Journey to Azure DevOps Expert with a 3P mindset – People… Processes… Products

Hello my friends!

If you are looking to get some study tips on an Azure DevOps Engineer Expert certification then you landed in a right post πŸ™‚

So why Azure DevOps as a platform for your organization’s digital transformation? Well it is build for any language, and any platform. Yes, that is 100% true statement! Run the OSS (#opensourcesoftware) tools and frameworks on it, anything you want, in addition to Microsoft stack.

This weekend, I got loaded with fresh coffee and sit to wright-down experiences and resources I have used, along the journey to become an Azure DevOps Expert.Β 
This journey brings along a new credential inΒ Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert. However, most importantly, it refreshes your understanding of latest developments in the DevOps ecosystem on Microsoft Azure platform.

Side note: I have been actively using Microsoft DevOps pipelines for the last 2.5 years. Having this experience provided a lot of help in understanding exam objectives and focusing on areas that I never touched.

Overall, Microsoft Expert exams are harder than Azure fundamentals and associate exams. They come with test scenarios, labs and tricky questions where you have to know the order of processes – in one way testing your real-world understanding of the processes and technologies and its interconnected components.

Earning the DevOps Engineer Expert certification demonstrates the ability to combine people, process, and technologies to continuously deliver valuable products and services that meet end user needs and business objectives. DevOps professionals streamline delivery by optimizing practices, improving communications and collaboration, and creating automation.

Microsoft Learn

Now, as you may expect, there are tons of material out there on how to get prepared for required two exams that qualifies you to Expert certification. I took a bit stiff hill to climb πŸ™‚ First, I went head-on with AZ-400 “Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions” exam and later focused on Azure Administrator Associate exam.

As an alternative, you could choose a developer path. It applies very well for the case, where you might already have an Azure Developer Associate certification and just need to pass AZ-400 to qualify for the DevOps Expert certification.

Study Materials and references

I primarily used Microsoft Learn – an online and free starting point to cover gaps in my knowledge and skills. by complementing it with Pluralsight videos. I have combined the following list of resources that you might find handy πŸ™‚

In summary, the important once are listed on top. They are all very important, as you would like to keep your knowledge up to date with developments on DevOps world.

In a nutshell, I tried my best to walk you through the process, options and resources that will help you along the way. Hopefully, this brief guide will help you on your journey to prepare and become an Expert DevOps Engineer!

Meanwhile, feel free to answer the following questions:

  • Comment on your exam preparation approach?
  • What challenges are you facing or already overcame?
  • What helped and what did not – in setting up for a DevOps journey?

Thank you and May The 4TH Be With You!

Study Guides for DP-300 Administrating Relational Databases on Microsoft Azure

For all Microsoft SQL server admin and developer friends πŸ‘πŸ‘Œ

DP-300 examΒ is out there, and I am trilled to pieces having it next week:

Caveat is, there is no officially published study guide yet (while it is Beta). I have compiled following resources from community members and in ne place for you.

We have following study guides to get help from:

1. Check Gregor Suttie’s guide πŸ‘‰ https://lnkd.in/e-H-hNG

2. Check Ravikiran Srinivasulu’s guide πŸ‘‰ Study Guide for DP-300

3. Check Gonzalo Juan Jose Bissio guide πŸ‘‰ DP 300 My experience πŸ™‚

4. Free e-book from Microsoft onΒ Professional Azure SQL Database Administration

Please, let us know if you have other good sources for exam preparation. Feel free to share it with community by providing valuable feedback in the comments section.

Updated: I would also recommend to read this post: “Level up with Microsoft Certified: Azure Database Administrator Associate” from Microsoft Tech Community” https://lnkd.in/eXSHbMt #SharingIsCaring❀️

Good Luck on your upcoming exam!
Keep my posted on your success & journey progress!

#azure #sqldatabase #sqldeveloper #sqlserver #certification #betaexam

How to start Cloud Journey in your organization?

Hi Cloud Marathoners!

It is usually hard to start a new initiative within a company due to a myriad of reasons. πŸ€”
Thus, this post will focus on how to follow some descriptive steps in starting a new Cloud Journey whereever you are in your life πŸ™‚

Let’s check a simple approach πŸ’‘ below that could guide us on cloud ☁️ (AWS, Azure, GCP, Oracle Cloud) adoption journey πŸ—Ί

Choosing the right cloud solution provider for your customers?

1️⃣ Step: Check on Team Alignment with cloud fundamentals
βœ”οΈ Every team member should have a basic understand of how specific cloud works
βœ”οΈ Portfolio of candidate workloads should be available to all team members to be used during strategic, release planning and completion of technical tasks 
βœ”οΈ The technical strategy should include clarity on which levels of the hosting hierarchy will be used and what those terms mean in our business
βœ”οΈ A naming and tagging standard should be established, maintained, and enforced to guide implementation and resource organization
βœ”οΈ The hosting hierarchy should be reflected in a resource organization design (account or subscription design)
βœ”οΈ Align cloud capabilities, teams, and RACI structure to the fundamental concepts above

As an addition, what would you add into first checklist ? πŸ€”

Please, share your thoughts in comments section πŸ‘Β #SharingIsCaring❀️️

Looking πŸ‘€ for more?
Follow the #cloudmarathoner tag on LinkedIn and via blog postsΒ πŸ’‘

Fᴏʟʟᴏᴑ ᴍᴇ 🎯 α΄€Ι΄α΄… become α΄€ #cloudmarathoner β›…πŸƒβ€β™‚οΈπŸƒβ€β™€οΈ – 𝐋𝐄𝐓’𝐒 π‚πŽπππ„π‚π“ πŸ‘

#cloudjourney
#cloudskills
#firststeps
#cloudadoption
#continuouslearning