The 70-533 exam “Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions” covers Microsoft’s Azure cloud offering focusing in on Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) some of the more popular Platform as a Service (PaaS) subjects. This exam objectives are more hands on then say the 70-535, which is more architecture focused (and what I am studying for next). One of the more difficult aspects of this exam is having to learn almost everything 3 different ways – how to do it in the portal gui, how to do it via powershell, and how to do it via CLI as you can possibly tested on each of the different methods to do the same task.
How I Passed
The first resource I used was the Pluralsight training path by John Savill, it runs about 24 hours worth of video and John does a great job of going through a lot of Azure for the exam but like most training on cloud technology it rapidly falls out of date. Its still extremely useful, but you need to make sure you match up changes to the exam and Azure portal with the training. The best way to do this is to walk through the demos he does in Azure yourself. You will quickly see if something has changed and make a note to review that change. You need to get hands on with Azure pass this test, get in there and do it early and often. You can get a free trial and credits at Azure to get you started.
The next study guide I used was the 2nd edition Exam Ref 70-533 that was just released in Jan 2018 which is the official Microsoft Press book for the exam coverage. Because its released coincided with the current exam revision it was almost completely up to date for all the different exam areas. IT IS VERY DRY, but its a technical training manual not a Clancy novel so you have to know that up front. The great thing about the book is that almost all of the examples are given in the three different methods that you have to know for the exam, so you can walk through each. Again hands on experience even if your just going through the practice labs will help you tremendously with this exam.
When I paid for the Microsoft exam voucher they had a deal that it came with access to the MeasureUp 70-533 practice exam, which allows you to simulate pretty closely to the real exam with practice questions. I went through it the first time and came away with a score ~50 when I needed 80, that was the first set of panic lol. If you have ever taken a Microsoft exam before half the battle sometimes is slowing down and making sure you understand the question and what they are asking for. One of the benefits of the MeasureUp exam was that it shows you the areas where you had trouble and you can take the questions in a practice mode that will give you the answers and reference links for those answers so you can see where you are off.
I also recommend the below video that was a session at Ignite 2017 even though it is a little bit out of date, a lot of the key points and review is there, not only watch the video but go through the presentation deck so you get all the clickable links, you can find it here.
Why Take The Exam?
I am a server/infrastructure professional with almost 20 years working with technology, and something I always believed, is that you need to always keep learning. Cloud is the next step for a lot of infrastructure, the cost benefits outweigh the reluctance you find about data questions. Some organizations will shift everything, some only certain workloads, but you need to be up on how best to implement and work with the change when it comes to your org. If your already up to speed, then you can make sure mistakes aren’t made that will make your life even harder down the road as you try to manage the cloud infrastructure that was put in place.
What’s Next?
My upcoming goal is to earn my MCSA: Cloud Platform by taking the 70-535 Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions. I’ll be sure to share any resources I use in that journey also!
Leave a Reply