Preparing for AZ104
Language version
This article also has a Czech version.
TL;DR ✨
On one side, there are many people who have worked with a technology for several years and become highly proficient in it. On the other side, there are newcomers with an inflated view of their own qualities and abilities. The gap between the two groups is enormous, and it is difficult for people outside the field to assess it.
Certification, not only in the world of IT specialists, is a way for people to get on the same wavelength. It is a benchmark that gives people outside the field an imaginary reference line for comparison. It helps several parties. It gives both newcomers and professionals objective feedback, while providing third parties with “something” they can rely on when judging a person's qualities.
Preparing for AZ 104
✨ Introduction¶
On one side, there are many people who have worked with a technology for several years and become highly proficient in it. On the other side, there are newcomers with an inflated view of their own qualities and abilities. The gap between the two groups is enormous, and it is difficult for people outside the field to assess it. For many companies, the probationary period serves as a basic benchmark, because strengths and weaknesses usually become apparent within those three months anyway. As the saying goes, love and a cough cannot be hidden. Unfortunately, for many companies this means three months of wasted money, also known as experience 🙂
Certification, not only in the world of IT specialists, is a way for people to get on the same wavelength. It is a benchmark that gives people outside the field an imaginary reference line for comparison. It helps several parties. It gives both newcomers and professionals objective feedback, while providing third parties with “something” they can rely on when judging a person's qualities. Of course, like anything else, a certification is only a piece of paper and says nothing about many other qualities that are needed, such as soft skills, a mix of technical skills, or the ability to think synergistically and analytically. Even so, it is a solid foundation on which expertise can gradually be built, and it is nothing to be ashamed of.
From this point on, the article looks at certification from the candidate's perspective and discusses Microsoft certifications, specifically AZ104.
🔐 Reasons for Getting Certified¶
There are several reasons, which can vary from one person to another. For many candidates, certification is about improving their expertise in general, gaining prestige, or becoming much more competitive. It is a way to grow gradually in terms of career, income, and knowledge. It is driven by curiosity and the pleasure of learning something new. These are usually the main reasons. A side effect of any certification is the outcome of the mental work involved, which is not always visible at first glance. It includes acquired theoretical knowledge that helps a learner enter a field much more effectively and efficiently, apply that knowledge, and, with a little creativity, turn it into something intangible that adds value for the customer. It is a cycle of success in which one positive result produces a positive response elsewhere, allowing the process to continue in a chain.
Last but not least, passing a certification feels good. It brings a certain degree of satisfaction, self-fulfilment, and the feeling that “one is not ready for the scrap heap yet” 🙂
AZ104: what it involves, where to start, and how to begin
To begin with, it is good to have at least some experience with Azure. The longer someone has worked with the subject, the easier the certification exams become. All the questions in the exam are based on practice, although they are framed in very general terms. Experienced Azure professionals can therefore skip this section. For readers who have worked with Azure for approximately 6–12 months, however, this section is intended precisely for them.
It is a good idea to start by reviewing the fundamentals covered by the AZ900 certification. Taking the AZ900 certification itself is not strictly necessary, but having a solid foundation to build on is more than advisable. Candidates should know the basic nomenclature, be able to navigate the graphical interface, understand the basics and possibilities of command-line work, and grasp the benefits of the cloud compared with its modified “klaud” variant. This distinction is explained at the end.
The AZ900 material takes only a few days to study and makes it much easier to work with the terminology used in AZ104 and to understand the relationships between concepts.
Everyone has a different preferred study style, so the author becomes more subjective from this point onward. The end result will be a certificate:
!
📷 Video Materials¶
Udemy video courses helped the author considerably at the beginning. Many excellent courses are available there for a fraction of the price, especially during a sale, and they help both with understanding concepts and visualising them clearly. Occasionally, they also contain a correct answer that appears in the certification exam.
With certain reservations, the author recommends these courses:
AZ900
AZ104
The reservations are that video content is easier to consume, but does not always cover everything that might be expected in the final certification exam. The video materials are presented in broken English and mostly split into clips only a few minutes long, so the recommendation comes with some tolerance for these shortcomings.
✨ Reading Materials¶
Most reading materials are freely available at learn.microsoft.com
The links are summarised well in this article:
https://www.testpreptraining.com/blog/how-difficult-is-the-microsoft-azure-az-104-exam/
Most of Microsoft's materials are useful when they link to the relevant documentation.
Microsoft's preparation courses are less useful in the sense that they do not make it immediately clear what candidates can expect in the certification exam. They contain many links to documentation that is worth reading, but some Udemy videos offer much more because they are simply easier to consume.
An example of the exam candidates will face can be viewed here:
✨ Practice Test Materials¶
The author considers practice exams available for purchase on Udemy to be among the most useful materials. Nothing beats trying a mock exam. Here,
this course contains an excellent collection of more than 400 test questions. If a candidate can score at least 60% on every test, there is a strong likelihood that they will score more than 70% on the final exam. The certification exam is scored in points. A score of 780 points therefore means passing the exam with 78%. At least 700 points, or 70%, are required to pass.
It makes sense to start working through these tests only after watching some of the videos linked above or reading the Microsoft documentation in greater detail. This is the best preparation. After finishing a test, candidates can review each answer, accompanied by an excellent explanation of which answer is correct and why. Across the entire set of practice tests, the author found only about four questions that he believed were wrong. He struggled most with how resource locks work and what rules they follow, as well as with conditional access, where the questions were usually phrased strangely.
The Udemy practice tests contain roughly 72–92 questions and allow 2 hours and 30 minutes. The actual exam has around 50 questions and allows 1 hour and 30 minutes.
✨ Procedure Before the Exam¶
Candidates book the exam through Microsoft Learn and are then redirected to Pearson VUE. Microsoft documents the current exam registration and scheduling process. In 2022, the exam cost USD 110 plus additional fees, for a total of USD 133. Current pricing depends on the candidate's country and should be checked during registration.
The video How to take a Pearson VUE online proctored exam provides a useful visual walkthrough of the home exam process.
The video covers room preparation, identity checks, and the testing interface. Run the official online exam system test on the intended computer well in advance. It checks the camera, microphone, audio, and network connection. Close applications identified as conflicting by the system test; do not disable security software without a specific reason and a plan to enable it again afterward.
Spoiler
An internet browser MUST NOT be used during the certification exam. Nothing may be left running in the background on the computer. No background programs are allowed. Candidates are monitored by webcam throughout the exam. They may not have notes anywhere or anything on the desk. No electronic devices are permitted, nor any suspicious clothing in which a camera could be concealed. Candidates may not speak or even mutter the questions to themselves.
The exam is available in various languages, but Czech is not among them. The closest option is therefore English.
At most, candidates may have drinking water and chewing gum. During the exam, they must look only at the computer and nowhere else. Leaving the desk results in automatic disqualification. Candidates should ensure that nobody enters the room during the exam. If someone starts speaking to them during the exam, they risk disqualification. The rules are very strict and should not be underestimated. Money will not be refunded in appeals involving such violations. Anyone unable to meet these conditions at home should use the services of a training centre instead.
FAQ
🔍 How Long Did the Author Study for the Exam?¶
The author studied for a total of eight days, from morning until evening. Watching videos took the most time, even though he watched them at 1.5–2× speed 🙂 He then spent much more time on the practice tests, which were the most valuable part. The explanations of the answers helped him in particular. Along the way, he read online documentation about topics for which he wanted more detailed information.
Most people online wrote that they had studied for the exam for about 14 days beforehand.
✨ Is the Exam Difficult?¶
The author cannot assess it objectively. It depends on how much administrative experience a candidate has. With 12 months or more of daily Azure experience, the exam will probably be easier. Without such frequent and intensive experience, it will logically be more difficult. Subjectively, the author found it easier than the Udemy practice tests, which were sometimes genuine brain-teasers, although it still contained quite a few trick questions or items that were harder to understand. The certification exam included many of the easier questions from the practice tests, the kind that serve as safe points. That helped considerably. The author scored 87% on the final exam.
In Conclusion: The Difference Between Cloud and “Klaud”
As cloud technologies have developed, many companies have emerged that mislead consumers by offering “klaud” solutions under the pretence that they are cloud solutions. Examples illustrate this better than theory.
✨ Typical “Klaud” No. 1¶
An accounting company uses accounting software. A service company offers to manage that accounting software in its own “klaud.” In essence, it takes the boxed version of the software, installs it on one of its virtual machines, and presents it as a cloud solution for companies. The point is that for software to be cloud-based, it must be designed that way from the outset. It must use all the excellent benefits offered by AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud so that it is genuinely dynamic, uses resources highly efficiently, and has code optimised for the solution. Taking third-party software, dropping it into a virtualised environment, and taking credit for someone else's work —> that is “klaud.”
✨ Typical “Klaud” No. 2¶
An unnamed company in Brno offers e-shop hosting to its clients. Its original business structure was —> one virtual machine per customer. The company decided to move to the cloud because it was very trendy at the time. It approached the matter in the Brno way. Its idea of “klaud” was to take a customer's virtual machine and migrate it to DigitalOcean. Why DigitalOcean? Because Azure and AWS were too expensive for the company. What was the benefit of this migration? None. The company felt that having the virtual machine run in a different data centre made it more “klaud” than cloud. The client gained no benefit from it. Instead of hiring experts, the company handled it amateurishly in its own way. A classic market failure. None of the benefits of autoscaling, optimisation, or any other added value of the cloud were used.