- You already work around Microsoft, Azure, Entra, Windows, or Microsoft 365 environments.
- You have subject-matter experience implementing, managing, and monitoring Azure environments; Microsoft also expects familiarity with operating systems, networking, servers, and virtualization ([Microsoft AZ-104 study guide](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/certifications/resources/study-guides/az-104)).
- You want hands-on Azure administration rather than broad cloud literacy.
- Your target roles mention Azure operations, administrator, identity, storage, networking, or compute responsibilities.
Related Roles
These are role mappings for career-planning context. Salary and outlook data must stay tied to BLS occupations, not to certification outcomes.
The Relationship column compares a credential's published exam objectives with the work the occupation involves, and names which credential it is describing. A role RoleMath maps to only one of the two credentials shows that one; where both map to it, both are named, and Both means they read the same way for that role. Covers the core means the objectives reach that occupation's main work, Covers groundwork that they reach what it builds on rather than the work itself, and Partial overlap that they meet it only in places; a qualifier such as after a foundation records where RoleMath reads the objectives as assuming earlier study or experience, and Overlap not classified marks a pairing we hold but have not placed on this scale. This is RoleMath's reading of published objectives, not a measurement of hiring: we have not surveyed employers, and nothing here measures how much a credential is asked for or what it does for an application.
Every wage below is the occupation's national annual median wage - the midpoint of that occupation's wage distribution - as published by the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2025. It is not the OEWS mean, not an average, and not a starting wage. The outlook column is the BLS Employment Projections change for the same occupation over 2024-2034. Both describe the occupation, not an outcome of holding the credential.
| Role | Relationship | SOC | Annual median wage (BLS OEWS, May 2025) | BLS outlook (2024-2034) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloud Support Associate | Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate - Covers groundwork; AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate - Covers the core | 15-1232 | $61,860 annual median | -3.7% |
| Cloud Engineer | Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate - Covers the core, after a foundation; AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate - Covers the core | 15-1299 | $116,580 annual median | 8.2% |
| Junior Systems Administrator | Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate - Partial overlap | 15-1244 | $99,130 annual median | -4.2% |