Planning to emerge as a Microsoft Certified Azure DevOps Engineer Expert? If you’re one of those who have ever aspired to clear AZ 400 certification then this blog post is for you! In this blog post, I am going to cover all the necessary Azure DevOps exam details such as weightage, course content, exam duration, and much more! So, read below to get all the latest updates regarding this certification.
This exam requires DevOps professionals who are capable of combining processes, people, and technologies for continuously delivering services and products that meet business objectives and user needs. These professionals must be proficient with Agile practices in software development.
Exam Details: Microsoft Azure DevOps (AZ-400)
- Certification Name: AZ-400: Microsoft Azure DevOps Engineer Expert
- Pre-requisite: There is as such no pre-requisite for giving the Azure DevOps Certification Exam. However, if you want to earn the Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert Badge then you have to clear either the AZ-104 or the AZ-204 exam additionally. You can check out this blog post to know more about the certification on [AZ-104] Azure Administrator.
- Exam Duration: 150-210 minutes
- Number of Questions: 40-60 (One lab with around 10 subtasks)
- Passing score: 700 (Out of 1000)
- Exam Cost: USD 165.00
- Validity: Microsoft has announced that starting from June 2021 all role-based and speciality certifications certifications will be valid for 1 year from the date you cleared the Certification Exam. Microsoft has simplified the certification policy, starting from June 2021 you can simply renew your certification for free by passing an assessment on the Microsoft Learn. This is an annual process for renewing the validity of Certification by Microsoft.
- Exam Languages: English, Korean, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese
Furthermore, there are other prerequisites that you should keep in mind before appearing for the AZ 400 exam. Even though these are not mandatory prerequisites, they can improve your chances of qualifying for the exam.
- Proficiency in Agile practices
- The ability for designing and implementing DevOps practices for version control, configuration management, build compliance, release, and testing by leveraging Azure technologies.
- Expertise in streamlining delivery through optimization of practices, creating automation, and implementing strategies for the application code and infrastructure.
Check out: Azure DevOps For Beginners
Type of questions
Below are the type of questions that you can expect
- Single choice questions (based on a scenario): These questions can neither be skipped nor be recorrected later on as you cannot go back once you’ve answered them.
- Single choice questions
- Multiple-choice questions
- Arrange in right sequence type questions
- Case studies with multiple questions
Check out: Azure Support Plans to know all the options available
Learning Path For AZ-400 Certification :
Candidates should have a strong understanding of how to combine processes, people, and technologies for continuously delivering services and products that meet business objectives and user needs. The candidates also need to be familiar with Agile practices in software development before attempting for the Certification Exam.
AZ-Exam Az-400 Topics:
Check out the table below to have a quick insight into the AZ-400 exam objectives.
With the basic information on the AZ-400 certification exam, we can now proceed towards individual domains in the exam’s scope. I would also outline the specific weight of each domain so that you can know the important topic areas.
Also Read: Our blog post on Git Branching Strategy.
1) Configure processes & communications: 10 – 15%
- Configure activity traceability and flow of work
- Configure collaboration and communication
2) Design & implement source control: 15 – 20%
- Design and implement a source control strategy
- Plan and implement branching strategies for the source code
- Configure and manage repositories
3) Design & implement build & release pipelines: 40 – 45%
- Design and implement pipeline automation
- Design and implement a package management strategy
- Design and implement pipelines
- Design and implement deployments
- Design and implement infrastructure as code (IaC)
- Maintain pipelines
4) Develop a security & compliance plan: 10 – 15%
- Design and implement a strategy for managing sensitive information in automation
- Automate security and compliance scanning
5) Implement an instrumentation strategy: 10 – 15%
- Configure monitoring for a DevOps environment
- Analyze metrics
Also read: Comparison between Azure Pipelines vs Jenkins
Complete [AZ400] Microsoft Azure DevOps Guide Hands-on Lab
The best way to learn for Azure DevOps Certification AZ-400 is to perform. Especially all the developers want to earn the Certified Azure DevOps Engineer Expert badge and add to their expertise.
Here is the list of our activity guides:
1) Register For Azure DevOps Free Account
2) Agile Planning and Portfolio Management with Azure Boards
3) Version Controlling with Git in Azure Repos
4) Package Management with Azure Artifacts
5) Enabling continuous integration With Azure Pipelines
6) Integrating Azure Key Vault with Azure DevOps
7) Managing Technical debt with Azure DevOps and SonarCloud
8) Modernizing your existing ASP.NET apps with Azure
9) Manage open source security and license with white sourcebolt
10) Configuring pipelines as code with YAML
11) Controlling Deployments using Classic Release Gates
12) Enable Dynamic Configuration and Feature Flags
13) Monitoring application performance with application insights
14) Deployments using Azure Bicep templates
15) Deploying a Dockerized Java app to Azure Web App for containers
16) Deploying a multi-container application to Azure Kubernetes services
17) Automating your infrastructure deployments
18) Implement security and compliance in Azure DevOps pipelines
Also check: Overview of AZ-104 Exam
Examples of Scenario Based Questions of Microsoft Azure DevOps
- Liteware Case Study: The scenario described the company to be having 70 branches and due to which they are facing many problems. The following questions were on how to solve the problems.
- Contoso Case Study: There were seven deployment scenarios described in the case study followed by questions. These scenarios were in a table, you might have to go back and forth through this table to answer the following questions.
Also, there might be questions on CI/CD for .NET, Node.js, and Java applications. You need to understand Azure DevOps concepts for different languages.
Read More: About DevOps Certification Path. Click here
Exam Retake Policy
- First of all, if a candidate fails in the first attempt, he/she has to wait 24 hours before exam retake.
- Secondly, if he/she fails on the 2nd attempt, then they should wait for 14 days to retake the exam.
- A candidate can take a maximum of 5 retakes in a year.
Who This Certification Is For?
- People with non-technical backgrounds such as those involved in selling or purchasing Cloud-based solutions and services or who have some involvement in Cloud-based solutions and services.
- Anyone with a technical background who wants to validate their foundational level knowledge around Cloud services.
The Azure DevOps certification AZ-400 exam enhances your skills as well as demonstrates it among your employers, thus making you stand out.
Also Check: Our blog post on Azure DevOps Engineer. Click here
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I prepare for Azure DevOps certification?
Before you start learning/studying for any certification, you must know about the certification first, like what are the topics covered, what are the pre-requisite for the certification you are planning to take. Azure DevOps Exam covers the knowledge on the following modules:
- Develop an Instrumentation Strategy
- Develop a Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) strategy
- Develop a security and compliance plan
- Manage source control
- Facilitate communication and collaboration
- Define and implement continuous integration
- Define and implement continuous delivery and release management strategy
How many attempts are required for Azure certification?
A person can clear any Azure Certification in his/her first attempt if they learn properly and complete all the Hands-on required for the particular certification. Microsoft states the below-mentioned rules for the exam retake:
- First of all, if a candidate fails in the first attempt, he/she has to wait 24 hours before exam retake.
- Secondly, if he/she fails on the 2nd attempt, then they should wait for 14 days to retake the exam.
- At last a candidate can take a maximum of 5 retakes in a year.
Do I need to repay to retake Micrsoft Azure DevOps exam?
Yes, you have to repay for the exam if you have not cleared in single take. You can get a discounted retake. For more information on discounted retake check official Microsoft documentation
Related/References
- Microsoft Azure DevOps Engineer (AZ-400) Q/A: Day1 Live Session Review
- Day 2 [AZ-400] Azure DevOps Engineer Live Session Recap and Q/A: Source Control, Azure Repos, Migrating from TFVC to Git, Pull Requests, Git Hooks, Git Versioning
- [AZ-400] Azure DevOps For Beginners
- [AZ-400] Azure DevOps Certification Path
- [AZ-400] Roles And Responsibilities As An Azure DevOps Engineer
- Using Azure Key Vault Secrets In A Pipeline
- CI/CD Pipeline | Continuous Integration | Continuous Deployment
- [AZ-104] Microsoft Azure Administrator Training: Step By Step Activity Guides/Hands-On Lab Exercise
Next Task For You
Begin your journey toward Mastering Azure Cloud and landing high-paying jobs. Just click on the register now button on the below image to register for a Free Class on Mastering Azure Cloud: How to Build In-Demand Skills and Land High-Paying Jobs. This class will help you understand better, so you can choose the right career path and get a higher paying job.
archana says
For each retake does they change a fee?
Rahul Dangayach says
Hi Archana,
A person can clear any Azure Certification in his/her first attempt if they learn properly and complete all the Hands-on required for the particular certification. Microsoft states the below-mentioned rules for the exam retake:
First of all, if a candidate fails in the first attempt, he/she has to wait 24 hours before exam retake.
Secondly, if he/she fails on the 2nd attempt, then they should wait for 14 days to retake the exam.
A candidate can take a maximum of 5 retakes in a year.
Yes, you need to register for the exam again and with that, you have to pay for it.
Hope this helps.
Thanks and Regards
Rahul Dangayach
Team K21Academy
Ajay says
Are there any pre-requisites?
Rahul Dangayach says
Hi Ajay,
There are not any pre-requisite to clear the AZ-400 but it would be great if you have a good understanding of Azure Admin.
Hope this helps.
Thanks and Regards
Rahul Dangayach
Team K21Academy
Kiran says
I have completed az104 earlier but it expired two months before, can I still attempt az400 or do I need recertify az104 and attempt for az400
Rahul Dangayach says
Hi Kiran,
There are not any pre-requisite to clear the AZ-400 certification exam.
Weather your AZ104 is expired or not, you can directly go for AZ400 exam.
I hope this helps.
Thanks and Regards
Rahul Dangayach
Team K21Academy