My Journey to Earning the AZ-204 Azure Developer Associate Certification

Hello All ! I am on Cloud Nine because I recently cleared my AZ-204 - Developer Associate certification (pun Intended :P)

I wanted to share my experience in hopes that it might help someone, as most of the tips I received were from kind people on the internet.

I was genuinely surprised that I passed the exam since I doubted many of the questions I encountered, and there were a lot of curveballs that made me question my preparation. Most of the questions are based on scenarios or case studies and really test your understanding of Azure. Knowing what services are available and understanding why, when, and how to use each one is very important.

In hindsight, I should have spent more time implementing some of these services during my preparation. Even though I did some practice, I believe it wasn't adequate enough to steamroll the exam.

You do get access to Microsoft Learn docs during the exam, but don't expect to find answers by using CTRL + F. You won't find any. The answers come from the concepts you learn, which is why I believe the certification is valuable. It's not something you can just collect like Pokémon; otherwise, everyone would have one, making the certification pointless.

Preparation :

• Microsoft Learn Path for AZ-204 - This covers most of the concepts. Please read through them 1-2 times and make your own notes. Focus on things like plan types, deployment commands, and the differences between offerings. Try to implement them on your own Azure account. You can sign up for a free personal account, which gives you $200 worth of free credits valid for one month.

• Freecodecamp Video -This video from freeCodeCamp is a bit old, but I recommend watching it at 1.5x speed to get a quick overview and see Andrew demonstrate it on his portal.

• Youtube Video by Abdullah -This is a great video, and Abdullah does an excellent job of simplifying the core concepts needed to understand Azure Cloud.

• Github Notes - These notes has quick links to Microsoft Documentation and also exercises to practice them.

Quiz & Practice

• Practice Assessments from Microsoft - These practice questions help you gain confidence about the content that you have digested from Microsoft Learn.

• Quiz - This is a quiz app that is created by the same person who created the Github notes mentioned above and is a must-do.

• ExamTopics - This has a collection free questions which is closest to the ones that I encountered in the exam.

Apart from the ones mentioned above there are few paid ones from Whizlabs and MeasureUp which others have taken but I did not buy them for my preparation.

Tips

• Take very short notes for everything you study since this will help you revise before the exam.

• If you are taking the exam online through PearsonVUE make sure to set everything up before an hour and clear your desk.

• Microsoft Learn is accessible inside PersonVUE and you will see the icon on the left pane.

Lastly, approach the exam with confidence. Stay calm, read each question carefully, and manage your time wisely. Good luck!