Why I Took the AZ-900 Certification After 13 Years in Software Engineering
After more than a decade working as a C# engineer, I recently decided to take the AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals certification. It might seem unusual for someone with 13 years of experience to go back to the basics, but for me, it made perfect sense.
When I joined my current company, I quickly realized how much Azure was part of our daily work. The last time I had used Azure was about six years ago, and a lot had changed since then. I often found myself lost in meetings, not fully understanding the terminology or the reasoning behind certain architectural decisions. I knew I needed to catch up.
I scheduled the exam two months in advance and used that time to study consistently. The AZ-900 covers three main areas:
- Cloud Concepts
- Azure Architecture and Services
- Azure Management and Governance
Out of the three, I scored highest in cloud concepts and lowest in management and governance. Maybe I’m not ready to be a manager yet, lol. Still, I passed, and more importantly, I learned a lot.
What stood out to me the most were the foundational ideas that I had either forgotten or never fully understood. Concepts like availability zones, storage redundancy options, resource locks, and the defense-in-depth strategy were eye-opening. These aren’t just buzzwords. They’re critical to understanding how Azure works and why certain decisions are made in cloud architecture.
One of the biggest takeaways for me was that there’s nothing wrong with going back to fundamentals. In fact, it’s often the best way to move forward. The certification helped me connect the dots between what I see in our infrastructure and the principles behind it. It gave me the confidence to ask better questions and contribute more meaningfully to discussions.
If you’re in a similar situation, experienced but feeling a bit out of sync with the cloud technologies your team uses, I’d recommend taking the fundamentals certification for the cloud provider your company relies on. For Azure, that’s AZ-900. If you’re working with AWS or Google Cloud, look into AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner or Google Cloud Digital Leader. It’s a solid investment in your understanding, and it’s never too late to learn something new.