Certification Overview

To earn the DevOps Engineer Expert certification, candidates must satisfy two requirements:

1️⃣ Pass the required expert exam

AZ-400: Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions

2️⃣ Hold one of the following prerequisite associate certifications.

📌 Important

Unlike some Microsoft certifications, this expert certification allows two prerequisite options.

You can take AZ-400 without the prerequisite certification, but you will not receive the DevOps Engineer Expert certification until you also hold one of the required associate certifications.

Track Details & Exam Requirements

🔹 Expert Exam (Required)

AZ-400: Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions

This exam measures the ability to design and implement DevOps processes, including CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure automation, security integration, and monitoring strategies.

Exam Details

• Exam Code: AZ-400
• Exam Name: Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions
• Exam Duration: ~120 minutes
• Passing Score: 700 / 1000
• Exam Type: Microsoft role-based certification exam
• Delivery: Pearson VUE (online proctoring or test center)
• Languages: Multiple languages supported by Microsoft
• Certification Level: Expert

Prerequisite Certification Requirement

To earn the DevOps Engineer Expert certification, candidates must hold one of the following certifications:

🔹 Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate
Exam: AZ-104

or

🔹 Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate
Exam: AZ-204

📌 Certification Path Example

AZ-104 or AZ-204
⬇
AZ-400
⬇
🎓 Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert

What This Certification Validates

With the DevOps Engineer Expert certification, you demonstrate the ability to:

• Design and implement DevOps strategies
• Implement CI/CD pipelines
• Manage source control and versioning
• Design infrastructure as code (IaC) solutions
• Implement monitoring and logging strategies
• Integrate security and compliance into DevOps processes

These skills help organizations deliver reliable and scalable cloud applications using DevOps practices on Azure.

Exam Skills Measured

The AZ-400 exam evaluates several major DevOps domains.

1. Design and Implement Processes and Communications (10–15%)

Candidates must understand how to:

• Implement DevOps culture and collaboration practices
• Design agile planning and tracking strategies
• Integrate development and operations workflows

2. Design and Implement Source Control (10–15%)

Candidates should be able to:

• Manage Git repositories and branching strategies
• Implement version control policies
• Integrate source control with DevOps pipelines

3. Design and Implement Build and Release Pipelines (50–55%)

This domain focuses on:

• Designing CI/CD pipelines
• Implementing automated builds and releases
• Integrating security testing into pipelines
• Managing deployment strategies such as blue-green and rolling deployments

4. Develop a Security and Compliance Plan (10–15%)

Candidates must understand how to:

• Integrate security into DevOps pipelines
• Implement secure development practices
• Manage secrets and credentials securely

5. Implement an Instrumentation Strategy (10–15%)

Candidates must understand how to:

• Configure monitoring and logging systems
• Use Azure Monitor and Application Insights
• Analyze telemetry and performance metrics

Validity & Recertification

Microsoft role-based certifications expire annually.

To renew certification:

• Complete a free renewal assessment on Microsoft Learn before the certification expires.

The prerequisite certification must also remain active to maintain the expert certification status.

Recommended Experience

Although Microsoft does not require formal experience as a prerequisite, candidates are expected to have:

• Experience with Azure administration or Azure development
• Knowledge of DevOps practices and CI/CD pipelines
• Experience with Git, containerization, and infrastructure automation
• Knowledge of monitoring, logging, and security integration

This certification is considered an advanced expert-level Azure DevOps certification.

Who Should Pursue This Certification?

This certification is ideal for professionals such as:

• DevOps Engineers
• Cloud DevOps Engineers
• Platform Engineers
• Site Reliability Engineers (SRE)
• Azure Engineers implementing CI/CD pipelines

Career Benefits

• Demonstrates expert-level DevOps implementation skills
• Validates expertise in CI/CD pipelines and automation
• Supports careers in cloud DevOps and platform engineering
• Recognized Microsoft certification for DevOps leadership roles
• Shows employers you can build automated, secure, and scalable DevOps environments

Summary

The Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert certification validates a candidate’s ability to design and implement DevOps practices across development and operations teams using Azure.

Key points

• Requires AZ-400 exam
• Requires one prerequisite certification (AZ-104 or AZ-204)
• Focuses on CI/CD pipelines, automation, monitoring, and DevOps practices
• Expert-level Microsoft Azure certification.