I'm a recent graduate working in an IT support/technical role, and I want to use this position to build a strong foundation for an Azure engineering career. I'm currently focusing on Linux, networking, and other core infrastructure skills. My tentative plan is to earn AZ-104 and the Terraform Associate certification, then build larger hands-on projects such as a homelab and a three-tier application architecture deployed on Azure.
My current resume includes beginner-level projects like the Cloud Resume Challenge and a personal ServiceNow instance. I also have my current job experience and two university extracurricular roles—one involving leadership and another that overlaps somewhat with my current IT work.
Would it be better to include two projects and three experience entries, or three projects and two experience entries? I know professional experience is usually more valuable, but the overlapping university role may not add much compared with my current position.
I'd also appreciate advice on certifications and skills to prioritize. For example, is MD-102 useful for an Azure engineering path, or would it steer me more toward endpoint administration? The entry-level market seems extremely competitive, so I want to focus my time and resume on the things most likely to improve my chances.
4 Answers
On the resume, choose the strongest and most relevant entries rather than forcing an exact project-to-experience ratio. Keep your current job and the leadership role if they show meaningful responsibility. Replace the overlapping university role with a substantial technical project if that project gives you better evidence of Azure, Terraform, automation, or troubleshooting skills.
Three polished projects and two strong experience entries would be better than three repetitive experiences, but only if the projects are genuinely different and you can discuss the implementation, failures, and results in interviews.
Azure is broad enough that trying to learn everything can make your resume look shallow. Pick a specific direction first—such as infrastructure, platform engineering, or cloud operations—and build deeper skills there. AZ-104, Terraform, networking, Linux, and a substantial Azure project are a solid foundation.
Also, don’t overlook Windows administration and Microsoft identity services. Many Azure employers still run heavily on Windows, Entra ID, Microsoft 365, and hybrid infrastructure. Strong communication and business awareness can distinguish you just as much as another certification: employers value people who can explain tradeoffs, risks, and technical decisions clearly.
Beyond Azure fundamentals, skills such as infrastructure as code, Kubernetes, CI/CD, and data-platform workflows can help you stand out. Many candidates can follow a tutorial or click through a basic cloud deployment, so showing that you can automate, operate, secure, and troubleshoot an environment is more valuable.
Try to make each project demonstrate a specific capability instead of simply adding another architecture diagram to the resume.
For the path you described, AZ-104 and Terraform Associate are reasonable priorities. MD-102 focuses mainly on Intune and Windows endpoint administration, so it makes more sense if you want to pursue the modern workplace or endpoint-management track rather than Azure infrastructure engineering.
A strong three-tier project could be useful if it demonstrates real engineering work: infrastructure as code, networking, identity and access controls, monitoring, backups, CI/CD, and documented design decisions. A project that you can explain in detail will usually help more than collecting several loosely related certifications.
That’s a good point about specialization. Azure touches infrastructure, identity, data, security, and AI, so listing all of them without meaningful projects can make it seem like you only have surface-level exposure.