Microsoft AuthorisedExpert · DevOps2026 ObjectivesHighest-Paying Azure Cert
AZ-400 DevOps Engineer Expert
Engineer modern delivery on Azure. Source control, pipelines, IaC, security in the SDLC, observability and SRE — the full DevOps practice mapped to Microsoft AZ-400.
⏱Duration: 5 days / 40 hrs
💻Format: Instructor-Led + Pipeline Labs
🌐Delivery: On-site · Virtual · Hybrid
✅Pass rate: 92%
📅Next intake: 19 May 2026
🔁
Pipeline mastery
Azure Pipelines and GitHub Actions — multi-stage, gated and signed
📜
IaC at scale
Bicep and Terraform with policy-as-code, Azure Verified Modules
SLI / SLO / error budgets and incident management for real teams
What this course is
Where shipping software becomes engineering.
AZ-400 is the certification that proves you can design and run a modern delivery practice on Azure — not just spin up a pipeline. It blends source control strategy, CI/CD, infrastructure as code, security in the SDLC, observability and SRE patterns into a coherent operating model.
At Nexperts, AZ-400 isn't a YAML reading exercise. We build a real production-grade pipeline together: GitHub source, branch policies, Azure Pipelines + GitHub Actions multi-stage with environments, gated approvals, Bicep, integrated SAST / secret scanning, and SLO-driven release validation.
A delivery pipeline is not a YAML file. It is a contract between your developers, your security team and the customer who runs your software at 3am.
The 2026 AZ-400 objectives sharpened the focus on supply-chain security, GitHub Advanced Security, and platform engineering with internal developer portals — we cover all three with hands-on builds.
Who should take this course
⚙️
DevOps engineers
Already running pipelines but want the full Azure-native toolkit and the formal credential.
👨💻
Senior developers
Moving up into release engineering or platform-engineering roles. AZ-400 is the validation.
🔐
Application security engineers
Wanting to operate inside the SDLC instead of running yearly pen-tests. AZ-400's secure-pipeline track is built for you.
📈
SRE and platform engineers
Need the Azure-native lens on IaC, observability and reliability. AZ-400 gives it.
💼
Engineering managers
Owning delivery for a team. AZ-400 is the playbook — you'll lead more confident technical reviews.
🌟
AZ-204 holders
Natural progression. You already build apps for Azure — now ship them as a team.
Prerequisites
✓ AZ-204 OR AZ-104 (or equivalent professional Azure experience)
✓ 1–2 years using Azure DevOps, GitHub or similar pipelines
✓ Comfortable with Git, YAML and basic shell scripting
✓ Working knowledge of one programming language
→ Don't have AZ-204 / AZ-104 yet? Ask about our prep-bridge week before AZ-400 starts.
Course Curriculum
Six domains. One delivery practice.
AZ-400 is structured into Source Control, Pipelines, Build & Release, Dependency Management, Continuous Feedback and Continuous Security. We deliver in build-order: by day 2 you have a real working pipeline.
Hands-On Lab Stack
9 builds. On real GitHub + Azure.
Every learner gets a personal Azure subscription and a GitHub org. By day 5 you've shipped a real, gated, signed, instrumented release — not a slide deck.
01
Branch Strategy Workshop
Run a 90-minute workshop on a real repo. Pick a branching strategy. Apply policies. Justify it.
Strategy
02
Multi-Stage YAML Pipeline
Build a 4-stage pipeline with environments, approvals and signed artefacts.
CI/CD
03
OIDC Federation Replace
Take a pipeline using stored secrets. Replace every secret with workload identity federation.
Security
04
Bicep Module Refactor
Refactor a flat Bicep deployment into reusable modules with what-if validation.
IaC
05
Supply-Chain Hardening Sprint
Add SBOM generation, image signing, and dependency scanning. Verify on the deployed artefact.
Supply chain
06
Pipeline Performance Tuning
Take a 22-minute pipeline. Cut it under 8 minutes. Document every change.
Performance
07
Release Health Dashboard
Wire Application Insights and Log Analytics into a release-decision dashboard.
Observability
08
Chaos Experiment
Use Azure Chaos Studio to fail a region. Validate the SLO holds. Document the post-mortem.
Reliability
09
Internal Dev Portal
Stand up a Backstage-style internal developer portal with templates and scorecards.
Platform Eng
+ 14 micro-tasks across pipeline YAML, Bicep, Terraform and Kusto query writing.
Exam Information
One scenario-heavy exam. Pipeline reading focus.
AZ-400 has 40–60 questions over 120 minutes. The exam is heavy on multi-step scenario decisions and YAML / Bicep snippet review. Most candidates fail on time, not knowledge — we drill the reading speed.
Full timed simulation. 80%+ before we book. Average score: 82%.
0%
Pass Rate
92% of our AZ-400 engineers pass on first attempt.
The Microsoft global first-attempt rate for AZ-400 sits around 63%. We hit 92% by treating it as a hands-on engineering exam, drilling YAML / Bicep reading under timer, and shipping six full pipelines together.
Real GitHub + AzureSnippet workshop92% first attemptFree retake voucherInternal dev-portal track
Why our pass rate is 92%
Industry average: ~63%
Most candidates revise services, then walk in and lose 25 minutes on a single multi-step scenario. They didn't drill snippet-reading and didn't practise scenario decomposition.
Nexperts: 92%
We drill snippets under timer. We decompose scenarios on the whiteboard. And we gate booking on a clearance mock so nobody walks in cold.
Your Microsoft Path
AZ-400 is the senior credential. What's next?
AZ-400 is the most senior delivery-side Microsoft cert. From here, the natural moves are AZ-305 for architecture, SC-100 for cybersecurity-architect or specialty paths in Kubernetes (AKS) and supply-chain security.
Before this
AZ-204 or AZ-104
One of these is required-experience. AZ-204 favours code-first developers. AZ-104 favours operations-first ops engineers.
Expected salary range after AZ-400: RM 12,000 – RM 19,000/month for senior DevOps and platform-engineering roles in MNC environments.
Student Reviews
What our AZ-400 engineers say.
4.7
★★★★★
86 reviews
5★
78%
4★
17%
3★
3%
★★★★★
"The supply-chain hardening sprint alone was worth the course fee. We took those exact patterns back to my team and shipped them in two sprints. Cleared the exam in week 7."
NM
Norman Mahmud
Lead DevOps Engineer · Axiata Group
✓ Passed first attempt · 832/1000
★★★★★
"I'd been doing DevOps without certification for years. AZ-400 with Nexperts was the formalisation, but the chaos engineering and SLO modules genuinely sharpened how I think about reliability."
RG
Rajalakshmi Govindasamy
Platform Engineer · Grab Engineering
✓ Passed first attempt
★★★★
"The snippet workshop was the difference. I went in able to read YAML at speed. The exam still pressured me on time, but I never felt panicked."
WX
Wong Xuan Yi
Senior Cloud Engineer · Standard Chartered GBS
✓ Passed first attempt · 791/1000
★★★★★
"Best part was the internal-dev-portal lab. Most courses ignore platform engineering completely. I'm now leading our internal-platform initiative."
KL
Kelvin Lee
DevOps Lead · RHB Banking Group
✓ Passed first attempt · 868/1000
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