About AZ-204 Exam
If your aim has always been to become a knowledgeable and skilled developer, then you can make your dreams come true by nailing the Microsoft AZ-204 test. Such an exam will get you the Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate certificate and will equip you with the necessary knack to build, design, and test cloud services & apps on Microsoft Azure.
Related Certification
All in all, AZ-204 has an intermediate difficulty and is an associate-level exam, which, as stated above, helps the individual to earn the Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate designation. This certificate shows the abilities and skills of the candidates and proves that they possess the relevant acumen related to Microsoft Azure and its components like Azure SDKs, Azure CLI, APIs, etc. Individuals holding this certificate are in high demand in the market.
Basic Requirements
The aspiring candidates have to treat the test prerequisite seriously to be applicable for the actual exam. Thus, to apply for AZ-204, individuals must be experienced in dealing with Microsoft Azure and as claimed by the vendor their experience level must be around 1-2 years. In particular, this implies that applicants must have in-depth knowledge in outlining & supporting cloud apps and building services on Microsoft Azure. Moreover, the candidates who are willing to apply for the Microsoft AZ-204 must be familiar with data storage and connections, the authentication of apps, and debugging among the rest.
Exam Format
When it comes to the structure of the official test, here’s what to expect. In all, the Microsoft AZ-204 exam contains 40-60 questions, and the total time given to complete it is 130-150 minutes. Candidates should try to answer all the questions to gain maximum marks. Thus, to ace the final test, you need to get passing marks of approximately 70%. Note that in this certification exam, there is no negative marking. Besides, the Microsoft AZ-204 evaluation contains such types of questions as multiple-choice, drag and drop, mark review, short answer, and case studies just to mention a few. To add more, the candidates who are eligible for the final test can choose the test date according to their own choice and time. However, if the time collapsed the candidate cannot attempt the paper again. To get yourself entitled to the AZ-204 exam, the candidate in the US has to pay the exam fee of $165. Finally, if you're a non-student and want to master the Microsoft Azure technology, then you can sit for the official evaluation through the Pearson VUE website and its multiple centers.
Tested AZ-204 Domains
To clear the final exam, you need to showcase a good command of the following topics:
- Azure Compute Solutions and Their Development
This area of the Microsoft AZ-204 exams has the highest weightage among all the modules. Its coverage is around 25% to 30% and here, the applicants learn how to create end-to-end compute solutions on Microsoft Azure. In particular, such a domain focuses on such scopes as implementing IaaS solutions, Azure functions, and deploying as well as managing Azure App Service Web Apps. Thus, you need to master the concepts like VMs and their provisioning, ARM templates, diagnostics logging, SSL, setting for API, autoscaling, and Azure Durable Functions, among others.
- Azure Storage Development
This module has a 15% to 20% weightage in the Microsoft AZ-204 exam. In a nutshell, such a topic looks into various solutions that utilize the storage necessary Cosmos DB as well as blob storage. In more detail, under such a category you’ll familiarize yourself with how to choose the necessary SDK solution, perform data on Cosmos DB containers, transfer data in blob storage, and put into practice diversified storage policies.
- Executing Azure Security
In this part, the candidates need to get to know more about authentication & authorization for users alongside secure cloud solutions, which in total takes up 20-25% of all exam content. Thus, while dealing with this objective, you’ll scrutinize such terms as how to use the Microsoft Identity platform, Azure Active Directory, Azure Key Vault, and Microsoft Graph.
- Controlling, Optimizing, and Troubleshooting Azure Solutions
This chapter has a weightage of 15% to 20% plus, exam-takers will acquire the knowledge and skills needed to ensure that programs deployed in Azure work efficiently and purposefully. As a result, candidates will better understand the operation of Azure Monitor and how to solve issues with it including the necessary analysis. Specialists will also get enlightened on how to make use of caching along with the delivery of content within varied solutions. Thus, you’ll learn how to work with Azure Redis Cache, encryption, and how to support logging & monitoring.
- Azure and Third-Party Services
In the final domain with 15-20%, your knowledge of API management and event-based & message-based solutions will be checked. Particularly, you’ll have to demonstrate your flair regarding how to set up an APIM instance, build APIs authentication as well as define policies for the latter. Besides, you’ll get to know more about Azure Event Hub, Azure Event Grid, Azure Notification Hubs, and definitions like OpenAPI. Last of all, under such a domain, you’ll need to prove your mastery of Azure Service Bus solutions and queues for the Azure Queue Storage.
Career Opportunities
All in all, AZ-204 helps the candidates to qualify as Azure Developers and make progress as many markets and companies are searching for these specialists and are willing to hire them and work with them. Apart from this, your annual remuneration can also grow. Thus, according to ZipRecruiter.com, the Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate certificate can initially get you around $95,500 per year. However, if you work hard, gain some years of related work experience, and augment your knowledge by acquiring advanced-level designations, this figure can reach the heights of $138k per annum as claimed by the same salary provider.
Certification Path
Once you’ve got Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate certified, you may want to further increase your knowledge by opting for higher-level certificates endorsed by the same vendor, Microsoft. Thus, the Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Solution Architect Expert is one viable option that you can try out in this case.
