Azure developer toolkit: In-demand skills, learning resources, online courses, interview prep, books & more

Development in the cloud requires a distinct set of skills and knowledge. Compared to building applications for on-premise environments, working with the cloud is more challenging, given these platforms’ massive global scale and resiliency. After AWS, Azure has the largest market share at 21%. If you plan to become an Azure developer or want to explore the domain, you must improve your existing skills and acquire new ones. 

We created this Azure developer toolkit to help you quickly find critical learning and preparation resources. 

Let’s start with the skills you must have to grab the competitive advantages of being an Azure developer.

1. Scripting: Azure cloud is vast, and if you deploy an extensive application on Azure, you have to script your environment such that you can update the complete infrastructure. Scripting is an essential skill for Azure developers and allows them to create environments much faster. Cloud platforms can be expensive, so it is economically viable to tear everything when you use them and build a backup when needed. To do so efficiently, you will have to script the environment. In Azure, developers have Azure Resource Manager (ARM) templates that they can use to create code for the infrastructure and deploy it through Azure automation tools like Visual Studio Team Services. As an Azure developer, you will be expected to know such tools.
2. Learn how to develop resiliency: Cloud platforms are built for resiliency, implying applications in the cloud keep running even if the server dies. Azure developers must be familiar with the cloud’s mechanism to utilize this resiliency. One important concept is self-preservation. You have to learn how to make different aspects of an application and make use of Azure to keep it alive even when the server dies. Learn about Retry Pattern. There are Azure SDKs available that allow developers to automatically implement retry patterns.
3. Monitoring and diagnostics pipeline: As a cloud engineer, you must work on all application development aspects. It will be challenging to manage or monitor all the microservices that run in a container in the cloud. Due to its loosely connected and highly distributed nature, it is not easy to get a good overview of the health of your system. You must learn to create pipelines to monitor your services and even diagnose them if needed. Fortunately, in Azure, you can set up automatic monitoring of the services using Azure Monitor. Also, learn about logging mechanisms like Application Insights for applications and Log Analytics for infrastructure.

• Top 30 Azure Developer Interview Questions and Answers
• Top 50 Azure Interview Questions You Must Prepare In 2022
• Important Azure interview questions and answers for 2022
• Cloud Engineer Interview Questions – Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced
• 11 Most Common Cloud Computing Interview Questions & Answers

Official resources 

• Azure website
• Azure documentation
• Azure support community
• Azure blog

Online courses and tutorials for Azure developers 

• AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Exam Prep

This Udemy course is an excellent resource for beginners to learn about the Azure cloud. It not only teaches the fundamentals of Azure but also prepares you for the AZ-900 or the Azure Fundamental exam. The course covers Azure storage services architecture, Virtual machine creation and storage, Azure database services, Big Data solutions on Azure, the internet of things, Azure infrastructure as code (ARM Templates), and Azure DevOps.

• Microsoft Azure Fundamentals

Another online course to learn about Microsoft Azure services from scratch is Microsoft Azure Fundamentals. It introduces cloud computing and how to deploy apps on Windows Azure infrastructure. It teaches Windows Azure compute and storage, SQL Azure, cloud computing tradeoffs, and the limitations of the Azure platform.

• Azure DevOps Fundamentals for Beginners

Designed for both beginners and experienced developers, this Udemy course explains how DevOps concepts and practices can be migrated to Azure. It teaches how to plan, manage, and deploy your first Azure DevOps application through hands-on exercises and use cases. This course discusses all parts of the DevOps landscape, such as app containers, commits, code requests, sprints, unit testing, and code artifacts.

• Azure Kubernetes Service with Azure DevOps and Terraform

If you are an experienced developer who wants to foray into the Azure cloud, this is the online course we recommend. It covers all the essential DevOps tools and technologies you might have used at work, such as Kubernetes, Docker, AKS, Azure Disks, Virtual Nodes, Active Directory, ACR, DNS Zones, and Terraform. This course is ideal for Azure architects, sysadmins, and developers who want to master Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).

Books for Azure developers 

• Hands-On Cloud Administration in Azure: Implement, monitor, and manage important Azure services and components, including IaaS and PaaS
• Azure for Architects
• Mastering Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Services
• Microsoft Azure Security Center

Online communities for Azure developers 

• Dev.to Azure community
• Reskill Azure community
• Azure Developer Community
• Konfhub Azure communities

Podcasts for Azure developers

• The Azure podcast
• The Azure Security podcast
• Azure DevOps podcast

1. Empathy: Writing code and spending time on engineering assignments is not the only work that developers do. They also interact with other stakeholders. The adage “putting yourself in another person’s shoes” is what empathy is about. You must nurture your brain to understand other people, anticipate their opinions, and be open about their ideas. An empathic developer knows how to address the needs of others and adjust their behavior.
2. Communication: You might work with people from all backgrounds and cultures. Understanding what you say and how you say it can impact other people’s feelings is essential. Strong communication skills can make you a great team player. Not only have speaking skills, but you must also have impeccable communication in emails, chats, and other tools.
3. Self-awareness: Being confident in what you know is one way to feel confident truly. Self-awareness means keeping in touch with both your strengths as well as weaknesses. When you are aware of your shortcomings, you can seek proper training and mentorship from your colleagues or manager. The learning resources we shared above are a few you can bookmark and follow to learn new skills necessary to become a cloud engineer.
4. Self-learning: Another great soft skill for developers is self-learning. Put yourself on a path of life-long learning to identify problems and quickly find solutions. It is not a coincidence that thousands of developers enter the IT industry without a formal degree. If you keep learning new technologies and tools, you can be a successful developer.

More resources on soft skill development:

• How soft skills transitioned to become the new power skills
• 6 soft skills that still impress employers in 2022
• Most valuable soft skills of exceptional software engineers
• 5 tips to present new ideas as a software developer

Conclusion 

Azure developers are in demand as companies are adopting cloud infrastructure. We hope this Azure developer toolkit provides you with all the necessary resources to learn and master the skills you require.

Talent500 is the platform that Fortune 500 companies and fast-growing startups use to hire talent. Join us today and get discovered by the best companies. Sign up here.