Passed: AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals

October 2019. I hadn't sat a technical exam since I passed the MCTS Database Administration one for SQL Server 2005, that feels a long time ago. That said, for a long time I just didn't have the need to take any further exams, I was still learning day in day out (and still am) but certification wasn't really that important.

I've blogged about IT certification before whether it's useful or not is a very common and sometimes divisive question. My view has definitely changed over time and in these days of rapidly evolving platforms and solutions I've certainly found certification paths to be extremely beneficial.

In preparation for this exam I used a number of different resources. Microsoft Learn was a fantastic starting point and I liked the structure of the course because it is quite broad in content, especially if you're new to cloud concepts. I coupled that with Learn Azure in Month of Lunches, a free PDF that you can download from Microsoft here. 

As with any technical course there's layers of detail. Microsoft Learn is great but I also dove into the technical documentation of each subject area to gain a better understanding. Of course there's no substitution for practical learning and actually doing it, so a free Azure trial subscription comes in very handy (although that is limited to a month).

Then there's practice tests. We used a couple of providers for these because I felt one was fairly limited (btw I'm happy to recommend materials/providers). I try to avoid going over the practice exams too often, it's easy to memorise the questions so I get to a point where I'm fairly happy, hit a test exam and then work on any weaker areas.

Although the exam is on the fundamentals don't be fooled in thinking that it's super easy. It does require study and preparation but at the same time I didn't find any nasty surprises in the exam so full marks to the revision materials. I'd say that by sticking to the guidelines you can't go far wrong but take the time to go a level deeper, and definitely practice and get used to the environment.

And that was that, exam done and dusted, certification gained and on to the next one, which I'll cover in a future post.

Top SQL Interview Questions for 2020 (really).

I was determined to get in early this year with this post but I'm seemingly late and already seeing "Top SQL Interview Questions" posts on social media. 

Anyway, here's my list:



OK I'll be honest, THERE IS NOT LIST!

Seriously, I've been interviewed a lot and I've conducted a lot of interviews too and I have to tell you that there is no list out there that you can revise the answers for that will get you through that interview. I'm sorry.

There are of course certain guidelines; know your current role (you'll probably get asked about that), know and understand the key skills listed in the job description that you've applied for and relate them to relevant experience and/or training etc etc etc.

Now I'm not saying you can't prepare, of course you can and you really should, just don't think you can wing it. You might still get asked the difference between a clustered and non-clustered index but then again you probably won't.