DevOps Tutorials, Guides & Best Practices

For a new candidate pursuing Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert in September 2026, the clearest route is AZ-104, then AZ-400. AZ-104 earns Azure Administrator Associate, which satisfies the active prerequisite. AZ-400 completes the expert certification.

AZ-900 is optional preparation. Do not begin AZ-204 or AZ-500 as new certification paths: Microsoft retired AZ-204 on July 31, 2026 and AZ-500 on August 31, 2026. AI-200 is a current Azure AI developer credential, but Microsoft does not list it as a DevOps Engineer Expert prerequisite.

Short recommendation: If your target is Azure DevOps engineering and you do not already hold an eligible prerequisite, take AZ-104 first, build real pipeline experience, then prepare for AZ-400.

Azure DevOps certification path at a glance

The current DevOps Engineer Expert route

Microsoft’s certification page requires candidates to pass AZ-400 and hold at least one listed prerequisite certification: Azure Administrator Associate or Azure Developer Associate. The second option now needs context because Azure Developer Associate has retired.

Step 1: earn Azure Administrator Associate with AZ-104

For new candidates, AZ-104 is the viable prerequisite. It covers the operating knowledge that DevOps engineers need when pipelines deploy into Azure:

• identities, access, and governance;
• storage and compute resources;
• virtual networking;
• monitoring, backup, and operational maintenance.

The exam assumes familiarity with PowerShell, Azure CLI, the Azure portal, Azure Resource Manager templates or Bicep, and Microsoft Entra ID. That makes AZ-104 more than an administrative detour. It gives you the platform context needed to reason about pipeline permissions, deployment targets, networking failures, and post-deployment monitoring.

If you need to practice the delivery side before AZ-400, work through a small service from repository to production. Build the application once, publish an immutable artifact, deploy through at least two environments, and record approval and rollback evidence. The RepoNotes guide to Azure CI/CD pipeline optimization shows the kind of release workflow the expert exam expects you to understand.

Step 2: pass AZ-400

AZ-400 is the required exam for Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert. Microsoft describes the role as someone who works across people, processes, and products to deliver continuous value. The current blueprint covers both GitHub and Azure DevOps rather than treating Azure Pipelines as the only delivery platform.

The English exam was updated on July 27, 2026. Microsoft currently weights the domains as follows:

The exam is pipeline-heavy, but memorizing product menus is not enough. You should be able to explain why a team chooses a branch policy, where credentials enter a workflow, how an artifact moves between environments, what proves a deployment succeeded, and how the team rolls back. The DevOps monitoring guide can help connect observability decisions to release feedback.

Retired exams that can derail an old study plan

The previous version of this article recommended AZ-204 and AZ-500 as current choices. Both are now retired. Old course pages, videos, and search snippets can still surface them, so check the official Microsoft exam page before paying for training.

Microsoft says an earned retired certification remains on your Microsoft Learn transcript. The current DevOps Engineer Expert page also still lists Azure Developer Associate as a prerequisite option. If you already hold that credential, check its status in your Learn profile before scheduling AZ-400. Do not assume that AI-200 automatically takes its place: Microsoft does not currently list AI-200 as a prerequisite for DevOps Engineer Expert.

Which Azure certification should you choose?

Start with the job you want to perform, not with the longest list of badges.

AI-200 is not a like-for-like DevOps prerequisite. It validates Azure AI solution development, including containerized applications, data services, messaging, monitoring, troubleshooting, vector databases, and Python. That can complement DevOps work on AI platforms, but it does not replace the AZ-104 plus AZ-400 route under Microsoft’s current requirements.

AZ-305 is also adjacent rather than interchangeable. It belongs to the Azure Solutions Architect Expert path and requires Azure Administrator Associate. Choose it when your work centers on translating business requirements into infrastructure designs. Choose AZ-400 when your work centers on source control, pipelines, release strategy, security, and delivery feedback.

If you are still comparing job directions, the cloud software engineer career guide separates application development from platform and infrastructure responsibilities. Certification should follow that role decision.

A practical preparation plan for AZ-104 and AZ-400

1. Confirm the credential requirement in Microsoft Learn

Open the current DevOps Engineer Expert page and your Microsoft Learn profile. Confirm which prerequisite your transcript satisfies and whether any credential is approaching expiration. Do this before buying a course or scheduling an exam.

2. Use the current study guides as the syllabus

Microsoft updates role-based exams as products and job tasks change. Build your checklist from the current AZ-104 and AZ-400 study guides, not from an undated video playlist. Watch for an announced exam update near your scheduled date because localized versions can follow the English update later.

3. Build one evidence-producing delivery project

Use a small application and create the full path:

1. Store it in GitHub or Azure Repos.
2. Protect the main branch with pull-request checks.
3. Build and test once in CI.
4. Publish a versioned artifact or container image.
5. Deploy the same artifact to a non-production environment.
6. Add an approval or policy gate before production.
7. Collect deployment logs, application telemetry, and a rollback record.

This project covers more of the certification’s intent than isolated labs because it forces source control, identity, artifacts, environments, observability, and recovery to work together.

4. Practice the decision points, not only the happy path

For each lab, ask what would change if the organization used GitHub instead of Azure Repos, a federated identity instead of a stored secret, multiple subscriptions, stricter compliance controls, or a failed production rollout. AZ-400 tests design choices across a delivery system.

The DevOps security tools guide can help frame where code scanning, dependency checks, secrets controls, and runtime signals enter the lifecycle. Use Microsoft’s study guide as the authority for exam scope.

5. Use practice assessments to find weak domains

Take Microsoft’s free practice assessment after you have completed the official learning paths and a working project. Review misses by domain, reproduce the relevant task, and explain the correction in your own words. Repeating question banks without understanding the system boundary is poor preparation for scenario questions.

6. Protect your credential records

Microsoft recommends registering for exams with a personal Microsoft account. Records associated only with an organizational account can become inaccessible when you leave the employer. Keep your Microsoft Learn profile, exam registration, and renewal reminders under an account you control.

After certification, connect the badge to evidence. On a DevOps resume, name the pipeline, environments, controls, and operational result you implemented instead of listing AZ-400 without context.

Renewal and expiration

Microsoft Fundamentals certifications do not expire. Associate, expert, and specialty certifications do. Microsoft uses annual renewal for active role-based credentials.

You become eligible to renew during the six months before expiration. Renewal is free, online, unproctored, and open book. Passing the assessment extends the certification by one year from its existing expiration date. You can retry during the eligibility window, but the credential must be renewed before it expires.

Retirement is different from normal expiration. When Microsoft retires a certification, you cannot earn or renew it after the retirement date. An already-earned credential remains on your transcript, but its active status and its use toward another certification should be checked in your Learn profile and the current requirement page.

Sources

• Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert
• Exam AZ-400: Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions
• AZ-400 study guide
• Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate
• Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate, retired
• Microsoft exam retirement list
• Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Cloud Developer Associate
• Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert
• Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals
• Microsoft certification renewal

FAQ

These answers cover the prerequisite, optional foundation, retired developer route, renewal cycle, and architect alternative.