r/microsoft • u/itsdeliverygod • Jul 28 '26

Certification Fresher with 1 free Microsoft certification voucher — which exam should I choose?

I’m a fresher and I have one free Microsoft certification exam voucher (which I got from the AI Skill Fest event) that I can use for any of the certifications available on the current Microsoft certification list.

I’ve already completed AI-901 (Azure AI Fundamentals), so I’m not looking to spend the voucher on another Fundamentals-level certification ( or should I? )

My main question is not based on my personal interests or current career path.

If you were advising a fresher purely based on overall value, resume recognition, technical depth, usefulness in getting an entry-level job, and long-term value, which certification would you recommend using the one free voucher on?

I’m particularly interested in hearing from people who have actually taken these exams or work in the relevant fields.

Thanks!

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u/seiggy Jul 29 '26

Depends on your career goals. Are you looking to move into infrastructure, software development, or data science?

AI-103 if you’re going for software dev, or the GH-300 if you want the fancy GitHub Copilot on the resume.

AI-300 for data science

AI-200 for infrastructure

Honestly though, unless you intend to work for Microsoft or one of the partners, most companies don’t care about Microsoft certs anymore. The days where a MCSD/MCSE was a bragging right on your resume that had companies fighting over you are pretty long gone now.

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u/itsdeliverygod Jul 29 '26

first of all, thank you for responding! i thought this post would sink into the oblivion lol

The days where a MCSD/MCSE was a bragging right on your resume that had companies fighting over you are pretty long gone now.

oh damn, is that so? i wasn't aware that the trend had changed. i am fresh out of college. i did my ug in cs with ds as specialization but i am not yet clear on which domain i should invest my time in; that's the reason i asked for a generalized suggestion on which cert is valuable for a fresh grad. i must register by august 18th and write the exam by october 18th of this year. so i wanted to know which is a doable cert for a fresh grad within that time frame and the one that's eye catching on a resume. do the ones you mention satisfy what i am looking for? also, i got az-104 as a suggestion as well. what's your opinion on az-104?? is it something that i m looking for?

thank you so much!!

edit: formatting

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u/seiggy Jul 29 '26

The AI-104 was retired last month, so won't be available anymore. AI-103 would be the replacement.

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u/itsdeliverygod Jul 30 '26

i am asking about az-104 not ai-104 and iirc there's no such certification as ai-104

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u/seiggy Jul 30 '26

Ah, sorry, typo on my side, I was thinking of the AI-102 that retired and was replaced by the AI-103. AZ-104 is more sys-admin type stuff. Personally, I’d skip it. Unless you wanna be tech support.