What AZ-900 actually tells a hiring manager

AZ-900 is not a hands-on administrator cert, and good hiring managers know that. It does not mean you can deploy production landing zones, run enterprise identity, or troubleshoot complex networking in Azure. What it does signal is narrower and still useful: you understand the basic language of Microsoft cloud.

That matters more than people think. A lot of employers are not looking for a cloud expert when they mention AZ-900. They want someone in a support, junior admin, customer-facing technical, or internal IT role who can speak clearly about core Azure concepts: regions, availability zones, virtual machines, storage, identity, pricing models, governance basics, and the difference between IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS.

For hiring, AZ-900 is strongest in three situations:

You are early in your IT career and need proof that you can discuss cloud services without sounding lost.
You are moving from general IT into Microsoft cloud and need a low-risk way to show commitment.
You work near cloud projects but not as the primary engineer — think help desk, desktop support, technical account coordination, inside sales engineering, customer success, procurement support, or project coordination.

If I see AZ-900 on a resume with zero technical work history, I treat it as a positive signal of initiative, not proof of job readiness by itself. If I see it paired with Microsoft 365 admin exposure, Entra ID familiarity, PowerShell basics, or internship experience, it becomes much more credible.

In short: AZ-900 gets attention because Azure is widely used, especially in Microsoft-heavy organizations. But it opens doors best when the role needs foundational cloud literacy, not deep implementation skill.

The kinds of employers that value this cert

AZ-900 shows up most often in organizations that already live in the Microsoft ecosystem. That's the key context. This is not the cert that gets the strongest traction in Linux-first startups or AWS-only engineering teams.

You will see the most value from AZ-900 in:

Managed service providers (MSPs) supporting small and midsize businesses on Microsoft 365 and Azure
Microsoft partners doing cloud migrations, licensing, pre-sales, and customer onboarding
Healthcare systems using Microsoft enterprise agreements and hybrid infrastructure
State and local government contractors where Microsoft stack familiarity is common and baseline certs are appreciated
Financial services and insurance firms with long-standing Microsoft environments and gradual Azure adoption
Manufacturing and logistics companies modernizing from on-prem Windows Server and Active Directory into Azure services
Education and higher ed IT teams where Microsoft licensing, identity, and cloud services overlap
Internal IT departments at mid-market companies that need staff who understand Azure enough to coordinate with senior engineers or vendors

A niche worth calling out: non-engineering technical roles. AZ-900 is one of the few cloud certs that regularly appears in postings for cloud sales support, customer success, partner development, and licensing-adjacent roles because it validates that the candidate can speak intelligently about Azure offerings. That is real market value, but it's different from pure engineering value.

If your target employers are consultancies, MSPs, or Microsoft partners, AZ-900 can be a useful screening keyword. If your target is a cloud platform engineering team hiring for Terraform, Kubernetes, and architecture work, AZ-900 alone will barely move the needle.

Jobs that realistically mention AZ-900

These are the kinds of titles where AZ-900 appears in actual postings as required, preferred, or "nice to have." Some are technical, some are adjacent to technical delivery.

Azure Support Engineer
Cloud Support Associate
Junior Cloud Administrator
Microsoft 365 / Azure Administrator
Technical Account Manager (Microsoft Cloud)
Cloud Solutions Specialist

A few notes on how these titles behave in the market:

Azure Support Engineer often sits in MSPs, Microsoft partners, SaaS vendors, and enterprise support teams. These jobs may ask for AZ-900 plus customer service experience, ticketing systems, Windows Server basics, and familiarity with networking or identity.

Cloud Support Associate is more common in larger organizations building entry-level cloud operations pipelines. The work can include account setup, permissions requests, billing questions, resource inventory, and first-line triage before escalation.

Junior Cloud Administrator is less common than people expect because many employers skip the word "cloud" and simply hire system administrators with Azure exposure. When this title does appear, they usually want more than AZ-900 — often Entra ID, Intune, Microsoft 365, or basic Azure VM and storage knowledge.

Microsoft 365 / Azure Administrator is a very practical target for someone coming from desktop support or sysadmin work. Many of these jobs involve identity, licensing, Exchange Online, Teams, Intune, and some Azure administration. AZ-900 helps because it shows you understand the broader Microsoft cloud map.

Technical Account Manager (Microsoft Cloud) and Cloud Solutions Specialist are important if you are not trying to become a deep engineer. In partner organizations, distributors, and SaaS vendors, AZ-900 helps establish platform credibility for client conversations, onboarding, usage reviews, and light technical discovery.

Where to find these jobs: Microsoft partner networks, MSP career pages, mid-market company IT postings, healthcare and education job boards, LinkedIn searches using combinations like AZ-900, Azure Fundamentals, Microsoft cloud, Entra ID, and Microsoft 365.

Salary reality: useful, but this is not a high-pay cert by itself

This is where people need honesty. AZ-900 is an entry-level fundamentals certification, so the salary upside comes from the role you combine it with, not from the credential alone.

If you are using AZ-900 to move from non-IT into IT, the compensation usually aligns with early-career support and junior admin jobs, not cloud architect pay. If you already have 2-5 years in systems administration, endpoint management, service desk escalation, Microsoft 365 administration, or customer-facing technical work, AZ-900 can help you pivot into better-paying Azure-adjacent roles.

A realistic US view:

Entry-level: this is typically cloud support, service desk with Azure exposure, junior admin, or partner support work. In lower-cost markets and smaller MSPs, offers can land in the high 40s to mid 50s. In better markets or larger employers, low to mid 60s is realistic.
Mid-level: once you add actual Azure administration, identity work, scripting, or Microsoft 365 ownership, pay moves up. This is where a professional might be handling tenant administration, access reviews, VM support, or light automation.
Senior: AZ-900 is not what makes someone senior. Senior pay in this range reflects people who also have stronger certs, deeper hands-on Azure experience, or leadership responsibilities. AZ-900 may still appear on the resume, but it is no longer the reason for compensation.

Geography matters a lot. A cloud support role in Dallas, Phoenix, Charlotte, or Tampa will pay differently from Seattle, San Francisco, Boston, or New York. So will employer type. Large Microsoft partners, enterprise IT departments, and federal contractors often pay better than small local MSPs, though local MSPs may be easier to break into.

Another honest point: some postings list AZ-900 simply because the employer wants broad Microsoft alignment. In those cases, the cert may help you get screened in, but the interview and salary offer will depend on practical skills like identity troubleshooting, endpoint management, customer handling, documentation quality, and basic scripting.

How people actually build a career from AZ-900

The realistic path is usually not "AZ-900, then cloud engineer." It is more often one of these tracks.

Track 1: Support to cloud operations
Help Desk or Service Desk -> Escalation Support -> Microsoft 365 / Azure Admin -> Cloud Support Engineer -> Azure Administrator

This is common and practical. AZ-900 helps at the transition from general support into Microsoft cloud support. To keep moving, you usually need Entra ID, Intune, Exchange Online, Azure portal familiarity, and some PowerShell.

Track 2: Sysadmin to Azure-focused admin
Windows System Administrator -> Hybrid Identity / M365 Admin -> Azure Administrator -> Cloud Engineer

For this path, AZ-900 is mostly a bridge cert. It helps frame your existing infrastructure background in cloud terms. The real jump comes when you can handle subscriptions, resource groups, RBAC, storage, VMs, monitoring, and governance basics.

Track 3: Customer-facing technical roles
Sales Support / Implementation Coordinator / Customer Success Associate -> Cloud Solutions Specialist -> Technical Account Manager -> Solutions Consultant

This is an underrated path for AZ-900. If you are good with people and can learn enough technical detail to guide conversations, you can use AZ-900 as a credibility baseline. These roles often reward communication, organization, and commercial awareness as much as engineering depth.

Track 4: Government or regulated-enterprise entry point
IT Support Specialist -> Microsoft Cloud Support -> Identity / Access Administration -> Cloud Operations

In regulated environments, employers often like certifications because they standardize baseline knowledge. AZ-900 won't replace experience, but it can help you stand out in structured hiring environments.

The next cert after AZ-900 depends on your direction:

For administration: AZ-104
For data/AI curiosity: AI-900 or DP-900
For security-focused Microsoft roles: SC-900, then deeper security certs later
For customer-facing partner roles: sometimes AZ-900 plus Microsoft 365 fundamentals certs is enough to build momentum

The mistake I see is people collecting only fundamentals certs. One or two is fine. Three or four fundamentals certs with no hands-on work starts to look like avoidance of harder skills.

What to learn alongside AZ-900 if you want interviews

AZ-900 works best when attached to a small but practical skills package. If you want employers to take it seriously, build around these areas.

Microsoft Entra ID basics
Know users, groups, roles, MFA, conditional access at a conceptual level, and hybrid identity terminology. Identity is one of the fastest ways to become useful in Microsoft environments.

Microsoft 365 administration
A lot of AZ-900-relevant jobs are really Microsoft cloud jobs, not pure Azure infrastructure jobs. Understanding licensing, user provisioning, Exchange Online basics, Teams administration, and Intune concepts helps a lot.

Basic networking
You do not need CCNA depth, but you should understand IP addressing, DNS, VPN concepts, subnets, NSGs, and why connectivity issues happen.

PowerShell fundamentals
Even junior Microsoft cloud roles benefit from basic scripting. You do not need advanced automation on day one, but knowing how to connect to services, pull user data, and run simple administrative commands helps you stand out.

Azure portal familiarity
Create a free account or lab environment and learn the interface. Be able to explain subscriptions, resource groups, tags, cost awareness, monitoring basics, and where common services live.

Ticketing and documentation discipline
This sounds boring, but hiring managers care. For support and junior admin roles, the ability to write clean notes, document steps, and communicate status clearly often matters more than one extra cert.

If you already have an IT background, add one project to make AZ-900 feel real. Examples:

Build a simple Azure VM and document security and cost considerations
Map out a sample identity setup with MFA and role assignments
Compare Azure storage options for a small business use case
Write a short cost estimate and governance summary for a mock Azure environment

You are not trying to impress architects. You are trying to prove that your fundamentals connect to actual work.

How to present AZ-900 on a resume without overselling it

The biggest mistake is listing AZ-900 as if it makes you an Azure engineer. Recruiters and hiring managers will catch that immediately.

A better approach is to use it as a supporting credential tied to actual tasks.

Good resume positioning looks like this:

Certifications: Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900)
Skills: Azure core services, cloud concepts, Microsoft Entra ID fundamentals, Azure pricing and governance basics, Microsoft 365 administration exposure
Experience bullets: Supported user access issues in Microsoft 365 and Azure-connected environments; escalated identity and licensing issues with clear documentation

If you have no direct Azure experience, put the cert in certifications and then add a projects section:

Built and documented a basic Azure lab environment including resource groups, virtual machine deployment, cost monitoring review, and identity/security fundamentals

In interviews, be direct. Say something like:

"AZ-900 gave me the Azure vocabulary and service model. I know it's a fundamentals cert, so I've paired it with hands-on lab work in the portal and my day-to-day experience with Microsoft 365 and user administration. I'm targeting roles where I can grow into deeper Azure administration."

That answer works because it is accurate. It shows self-awareness and ambition without pretending you are further along than you are.

If you are coming from non-IT, frame the cert as evidence of transition effort, not as the whole story. If you are already in IT, frame it as a foundation for a Microsoft cloud move.

Who should get AZ-900, and who should skip straight past it

AZ-900 is worth it if:

You are trying to land your first Azure-adjacent role
You work in help desk, desktop support, or sysadmin work and need a Microsoft cloud on-ramp
You are in a Microsoft-heavy company and want internal mobility
You are in a customer-facing technical role and need platform credibility
You want a low-cost, low-risk way to test whether Azure is the path you want

You may want to skip it or treat it as optional if:

You already administer Azure regularly
You are applying for engineering roles that clearly expect hands-on deployment, scripting, and architecture skills
You already hold stronger Microsoft cloud certifications and can demonstrate real project work
Your target path is deeply technical and you would be better served by moving straight to AZ-104 after a short fundamentals review

My candid take: AZ-900 is a very good first Microsoft cloud signal, but a weak standalone career strategy. It is most valuable when it helps you cross a specific gap — from support into cloud support, from sysadmin into Azure administration, or from nontechnical client work into technical customer-facing Microsoft roles.

Used that way, it has real career value. Used as a substitute for hands-on learning, it tops out fast.

Salary Information

Level	Salary Range
Entry Level	$48,000 - $68,000
Mid Level	$70,000 - $98,000
Senior	$100,000 - $135,000

Common Job Titles

Azure Support Engineer
Cloud Support Associate
Junior Cloud Administrator
Microsoft 365 / Azure Administrator
Technical Account Manager (Microsoft Cloud)
Cloud Solutions Specialist