Microsoft Azure Certification Roadmap

Level: Intermediate | Focus: Identity, compute, storage, networking, monitoring

Master Azure administration skills — managing subscriptions, identities, virtual networks, storage accounts, virtual machines, and monitoring solutions. The core certification for Azure administrators.

Level: Intermediate | Focus: Azure compute, storage, security, monitoring, and integration

Build, deploy, and maintain Azure applications. Covers Azure Functions, App Service, Cosmos DB, Azure Key Vault, API Management, and event-driven architectures. For developers building cloud-native apps.

Level: Intermediate | Focus: Identity security, platform protection, security operations, data security

Implement security controls, manage identity and access, protect Azure platforms, and manage data and applications securely. Essential for cloud security engineers and SOC teams.

Level: Intermediate | Focus: Data storage, data processing, data security, monitoring

Design and implement data storage and data processing workloads on Azure. Covers Azure Data Factory, Azure Synapse Analytics, Azure Databricks, and Azure Data Lake. For data engineers building pipelines and analytics solutions.

Level: Intermediate | Focus: Azure Cognitive Services, Azure Bot Service, Azure Machine Learning

Design and implement AI solutions using Azure Cognitive Services, Azure Machine Learning, and Azure Bot Service. For engineers building intelligent, conversational, and vision-based AI applications.

Level: Expert | Focus: Zero Trust strategy, security operations, identity security, regulatory compliance

Design a comprehensive Microsoft cybersecurity strategy across Zero Trust architecture, GRC (governance, risk, compliance), security operations, and identity security solutions. The highest-level Microsoft security certification.

Level: Associate | Focus: Microsoft Sentinel, Microsoft Defender, threat hunting, incident response

Mitigate threats using Microsoft Sentinel, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, and Microsoft Defender XDR. Covers threat investigation, hunt for threats, and respond to incidents in a SOC environment.

Level: Associate | Focus: Azure AD, identity lifecycle, privileged access, app integrations

Design, implement, and manage an organization's identity and access strategy using Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD). Covers authentication, authorization, conditional access, privileged identity management, and app integrations.

Level: Associate | Focus: Data classification, sensitivity labeling, DLP, compliance

Plan and implement information protection and data lifecycle management using Microsoft Purview. Covers sensitivity labels, data loss prevention (DLP), insider risk management, and eDiscovery solutions.