AZ-400 exam pass expiration date

Question

Hi Microsoft Certification Team,

Let's say I recently passed the AZ-400 exam (Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions), but I do not currently hold the AZ-104 (Azure Administrator Associate) or AZ-204 (Azure Developer Associate) certifications.

I understand that to earn the full Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert certification, I must also have one of these prerequisite certifications.

My question is:

Since I only have the AZ-400 exam passed (without the prerequisite certifications), am I required to recertify or renew the AZ-400 exam result periodically?

Or does the recertification/renewal requirement only apply once the full DevOps Engineer Expert certification badge is earned?

Thank you for your clarification.

Best regards, Spiros

Answer 1

Hi @Spyridon Papaioannou u,

Thank you for your question — and congratulations on passing the AZ-400: Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions exam!

You're correct that to earn the full "Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert" certification, you must first hold one of the eligible prerequisite certifications:

• AZ-104: Azure Administrator Associate.
• AZ-204: Azure Developer Associate.

Since you've only passed the AZ-400 and don't currently hold one of the prerequisite certifications, you haven't yet earned the full Expert certification. What you have is an individual exam pass, not a full certification badge.

Renewal Requirements:

• The AZ-400 exam itself does not require renewal unless it is part of an earned certification.
• The renewal/recertification applies only after you've earned the full DevOps Engineer Expert certification badge — once the badge is issued, you would need to renew it annually (as per current Microsoft policy) via a free online assessment. Meaning you need to always renew Az104 or AZ204 depending on which one you took.

Does this answer your question?