Azure work field

[scarlet harbor]

Hello!

I am a soon to be high school graduate in a data and communication field, and I’ve recently started to look into the azure field.

I am curious about how the work field and demand for solution architects and such will be in like 5-10 years (if possible to say) and how difficult and what way shall I choose to study to become one.

Is Microsoft’s free azure stuff enough to go a long way? Maybe to take atleast AZ-900 and other certs?

Any help is greatly appreciated

[green steppe]

There will always be a demand for solution architects :)
You will be able to get quite a way with the free stuff, at least in getting your hands on with how Azure works in terms of resource groups, tags and the other basic stuff.
AZ-900 is a great starting point, I always recommend John Savills videos for that: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlVtbbG169nED0_vMEniWBQjSoxTsBYS3&si=08v3Yr67ADvnROjy

Once you have gotten to the AZ-900 level I would personally recommend that you learn at least the basics on Kubernetes.

[scarlet harbor]

Thank you so much!!!

How difficult would you say out of 1-100 is becoming a solution architect?? I know everyone learns differently and such but if it’s possible could you give me an answer maybe?

Also is there any app I can use for free to simulate a “real” azure work environment?

[green steppe]

Becoming a solution architect is something that requires time and experience. You can learn all the theoretical stuff by studying, but practical experience is crucial IMHO.
So on your scale I would probably say that becoming a good solutions architect would be somewhere above 70.
As to apps to simulate real azure environments I don't know of any, but you can always build huge IaC templates, deploy them, toy around and then tear them down again.

You can also browse around the Azure Architecture center, there's a lot of examples there and some of them also have templates that you can deploy.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/

[scarlet harbor]

Thank you!!

I think it will be a hard task to implement myself into the azure field but I think I am gonna commit to it since my other idea of continuing studies needed way more extra subjects to study while cloud computing etc needed way less

Thanks for your help!

[violet quiver]

What's important is understanding the fundamental pieces ands concepts of cloud architecture. Each and every organization well have very different architecture and designs for their business use cases. Picking a specific niche use case and building out architecture for it is a good way to practice.

I would recommend checking out https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/

[scarlet harbor]

Thank you!

[scarlet harbor]

@green steppe woudl you recommend to take all the Certs as fast as possible? Like the AZ-900?

Even tho I haven’t let’s say finished and gotten a degree in cloud computing.

Since they are needed to be renewed every year BUT free also how much less difficult would you say they are to renew than to take them again?

If you understand what I mean :)

Since I am still in high school I’m just figuring out if it’s even necessary for me to have them now before I get a degree to then go on to search jobs in that field of work.

But I guess having them ASAP would make it easier to just renew and have time to study for other stuff while I’m studying cloud computing at a school.

[violet quiver]

You don’t need a degree in cloud computing (if that’s even one) or computer science to take the certifications although it may help. Honestly, I would say go for it since you will learn a lot in the process.

[green steppe]

Agree with Ziyan here, go for it :)
And as to your question on the difficulty of renewing vs taking the cert again: the renewals are a lot easier 👍

[scarlet harbor]

Yeah I meant like taking the school course in comp sci or something biased to cloud computing to make everything easier! The same way you would to other stuff yk :)

Soo like a degree is not needed to become an azure architect even?

[violet quiver]

A degree will help definitely, if at the very least for the presence of the paper lol.

In terms of skills, it will help as well since understanding computer science and programming fundamentals will help you better understand cloud architecture concepts such as networking, security, deadlocks, etc.

That said, depending on your university, there may not be an explicitly "cloud architecture" course since if you squint hard enough at the cloud it's just all VM's.

There are plenty of architects across all cloud providers that don't have the degree, but I would say you would need significant work experience to make up for it. Of course, someone who slacks through a CS degree would not be any better equipped.

[scarlet harbor]

Alright thanks!

Would you say Cisco networking and routing stuff helps in the field of Azure, stuff like CCNA and such?

[violet quiver]

Learning any networking basics will help for sure, since all cloud stuff involves networking at some level. The Cisco networking is really helpful too, but whether or not you want to focus on that depends what path you want to take.

[scarlet harbor]

Alright, cause rn I have that type of stuff but I am not really SUPER into that type of stuff cause it’s so so so so so repetitive and bland imo

But ofcourse it can help and I can understand why it’s correlated to azure for sure!

[violet quiver]

My recommendation is to learn the basics of Networking, Operating Systems, Programming, Concurrency, and Databases. That should give you a solid beginning foundation to build on top of.

https://www.youtube.com/@cs50/playlists You could even start here with these free "classes"

[hushed hemlock]

fortunately for the solutions architect expert cert, it is very much based in theory. Personally, I do not believe you dont need years of hands on experience with the tools. All that matters is that you put the time into the documentation. Out of all the exams I have taken, I can probably count on one hand (hell, even one finger), how many times a question has been asked that isnt something spelled out directly within the docs somewhere.

What matters most is that you spend the time reading these docs and utilizing microsofts resources on the topics. Someone with 10 years of experience may fail the exam where someone with a month reading the docs heavily may pass the exam.

As with anything it helps if youve used the platform, but it is by no means required.

[scarlet harbor]

Sounds awesome!!

I’m starting with the AZ-900 stuff from Microsoft rn

Not that much to read imo if it’s ENOUGH to pass the exam

[hushed hemlock]

The advice i can give on the AZ-900, dont let the word "fundamentals" fool you.

[scarlet harbor]

Any good stuff other than the fundamentals I need to read up on😭

[hushed hemlock]

The reason I say that is not to say that it isnt covering fundamentals, but rather to say that people see that its just fundamental stuff and immediately associate that with dont need a lot of study/easy

i have had people on my teams with years of azure experience fail it several times because they thought it was something they could just sign up for and take lol

rather than putting the time into the MS Learn paths.

If you follow those learn paths, you are setting yourself up for success. pro tip - do not sleep on drilling down into links referenced within each module (for example if it has a link explaining what logic apps are)

[scarlet harbor]

Ah okay! So basically the fundamentals is good just that people tend to not see it as important.

[hushed hemlock]

exactly.

when theyre very important.

[scarlet harbor]

Yeah I find the videos really good!

[hushed hemlock]

plus, if youre into video games at all, MS learn almost scratches that itch with its XP based levelling system 😄

[scarlet harbor]

Yeah it’s really good actually!

I find it making you want to learn more to just add on that xp meter hahaha

[hushed hemlock]

i personally love it hahah

if only it included the docs that arent covered by the XP system

[scarlet harbor]

Also liek, when I’ve talked about azure with my teacher and just googled it says the salaries are really high, not that it’s weighing over the fact that I find azure interesting but it’s also good to know if it’s actually that well paid or not?

What’s ur experience with it if I may ask?

[hushed hemlock]

Heavily depends on the company.
Tech in general tends to be decently paid, but that’s not to say you’re guaranteed to be rolling in disposable income.

What i can say is if you do find yourself in some form of full time azure engineer position, you probably aren’t going be worrying about how you’re going to afford dinner that night (assuming your finances are mostly in check to begin with)

There’s just so many factors involved in pay for any field that it’s hard to give actual numbers for what someone should expect for any given position/career path.

You can go to places like LinkedIn or indeed to see job postings if you want to see some actual numbers for different positions and companies, oftentimes they list salary ranges for the positions (keep in mind that unless you’re a star candidate, when you start out you often find yourself on the lower end of these ranges without some serious negotiation skills)