Exam 70-534 Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions
Azure Exam 70-534
Following the path I’ve been taking to validate my Azure skills to it’s natural conclusion, I recently took and passed the Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions exam 70-534. Traditionally I allow myself a short period of revision. With this exam, I felt confident and with the massed array of Azure possibilities for the exam to call upon, I wasn’t too sure how useful revision over experience might be. So again in hope of passing more than expectation, I decided to sit the exam – if nothing else I would learn where I needed to focus more effort. I’ve been working as an architect and have spent much of my career infrastructure focused. This proved to be a good combination for the infrastructure exam and I was banking on it being a good combination here as well.
This of course means that I have also attained my MCSE, or for the acronym averse Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert 🙂
Exam 70-534 differed from 70-533 and was more similar to 70-532.
Again the majority of the material for 70-534 was framed inside a scenario. This time the scenarios where much more complicated and required a great deal of focus to sort relevance. Each scenario had multiple different viewpoints and views, artefacts and requirements both technical and business. I must confess that i found my TOGAF skills here to be key. Being able to recall the Architectural Development Method (ADM) was very useful. Working in an architectural way keeps the requirements central to everything that you are recommending and designing. With Azure being an evolving platform it is all to easy to lose focus and design around technologies instead of requirements and capabilities. loose sight of the scenario requirements and capabilities at your peril.
Having said that I wouldn’t say that TOGAF is a prerequisite for this exam, far from it, I’m just acknowledging that it helped me. If you have a good understanding of Azure, work in a logical manner and closely follow each scenario you should do well.
This exam had another step up in the volume of required reading, with 70-533 and 70-532 I finished the exams with more than an hour to spare. This exam I had ten minutes remaining. Time management is again beyond crucial and comprehension vital.
Azure learning resources
The learning resources are in effect the same as with the 70-533 and 70-532 exams. I’ll list them here again here. Again, please consider that there really is nothing better than hands on experience.
Best of luck!
Simon