{"id":105,"date":"2026-08-24T06:56:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T06:56:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/blog\/?p=105"},"modified":"2026-08-24T06:57:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T06:57:48","slug":"what-is-azure-solutions-architect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/blog\/what-is-azure-solutions-architect\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect?: Certification Path, Job, Salary, Exam Roadmap &#038; Training 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect is an IT professional who designs cloud and hybrid solutions on Microsoft Azure &#8211; deciding how compute, networking, storage, identity, and security services fit together to meet a business requirement. It&#8217;s a design role, not an operations role. The associated credential is <\/span><b>Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, earned by holding the <\/span><b>Azure Administrator Associate<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> certification and passing the <\/span><b>AZ-305: Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> exam.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you already administer Azure resources, or you come from a Cisco\/networking background and are comfortable with infrastructure concepts, this is the certification that shifts you from &#8220;I can configure this&#8221; to &#8220;I can design this.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>What Does an Azure Solutions Architect Actually Do?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An Azure Solutions Architect sits between business requirements and technical implementation. Instead of deploying a virtual machine or configuring a subnet, the architect decides <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">which<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> combination of Azure services should be used, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">why<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and how the pieces interact &#8211; then hands that design to administrators, developers, and security engineers to build.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Microsoft&#8217;s own description of the role centres on a few consistent responsibilities:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Advising stakeholders and translating business requirements into Azure solution designs<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Aligning those designs with the <\/span><b>Azure Well-Architected Framework<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and the <\/span><b>Cloud Adoption Framework for Azure<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Making design decisions across compute, networking, storage, monitoring, and security<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Partnering with developers, administrators, security engineers, and data engineers who implement the design<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In practice, that means an Azure Solutions Architect spends more time in trade-off conversations &#8211; cost versus performance, managed service versus self-hosted, regional redundancy versus simplicity &#8211; than in a terminal or the Azure portal.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Azure Solutions Architect vs. Azure Administrator: What&#8217;s the Real Difference?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is the distinction most beginners miss, and it&#8217;s the one that matters most for a networking professional deciding where to start.<\/span><\/p>\n<table style=\"height: 440px; width: 100%;\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr style=\"height: 51px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 20.108%; height: 51px;\"><b>Aspect<\/b><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 33.0634%; height: 51px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/course\/azure-administrator-training-az-104\"><b>Azure Administrator (AZ-104)<\/b><\/a><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 46.5587%; height: 51px;\"><b><a href=\"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/course\/azure-solutions-architect-az-305\">Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-305<\/a>)<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 76px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 20.108%; height: 76px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Core question answered<\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 33.0634%; height: 76px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;How do I configure and operate this?&#8221;<\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 46.5587%; height: 76px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;Which services should we use, and how should they fit together?&#8221;<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 110px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 20.108%; height: 110px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Typical daily work<\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 33.0634%; height: 110px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deploying VMs, managing storage accounts, configuring virtual networks, monitoring resources<\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 46.5587%; height: 110px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Designing identity\/governance models, choosing data storage patterns, planning business continuity, architecting infrastructure<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 51px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 20.108%; height: 51px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Certification level<\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 33.0634%; height: 51px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Associate<\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 46.5587%; height: 51px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Expert<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 76px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 20.108%; height: 76px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Prerequisite<\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 33.0634%; height: 76px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">None (though hands-on Azure experience is expected)<\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 46.5587%; height: 76px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Azure Administrator Associate certification is required<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 76px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 20.108%; height: 76px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Best entry point for<\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 33.0634%; height: 76px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Someone new to Azure operations<\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 46.5587%; height: 76px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Someone who already administers Azure or has strong on-prem infrastructure experience<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An architect needs to understand administration well enough to know what&#8217;s realistic to implement &#8211; which is exactly why Microsoft requires the Administrator Associate certification first rather than letting candidates jump straight to design-level credentials.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>AZ-305 Certification: How It Actually Works?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>Prerequisite<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to Microsoft&#8217;s official certification page, to earn Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert, you must first hold the <\/span><b>Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> certification (AZ-104). This is a hard requirement for the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">certification<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, even though Microsoft does allow you to sit the AZ-305 exam itself before completing AZ-104 &#8211; you simply won&#8217;t be awarded the Expert-level credential until both are complete.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For a CCNA\/CCNP-background reader, this prerequisite is useful rather than a hurdle: AZ-104 is where you build the hands-on Azure fluency (virtual networking, storage, identity, monitoring) that AZ-305&#8217;s design questions assume you already have.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>What Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect AZ-305 Covers?<\/b><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As per Microsoft&#8217;s official <a href=\"https:\/\/learn.microsoft.com\/en-us\/credentials\/certifications\/exams\/az-305\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><strong>AZ-305 exam page<\/strong><\/a> (last updated <strong>17 April 2026<\/strong>), the exam measures your ability to design across four domains, each with its own weighting:<\/span><\/p>\n<table style=\"height: 100%; width: 100%;\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Skill area<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>Approximate exam weight<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">25-30%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Design data storage solutions<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">20-25%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Design business continuity solutions<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">15-20%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Design infrastructure solutions<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">30-35%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A passing score of 700 (on Microsoft&#8217;s 1-1000 scale) is required. The exam is scenario-heavy: most questions present a business requirement and ask you to choose the best-fit design among several technically valid options, rather than testing simple recall.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Azure AZ -305 Exam Cost and Format<\/b><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Exam pricing is set per country\/region by Microsoft and its testing partner, Pearson VUE, and changes without notice &#8211; always confirm current local pricing on Microsoft&#8217;s official certification page before booking rather than relying on a fixed figure quoted elsewhere.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Renewal<\/b><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Like other Microsoft role-based certifications, Azure Solutions Architect Expert expires annually and can be renewed at no cost by passing an online renewal assessment through Microsoft Learn &#8211; there&#8217;s no need to retake the full AZ-305 exam.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Who Should Pursue Azure Solutions Architect Certification?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>A good fit if you:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Already hold (or are close to completing) the Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104) certification<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Have hands-on experience with Azure compute, networking, and storage<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Come from a Cisco\/networking background (CCNA, CCNP) and are comfortable with infrastructure design concepts like redundancy, segmentation, and failover<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Want to move from implementing infrastructure to designing it<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Not the right starting point if you:<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Are new to Azure entirely &#8211; start with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/course\/azure-fundamentals-training-az-900\"><b>AZ-900 (Azure Fundamentals)<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, then <\/span><b>AZ-104<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Want a developer-focused cloud role &#8211; Azure architecture and Azure development are related but distinct tracks<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Haven&#8217;t yet worked hands-on with core Azure services &#8211; AZ-305&#8217;s scenario questions assume that operational fluency<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Common Mistakes When Approaching AZ-305<\/b><\/h2>\n<ol style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Skipping or rushing AZ-104.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> AZ-305&#8217;s design questions repeatedly assume you already know how the underlying services behave operationally. Treating AZ-104 as a formality rather than a real foundation is the most common reason candidates struggle.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Studying for recall instead of trade-offs.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> AZ-305 rarely has one &#8220;correct&#8221; service &#8211; it has a &#8220;best fit for these constraints&#8221; service. Memorising feature lists without practising scenario-based decision-making leads to missed questions.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Ignoring the Well-Architected Framework and Cloud Adoption Framework.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> These aren&#8217;t optional reading; they&#8217;re the lens Microsoft expects you to apply when evaluating design trade-offs.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Assuming Azure networking knowledge transfers 1:1 from Cisco.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The concepts (segmentation, routing, redundancy) transfer well, but the implementation &#8211; VNets, NSGs, Azure Firewall, ExpressRoute &#8211; has to be learned specifically; it isn&#8217;t the same syntax or model as Cisco IOS.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Treat this as a memorisation exam close to the date.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Because the April 2026 update leans further into scenario-based assessment, last-minute cramming of service names without applied practice tends to underperform relative to hands-on lab time.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Career Path and Role Considerations For AZ 305<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The standard career path to follow for Mcrosoft Azure Solutions Architect is mentioned below:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>AZ-900 (Azure Fundamentals)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2192 <\/span><b>AZ-104 (Azure Administrator Associate)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2192 <\/span><b>AZ-305 (Azure Solutions Architect Expert)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2192 optional speciality certifications (e.g., Azure Security Engineer, DevOps Engineer) based on your direction.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For someone coming from Cisco networking, this path is a genuine extension of existing skills rather than a restart: routing, redundancy, segmentation, and security-by-design concepts all carry over conceptually, even though the Azure-native tooling is new.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Average Salary &amp; Trends\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The salary figures for this role vary significantly by source, sample size, and city, and none of them should be read as a guarantee. As a rough idea: <strong>PayScale&#8217;s dataset<\/strong> for &#8220;<strong>Solutions Architect with Microsoft Azure Skills<\/strong>&#8221; in India reports a median base salary in the low <strong>INR 30 lakh<\/strong> range as of 2026, based on a small sample (fewer than ten submitted profiles), with the middle 50% of reported salaries roughly between <strong>\u20b920 lakh and \u20b930+ lakh<\/strong> depending on experience and city.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other salary-tracking sites report ranges both above and below this. Treat any single figure as a rough directional signal, not a benchmark &#8211; actual compensation depends heavily on experience level, city, employer type, and negotiation, and small sample sizes on these platforms make precision unreliable.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Why Choose NC Educations?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you&#8217;re evaluating whether the Azure Solutions Architect path fits your background, practical, hands-on preparation matters more than reading exam objectives. NC Educations&#8217; training is led by Atin Gupta, CCIE Security #61100, and the institute has trained 8,000+ students across networking, security, and cloud tracks. Courses come with 24\/7 virtual lab access, so you can actually build and break Azure environments instead of only reading about them, along with placement support and flexible batch scheduling for working professionals balancing a certification path with a full-time job.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since AZ-104 (Azure Administrator Associate) is the mandatory foundation for AZ-305, that&#8217;s the logical starting point if you&#8217;re coming from a Cisco\/networking background and want to build toward Azure Solutions Architect Expert.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>FAQs Related to Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect<\/b><\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b> Is Azure Solutions Architect\u00a0AZ-305 hard for beginners?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Ans.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Yes, relative to entry-level Azure exams. AZ-305 assumes administrator-level Azure experience and tests design judgment rather than basic recall, which is why Microsoft requires the AZ-104 prerequisite first.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b> Do I need AZ-104 before\u00a0AZ-305?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Ans.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> You can technically sit the Azure Solutions Architect AZ-305 exam before completing AZ-104, but Microsoft will not award the Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification until you also hold the Azure Administrator Associate certification.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b> What&#8217;s the real difference between Azure Administrator and Azure Solutions Architect?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Ans.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Administrators operate and configure Azure resources day-to-day. Solutions Architects decide which services and configurations should be used in the first place, based on business requirements, cost, and the Well-Architected Framework.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b> Is Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect a good path for network engineers?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Ans.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> It can be a strong fit. Core networking concepts &#8211; segmentation, redundancy, routing logic, and security design &#8211; transfer conceptually, though the Azure-specific tooling (VNets, NSGs, ExpressRoute, Azure Firewall) needs to be learned on its own terms, typically starting with AZ-104.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b> Does the Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect AZ-205 Expert certification expire?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Ans.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Yes. Like other Microsoft role-based certifications, it expires annually but can be renewed at no cost through a short online assessment on Microsoft Learn, without retaking the full exam.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Also Read<\/strong><\/p>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" style=\"height: 400px; width: 100%;\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" data-sheets-root=\"1\" data-sheets-baot=\"1\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"100\" \/><\/colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr style=\"height: 25px;\">\n<td style=\"height: 25px;\"><a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/blog\/what-is-ccna\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">what is ccna<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 25px;\">\n<td style=\"height: 25px;\"><a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/blog\/what-is-aws\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">What is AWS<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 25px;\">\n<td style=\"height: 25px;\">\n<div>\n<div><a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/blog\/what-is-cisco-networking\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">What is Cisco Networking?<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 25px;\">\n<td style=\"height: 25px;\">\n<div>\n<div><a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/blog\/what-is-ccnp-enterprise\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">What is CCNP Enterprise?<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 25px;\">\n<td style=\"height: 25px;\">\n<div>\n<div><a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/blog\/what-is-ccnp-encor\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">What is CCNP ENCOR?<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 25px;\">\n<td style=\"height: 25px;\">\n<div>\n<div><a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/blog\/what-is-ccnp-enarsi\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">What is CCNP ENARSI?<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 25px;\">\n<td style=\"height: 25px;\">\n<div>\n<div><a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/blog\/what-is-ccie-enterprise\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">What is CCIE Enterprise?<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 25px;\">\n<td style=\"height: 25px;\">\n<div>\n<div><a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/blog\/what-is-cisco-sd-wan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">What is Cisco SD-WAN?<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 25px;\">\n<td style=\"height: 25px;\">\n<div>\n<div><a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/blog\/what-is-cisco-aci\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">What is Cisco ACI?<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 25px;\">\n<td style=\"height: 25px;\">\n<div>\n<div><a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/blog\/what-is-cisco-ise\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">What is Cisco ISE?<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 25px;\">\n<td style=\"height: 25px;\">\n<div>\n<div><a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/blog\/what-is-cisco-firepower\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">What is Cisco Firepower?<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 25px;\">\n<td style=\"height: 25px;\"><a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/blog\/what-is-microsoft-azure\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">What is Azure?<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 25px;\">\n<td style=\"height: 25px;\">\n<div>\n<div><a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/blog\/what-is-aws-cloud-practitioner\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">What is AWS Cloud Practitioner?<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 25px;\">\n<td style=\"height: 25px;\">\n<div>\n<div><a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/blog\/what-is-aws-solutions-architect\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">What is AWS Solutions Architect?<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 25px;\">\n<td style=\"height: 25px;\">\n<div>\n<div><a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/blog\/what-is-azure-administrator\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">What is Azure Administrator?<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect is an IT professional who designs cloud and hybrid solutions on Microsoft Azure &#8211; deciding how compute, networking, storage, identity, and security services fit together to meet a business requirement. It&#8217;s a design role, not an operations role. The associated credential is Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert, earned by &#8230; <a title=\"What is Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect?: Certification Path, Job, Salary, Exam Roadmap &#038; Training 2026\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/blog\/what-is-azure-solutions-architect\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about What is Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect?: Certification Path, Job, Salary, Exam Roadmap &#038; Training 2026\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cloud-programs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":121,"href":"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105\/revisions\/121"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}