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Passed AZ-300!
I never thought I was going to actually sit this exam. Between a real lack of good certification materials (I sat the MOC course, did Skylines [which was probably the best], Scott Duffy’s, and Tim Warners’s materials) and having too much work on my plate, I just didn’t have a real good sense of what was needed here. I decided on a whim to take it yesterday with the mindset that at least I would actually experience the exam and could be ready for it in a month if I didn’t pass. I think I passed by the skin of my teeth.
Now, I am going to cut through the BS. It wasn’t hard because of all of the hype. It was hard because of the same reason Microsoft exams can be hard... the questions weren’t really that good, so you’re left with a vague sense of what they’re after and little confidence that you’re answering it properly. This definitely isn’t the case with all or even most of the questions... there are plenty that are straight forward. However, 20-30% of the questions are this way. And guess way, that is basically what you can get wrong and pass... so that means you need to hopefully get some of them correct and do okay with the remainder.
The labs are tricky. They ask for some things that are very straight forward. However, if you read the questions very carefully, they say some additional things that they don’t necessarily expect you to implement (at least was my take away from it).
However, there wasn’t anything super intricate, which is on par with my experience with around 50 IT exams under my belt.
On to AZ-301 and then I see what is next. I am thinking about some more Azure certs, DevOps, Security, maybe even the Developer Associate. I will probably work on AWS stuff, too.
As with all things... avoid the hype. This frightens a lot of people away. You hear people say that something is hard and it is mostly them boasting. Sure, it took work and it wasn’t easy... definitely an accomplishment, however it is possible and within reach. Don’t let the hype intimidate you. This has been the case for everything that I have done that was “hard”. People tried to set some understanding of how difficult it was and it really didn’t live up to it. You see this in high school where they (teachers and counselors) say how hard it is to get into college in terms of GPA, SAT, and scholarships... and sure if you have your heart set on some highly demanded field and want to get into a Top 10 program, it will be a bit more difficult, but in general, getting into college isn’t very difficult at all (probably should be harder than it is given the student loan crisis). Define your goals, chart your course, and put in the effort. You can do it.
Now, I am going to cut through the BS. It wasn’t hard because of all of the hype. It was hard because of the same reason Microsoft exams can be hard... the questions weren’t really that good, so you’re left with a vague sense of what they’re after and little confidence that you’re answering it properly. This definitely isn’t the case with all or even most of the questions... there are plenty that are straight forward. However, 20-30% of the questions are this way. And guess way, that is basically what you can get wrong and pass... so that means you need to hopefully get some of them correct and do okay with the remainder.
The labs are tricky. They ask for some things that are very straight forward. However, if you read the questions very carefully, they say some additional things that they don’t necessarily expect you to implement (at least was my take away from it).
However, there wasn’t anything super intricate, which is on par with my experience with around 50 IT exams under my belt.
On to AZ-301 and then I see what is next. I am thinking about some more Azure certs, DevOps, Security, maybe even the Developer Associate. I will probably work on AWS stuff, too.
As with all things... avoid the hype. This frightens a lot of people away. You hear people say that something is hard and it is mostly them boasting. Sure, it took work and it wasn’t easy... definitely an accomplishment, however it is possible and within reach. Don’t let the hype intimidate you. This has been the case for everything that I have done that was “hard”. People tried to set some understanding of how difficult it was and it really didn’t live up to it. You see this in high school where they (teachers and counselors) say how hard it is to get into college in terms of GPA, SAT, and scholarships... and sure if you have your heart set on some highly demanded field and want to get into a Top 10 program, it will be a bit more difficult, but in general, getting into college isn’t very difficult at all (probably should be harder than it is given the student loan crisis). Define your goals, chart your course, and put in the effort. You can do it.
2024 Renew: [ ] AZ-204 [ ] AZ-305 [ ] AZ-400 [ ] AZ-500 [ ] Vault Assoc.
2024 New: [X] AWS SAP [ ] CKA [ ] Terraform Auth/Ops Pro
2024 New: [X] AWS SAP [ ] CKA [ ] Terraform Auth/Ops Pro