AZ-305 After the Microsoft 2026 Certification Wave: What's Changed and What Still Works

Microsoft rolled out a wave of new and updated certifications earlier this year. They retired some, updated others, launched new AI-focused credentials. And the certification community immediately started asking: does any of this change how you should prepare for the AZ-305? Short answer: the AZ-305 itself hasn't fundamentally changed, but the context you need to understand it has. Let me explain. What the AZ-305 Actually Is The Azure Solutions Architect Expert is Microsoft's top-tier cloud architecture certification. It's the role-based cert that proves you can design complete Azure solutions — identity, compute, storage, networking, monitoring, data, application architecture, and security. Exam details: 40-60 questions, 120 minutes Passing score: 700/1000 Cost: $165 USD Prerequisite: AZ-104 (Azure Administrator) must be active Yes, you need the AZ-104 first. There's no shortcut. The Microsoft 2026 Cert Shift and What It Means Earlier this year, Microsoft announced they're adding more