How to achieve Azure Fundamentals: AZ-900

Hey Reader!

I am Beatrice, a junior developer who just started her career in tech here at PASCO – if you want to know more about me, Patrik wrote a blog post about me starting at PASCO that you can find here, PASCO welcomes Beatrice. This blog is the first of a series that talks about how to achieve various Microsoft certifications, starting from the (Azure) Fundamentals. Let’s get started!

Fresh off a bootcamp, where I dived deep into the world of coding and programming, I met PASCO. Of course, as a beginner eager of landing my first job in the tech industry, I decided to get to know more about this company I was having an interview with. Hence, I went straight to their website to read more about what these guys seemed having fun doing. At that time, the things I knew about Azure were very limited – you can well imagine how it was for me discovering that the ecosystem of Azure is PASCO’s backbone.

But, knowing the importance of Azure in Microsoft’s world, and just out of a coding program in .Net, I had already put some thoughts on getting the Azure Fundamentals certification. And probably this is what, somehow, gave me the first connection with PASCO’s founders, Patrik and Stefan.

Anyway – long story short: as you can imagine that interview went good enough to get me the job. And I decided to challenge myself by getting the certificate before starting my career in tech, hence I decided to write this post on how to achieve Azure Fundamentals: AZ-900. So, hold on tight: this is my adventure into the world of completing a Microsoft certificate.

What you’ll learn with Az-900

Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (in short AZ-900) is a certification that will give you a general knowledge of Azure’s cloud concepts and an understanding of the weird terms I mentioned at the beginning of this blog. You will get to dive into the amazing world of cloud computing and its architecture, with explanations on Azure services and their use. You will then explore several storages, networking and security services that Microsoft’s cloud offers, and you will end this journey with a tour of the vast variety of management and government resources that will help you manage your cloud.

Sounds a lot to you? – no worries. Here comes the material I have used for studying and passing the exam on Summer 2022 – …while Patrik and Stefan were enjoying their vacation and the sun in Costa Rica.

My AZ-900 studying materials

Here we go! This is a bullet summary of the resources I have been using for clearing the exam:

• Microsoft Learn Platform
• Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Exam Ref AZ-900 (book)
• Microsoft Azure Virtual Training Days
• AZ-900 Exam Prep with Scott Duffy (Udemy)
• Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Sample Questions (directly from Microsoft’s website)
• AZ-900 Practice Tests (Udemy)

Yep, I know what you’re thinking: in this list there’s a lot of ‘Microsoft’, a lot of ‘Azure’ and a lot of ‘AZ-900’ and no explanation on how to use these resources. No worries – winter is coming.

Microsoft Learn Platform

Microsoft Learn Platform is a gold mine for beginners. In all honesty, my journey as a developer started with this platform, with the module ‘Write your first C# code’. The number of resources this platform offers is really incredible, so if you have some time to kill just look around the immense course offering they have! And yes – it is all FREE.

Anyway, back to AZ-900. When you enter the certification webpage, you’ll notice that there are a few links that will take you to other pages or resources: if you click on the link ‘self-paced content’, or if you keep scrolling down, you’ll be presented with a collection of learning paths that are focused exactly on this exam. Well, my friend: take advantage of them! They’re really well done, and they cover a very big portion of what is needed for this exam’s preparation.

All you have to do is to take one learning path at the time, starting with the first one: each path is composed of one or more modules that will guide you through the vast world of Azure. For the majority, these modules are theoretical, but there are some sections designed as exercises where you’ll create some resources directly on Azure Cloud.

Small side note: when I studied for the exam, the available learning paths were six, as of today they’re three. Microsoft seems to enjoy constantly updating and renewing this certification’s requirements, so it is possible that by the time you’re reading this blog you may have more – or less – items into the AZ-900 collection.

Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Exam Ref AZ-900 (book)

Okay I admit it – I worship paper books and their aroma. I love to study on paper, having the pages running through my fingers, the possibility of writing side notes and to enjoy a nice book. So, if you too appreciate learning from a manual, this is the perfect section for you.

The only downside of this book is that it was published in 2020, so it isn’t fully updated – I compensated by comparing it with Microsoft Learn documentation.

…but hey – you’re luckier than me! As of this September a new edition has been released, written by the same author. This is the link to the updated version: Exam Ref AZ-900 Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (Third Edition). Enjoy the reading!

Microsoft Azure Virtual Training Days

Great job! Now you’ve studied quite a lot and you’re thinking about taking the exam. But wait, wouldn’t it be nice to have a nice review before going for it? …and maybe taking the exam for free?

Have you ever heard about Microsoft Azure Virtual Training Days? Microsoft offers the possibility of having two days – a couple of hours each day – where you can follow one or two speakers walking you through a summary of what Azure is, and the general knowledge you need to have in preparation for this exam. Just enter Microsoft Events Catalog and book your time! There are tons of time slots available for whatever part of the world you live in.

Ask real expert and take the exam for free!

Okay, I’ll say it: the boring part is that these lectures are pre-recorded and very concise (so I wouldn’t base my personal preparation for this exam on them).

So – you might be wondering -, why do I have to attend these virtual training days? Well… mainly for two huge advantages:

1. During the lectures you can write questions in the chat about anything you haven’t quite understood properly yet or about information on the exam, other certifications and so on. And you know what? There are experts on the other side of the keyboard ready to answer your questions! I personally took advantage for all that I just mentioned above. It really helped me clarifying a few things.
2. Mmh, let’s see… would you like to save 99$ and take the exam for FREE? Well, just attend both the Training Days and a few working days later you’ll receive a voucher for taking the exam for free (you chose when).

Oh, and if you’re wondering: Microsoft has its own platform for these training days, and you don’t really have to worry about turning on or off your camera – there’s no need for it. You can comfortably follow the lectures from home while wearing a one-piece Pikachu pyjama and drinking a hot chocolate.

AZ-900 Exam Prep with Scott Duffy

As a new beginner, entering the world of coding will inevitably put you in contact with Udemy. Udemy can be considered another holy grail of learning, because it offers a never-ending number of courses – not only about IT.

‘But Beatrice, with all the material you already talked about, is there really a need for another course??’ – I know you’re thinking that! But bear with me, I’ll be short.

As said in the previous section, the Virtual Training Days are an amazing summary, but it is an extremely concise summary. If you want something better, that will give you an input here and there about things you maybe didn’t completely grasp, Scott Duffy’s AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Exam Prep will be a great review. This author is very known into the world of Microsoft certifications, and he is great in keeping the material he publishes always up to date.

It was actually Patrik who tipped me off this course. So, if Patrik watched it, it is worth a shot!

Now, I talked a lot about learning. It is now time to focus on practice!

Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Sample Questions

Okay – let’s say you’ve now spent a lot of time on learning theoretical stuff. How can you be sure you’re ready for the exam?

At first, Microsoft comes to your help: on their website you can find AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Sample Questions. It is basically a short sample test, it gives you an idea of what type of questions you’ll find on the exam. No open questions: you’ll find only multiple choices, matching or sentence completion.

This sample test offers 20 questions and their relative solutions. I would suggest you focus also on their answers, because they can give very interesting explanations and further links that can connect to topics you didn’t dive deep into.

I personally tried to answer to that sample test at the beginning of my learning path, and yes – I failed completely. Of course, I repeated the test after having read through all the materials: seeing how much I achieved after having focused my time on learning a ton of stuff gave a boost to my motivation! It can be a bit demotivational at the beginning but trust me – it is worth it.

Back to the topic – these are only 20 questions. Next you’ll read about a very nice collection of practice tests!

AZ-900 Practice Tests with SS Labs

One of the things I preferred the most about this type of certifications is answering to the questions. I really have fun testing myself! And, as we all know, the result will never come without practice.

After scouting around the web, among tons of YouTube videos, blogs, articles, free practice tests and so on, I looked back at Udemy and I found AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Practice Tests. It is a ‘course’ that contains only practice tests, for a total of around 400 questions. Let me say it – it was worth it! Lots and lots of questions with their relative solutions and explanations and get this – I found quite a few questions coinciding with the ones in the real exam! I really recommend it, and the guys responsible for this course try to always keep the questions up to date with Microsoft’s updates of AZ-900.

Now you will wonder: ‘if there’s so much free material online, why did you have to buy a practice course?’. And that is a great question. The internet offers a lot, but it doesn’t mean that all that lot is correct. I have stumbled upon videos with great questions but that also had here and there wrong answers, creating never-ending discussions in the comment section. It is easy then to put in doubt the correctness of all the other answers. Time is money, my friend.

And after all this amount of material and resources, the judgment day came.

It is exam time!

Here comes the exam! On the 7th of July, at 9.45 in the morning my test started.

Taking the test with Microsoft

Back to the test – it is a bit of a special thing taking a Microsoft exam, they have their own system. It is important that you check-in a bit sooner because you will be asked to send them the pictures of your room, your face, and the area where you will be sitting with your laptop. And don’t forget that you’ll be recorded during the entire exam!

Don’t worry if you have some doubts about the quality of your pictures. In my case, after sending in the needed images, I started hearing a voice from above: it was God telling me my pics sucked… nope – I am joking. But I have to say that it was a bit weird, suddenly my PC started asking to show it my room! It was simply one of the exam controllers wanting to double check my space.

Once you’re up and running, take a deep breath and show them what you’ve got! One very useful thing to know is that you will have the possibility to go back and forth through your questions, and tick those which you want to review later before sending in the exam. You can even leave feedbacks on their questions in case you find them misleading or else. The exam lasts about 50-60 minutes for about 50 questions (keep in mind that these numbers can change according to the exam updates), and I personally think that the time is more than enough.

And most importantly, you will get your result right away! No, you won’t spend days walking around like a zombie thinking about all those possible questions you answered wrong… you’ll get your answer as soon as you submit the exam.

And after the exam?

That’s it! Exam passed! (hopefully)

Then you’ll finally realize that all those weird terms I talked about at the beginning of this blog are not that weird anymore. Indeed, words as PaaS, IaaS and SaaS will sound as familiar to you as the word ‘candy’ is to a child. Pretty cool, right?

And do you know what? After earning the certificate I decided to go back in PASCO’s website, and I could finally understand all those things Patrik and Stefan wrote about! I was now ready to start my adventure as a Pasconaut 😊

Thank you so much reader for staying with me until this point. I hope you enjoyed this blog, and I wish you the best of luck in passing this exam! I am more than available to answer any possible question you may have regarding this topic, and feel free to share this blog post with all those who might benefit from it and are interested in this subject.

Oops, I almost forgot… what to do next?

Well, in my case I decided to have some more fun in getting one more certification: Azure Data Fundamentals (DP-900). If you would like to know more on how to ace this new exam – keep an eye on this blog. A new post is on the way!

Beatrice