Certification renewals
Pheuw. It’s done!
Working at Microsoft definitely has it benefits in many ways, one of them is (Microsoft) certifications are free. Kinda. You still need to study for them and make sure you understand the content, this could mean you need to add some resources in Azure and build your own envrionment (I do both, more on that at another time)
In my case, my main source is always MS Learn and it mostly provides you with all the content you need, including asessment/practice tests that you can use to make sure you understand the content (very similar to MeasureUp if you used that!)
The downside could be seen as you have to renew your certificates every year, so you are keeping up with all the changes (it’s not an easy feat, but far from impossible!) and since you are an Microsoft employee, you are likely required to take at very least one (1) certification(s) each year. (this could of course, depend highly what your role is)
Not going to post all the results but in the end I renewed
Expert
- Microsoft Certified: Cybersecurity Architect Expert SC-100
Associate
- Microsoft Certified: Identity and Access Administrator Associate SC-300
- Microsoft 365 Certified: Teams Administrator Associate MS-700
- Microsoft Certified: Security Operations Analyst Associate SC-200
- Microsoft 365 Certified: Endpoint Administrator Associate MD-102
- Microsoft 365 Certified: Security Administrator Associate MS-500 - Retired
While MS-500 is retired, I still choose to renew it, and probably will until I feel it’s not relevant anymore. For the Teams certification though, I think I got mostly lucky or I remember a lot on how it works.
I got plenty of more certifications in the works that I want to take, not all related to Microsoft, and I’ve been thinking should share my thoughts on it moving forward.
To do - in no particular order
this is not my year plan, but for the extended period of time
Busy time ahead, but I enjoy it!