my knowledge externally. In this blog, I want to take you through my experience in getting my Fundamentals and Associate certifications in data engineering and analytics.
From beginner to expert
Microsoft has built its certification on three levels:
Fundamentals: In my opinion, this certification is suitable for everyone. You gain basic knowledge of Azure technology and terminology. These Fundamentals exams come for Azure general (AZ-900), but also focus on specific components (for example, data or artificial intelligence). If you have little or no experience yet, this is a good place to start.
Associate: This certification goes a step further, requires more thorough knowledge and the certifications also count toward Microsoft's "Advanced Specialization," which indicates that a company has demonstrable specializations . As such, the certification is intended more for consultants, engineers and analysts who work with the tools and techniques in Azure on a daily basis. That doesn't mean the certification isn't suitable for others, but the challenge is a lot greater than, say, Fundamentals. Examples include:
- DP-500 ("Designing and Implementing Enterprise-Scale Analytics Solutions Using Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Power BI");
- DP-203 ("Data Engineering on Microsoft Azure");
- PL-300 (Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst).
In doing so DP-500 the newest (as of mid-2022) and broadest in scope, DP-203 is known as one of the snappiest associate certifications and PL-300 is a widely chosen certification as it focuses on Power BI.
Expert: On top of the associate certification, Microsoft also has advanced certifications. This certification is aimed at people with extensive experience, for example as a data architect. With that, there are certificates for all levels. At the time of writing, I myself have obtained all the certificates mentioned above except PL-300. This is still in the pipeline for this year.
Learning how you want
Unless you already work with the aforementioned technology and/or tools, it is good to gain knowledge before getting certified. For this, there are several options ranging between free and paid forms.
As a base, you can always use the learning modules made available by Microsoft. These free modules cover the basic knowledge you need, with links to other pages to get the detailed knowledge as well. In my experience, you need to follow those additional links as well to get to a complete picture. In fact, some of the exam questions lean on that extra information.
Another option that costs little extra is to take online courses. These are available on several platforms (including Udemy and Coursera). These can be official courses from Microsoft, but also from others who have extensive knowledge of the certification. Online course materials are available for the vast majority of certifications. Only for DP-500 the supply is still limited. In terms of quality, they are more than fine and in the case of DP-203 it is possible on Coursera to get 50% discount on your exam. With that, the slightly higher price of the course is possibly worth it. In turn, the courses from Udemy are slightly cheaper (20-90 Euro). The duration of this online course material may vary, but in basic you will spend the same amount of time on the online material.
Should you yourself find it easier to take a classroom training course, it is also possible to take courses from official training partners. Microsoft's website shows who offers these courses by country.
In addition to the course material, you can also practice using Azure or specific services of it in practice. To do so, Microsoft offers two options:
On the one hand, Microsoft offers sandbox environments, within which you can practice using Azure for free. You can use a sandbox for a number of hours, up to a number of sandboxes per day. On the other hand, you can create a free subscription within Azure. Within that account, you get 12 months of access to a number of free services and $200 credits for most other services. The credits are valid for 30 days, after that you can only use them for regular payment ("Pay as you go"). In case you are going to use paid services, it is good to consider the cost. It would be a shame if all the credits are gone because you left a service on unnecessarily. For example, a dedicated SQL pool within Azure Synapse can cause your credits to fly away very quickly.
There are also plenty of websites and YouTube channels that cover certification. Because for DP-500 yet few course materials were available, data mozart's website is worth mentioning. The person in question (Nikola Ilic) is an MVP (Most Valuable Professional) of Microsoft in the field of data platforms and focuses mainly on this certificate. He explains several things well and clearly, making him a good addition to the certificate and a good resource in a general sense.
For the Fundamentals certificate and DP-203 I took Microsoft's learning modules and a few courses from Udemy. The courses on Udemy align well with the exam. Keep in mind that the exam is updated by Microsoft, so there may be questions with the exam that are not in the course in terms of material. So it is always good to check the modules themselves as well. For DP-500 I got by with the learning modules and the Data Mozart website.
Everyone I talk to about getting associate certifications comes to the same conclusion as me. It comes across as tough and somewhat dry material no matter what form of learning you choose. Also, it will probably take you more time to absorb the material than what was estimated for it; think two to three times as much time as specified. In doing so, try to spend several hours a day working on a certificate. I personally found eight hours in a row too long, but more than one hour a day is recommended. All in all, more of a small marathon than a sprint. But despite the toughness of the material, I find the certification absolutely worthwhile.
Get certified
If you've then managed to punch through all the material, it's time for the real thing. Before taking the exam, you may choose to practice. Especially for DP-500 the official practice questions were valuable to get a good idea of the questions and question format. There are also many online discussions on the official questions that I found very interesting to go through.
You can take the exams themselves either online (for example, at home or in the office) or on location. Plenty of locations can be found and there are enough time slots available to have your appointment within a few business days.
Personally, I preferred to take the certificates online. The easiest way is to do that at the office in a room where you are not disturbed. You may not leave that room, the webcam of your laptop or PC must be on and also the application makes sure you share your screen on which nothing else may be open. In that respect they are particularly strict, there must not be any suspicion of fraud. If there is: end of exam and no right to money back. I've always taken the exams from home (while no one was home), giving you the opportunity to schedule an exam 24/7. Before taking the exam you are expected to photograph exam location from all different angles. A self-portrait and a photo of your identification are also required, which will be compared.
In all cases, you need to make sure you have a "clean desk." That boils down to:
- An empty desk except for your computer, mouse and adapter. A second monitor is not allowed. Also, nothing else is allowed on your desk. No food or drink, no phone (it must be close enough in case they call you) and no personal items (a wallet was enough reason for a live chat asking you to remove it).
- A pretty empty environment. Nothing in your environment should indicate fraud. The certificate (note in Latin) that my partner obtained for her promotion was even too much and another reason for a live chat. So this one had to be taken off the wall and out of sight.
So in case they find your environment not clean enough you get a live chat, stating what they have doubts about. In three of the four exams I got such a chat, but each time it was squeaked out in a few minutes.
And those exams themselves? Those are a breeze with all the preparation you have done. The 700 points (out of a maximum of 1000) you need to pass is definitely doable with proper preparation. Keep in mind that if you apply and pay for an exam yourself online, the initial price you see is exclusive of VAT. This is common for businesses, but obviously not for consumers. Although I suspect most can claim the cost of these exams.
