Microsoft Certification - Not Meant To Be

I had taken two Microsoft courses to learn about their Azure cloud platform. These courses were to deign and implement a data solution. They were offered on the other side of town. I talked my boss into having the company pay for a local hotel to stay in.

The courses were taught by people who seemed to know the Microsoft cloud well. The first class was implementing a data solution. They had us doing very specific exercises with the actual cloud. It was hard to get a frame of reference for what exactly that was teaching us.

The design course was second. It felt like it should have been taken first. Design and then implement, right? The study material for the design class was simpler and lesser in volume. I studied it. But there was not much to study.

Microsoft provided me vouchers to take the implementation and design certification exams. I took one at the local community college. And I took the other at a local testing site. I failed both of them. You need 70% to pass both tests. I got a 66% and 67% respectively for the implementation and design tests.

Normally I have the company purchase some exam prep books before I sit for an exam. No such books seem to exist for these exams. There are people who will sell you practice questions, including the company recommended by Microsoft. That does not seem like it would help much.

I guess I could buckle down and improve my knowledge by 10%, and thereby squeak past the tests to get the certification. But my heart is just not into it. I am not really that interested into becoming a Data Engineer. At least not for the Microsoft cloud platform. I think I will choose another specialty in the Microsoft universe, and get a slam dunk passing grade on those exams.