Azure Fundamentals in Santiago
Microsoft's entry-level Azure certification covering cloud concepts, core Azure services, security, privacy, and pricing.
What is Azure Fundamentals?
The Azure Fundamentals certification (AZ-900) is Microsoft's entry-level cloud credential, designed to validate your understanding of core cloud concepts, Azure services, pricing, and governance. It requires no technical prerequisites, making it accessible to IT support staff, administrators, and career-changers alike. In Santiago, cloud adoption is accelerating fast — multinational companies, fintech startups, and enterprise firms across Chile are migrating workloads to Azure, creating real demand for professionals who can speak the language of cloud. Holding AZ-900 signals to Santiago employers that you understand modern infrastructure, even if you're not yet a hands-on cloud engineer. It's a credible, vendor-backed starting point for any cloud career in the LATAM region.
At $165 USD for the exam, AZ-900 is one of the most affordable professional certifications available. Against an average IT salary of roughly $32,000 per year in Santiago, a verified uplift of $6,000 annually represents an 18% pay increase — and the exam fee pays for itself within the first two weeks of that raise. Santiago's tech market is competitive, and many local job postings now list Azure familiarity as a preferred or required qualification. Even at the fundamentals level, this certification differentiates your CV in a crowded candidate pool. For professionals pivoting into cloud roles or seeking their first promotion into a systems or infrastructure position, AZ-900 offers one of the strongest returns on investment available at the beginner level.
Exam details
Prerequisites: None required
12-week study plan
Exam tips
Pay close attention to the differences between Azure regions, availability zones, and region pairs — the AZ-900 exam tests these concepts with scenario-based questions that are easy to confuse under time pressure.
Memorize which Azure services fall under IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS categories. The exam frequently presents a use-case and asks you to identify the correct service model, so be able to classify services like Azure VMs (IaaS) versus Azure App Service (PaaS) instantly.
Do not skip the Azure pricing and cost management section. Questions on the TCO calculator, Azure Cost Management, and spending limits appear consistently on AZ-900 and are often underestimated by candidates who focus only on services.
Understand the shared responsibility model thoroughly — Microsoft's responsibilities versus the customer's responsibilities differ across IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS, and the exam will test whether you know who manages what in each deployment type.
Use the official Microsoft Learn AZ-900 learning path as your primary study source, not third-party summaries alone. The exam is written by Microsoft, and the exact terminology used in the Learn modules matches what appears in exam questions more closely than any other resource.