How I cleared the AZ-204 certification
Another Azure certification in the books.
Clearing the AZ 204 has been one of my goals for 2021. But doing it in the second month of the year was never part of the plan. Incidentally, my organization made Azure certifications compulsory for all its professionals according to their role. Rewards have been announced for those who finish it by mid-February and that turned out to be a driving force for many, including me.
I’ll be kidding myself if I say that it was a piece of cake. Having cleared AZ-900 in July 2020, AZ-204 was neither new nor as basic as AZ-900. If you’re a working professional able to give 2–3 hours during weekdays and 6–8 hours during weekends, it’ll take a month to clear. Yes, clear. If you want to clear with flying colors(the performance is shared with you alone and is not there on the certificate), give it three months.
Like the prerequisites mentioned in the Microsoft learn documentation, candidates should have 1–2 years of experience in Microsoft Azure.
Source: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/azure-developer
Preparation can be done for free online through Microsoft documentation. There are instructor led paid courses too. The Microsoft documentation is quite comprehensive and encourages learning by doing. A sandbox is provided for every module to practice the concepts. Though configuring and using the Azure portal seems easy, using the PowerShell, Azure CLI are required to be able to clear the exam.
Udemy, Pluralsight, Whizlabs also have both training and practice tests. I didn’t follow their training but heard that they’re good. Practicing as many labs and tests as possible is the key. The variety of questions for AZ-204 is much more than AZ-900. Sure, there are the traditional MCQs but apart from that, there are case studies, select from drop-down, drag and drop, re-order the steps, true or false, etc., not to mention the ARM templates, PowerShell, CLI, host.json and the like and we can ace them only when we practice the labs.
The time slot for the exam is 210 minutes of which the exam is for 180 minutes. The number of questions are between 40 and 60. I got 49 out of which there were two case studies and one set of true or false questions. We can move within the case study but once submitted, cannot return. We cannot go back after answering a true or false question. These questions are not for reviewing later. Like any other Microsoft exam, it can be taken from home or from a Pearson Vue center(No, we don’t have to pay anything for this). I took it from the center to have that exam feel and didn’t want to worry about power, wi-fi and technical issues.
That said, the learning hasn’t ended. Coming to think of it, the Azure services that we use at a project level are only a drop in the ocean. The syllabus covers what is available and in more ways than one, it encourages developers to leverage them. As a self-confessed Azure lover, I’m in awe of what it offers.
Like Robert Frost rightly said and I quote:
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Edit: If you have access, every certification exam has a free practice test. Once clicked, you can write it as many times as you want for one month. Microsoft has a question bank for this test too and provides different questions for each attempt.
Edit 24/08/2022: With Microsoft offering a chance to renew the certifications free of cost if it expires within six months , I renewed my AZ-204 certification today and extended it by another year. The renewal exam is shorter than the actual exam, with the syllabus covering the additions/enhancements that happened in the last few months. I had to answer 25 questions, all being MCQs, without a time limit. One needs to score 60% to clear the exam. This time around too, the Microsoft documentation is the single source of truth.
