New Chapter
Yesterday, I finally cleared the Microsoft Azure AI Engineer Associate (AI-102) exam.
The official study recommendation might say months, but here is the raw truth: It took me 4 weeks. And honestly? You can probably do it in 2 weeks.
Why did it take me longer? Because I prioritize my mental health—which currently involves leading a mercenary band in Battle Brothers. But if you aren’t fighting orcs on the weekends, a 14-day sprint is totally realistic.
If you are looking to get this badge on your profile, here is the “No-BS” strategy I used.
1. Don’t Just “Learn” AI. Abuse It.
The Microsoft Learn documentation is comprehensive, but let’s be real: parts of it are dry as dust. Reading through pages of Azure Cognitive Services API definitions is the fastest way to fall asleep.
My strategy? I used AI to learn AI.
I didn’t just read the docs; I treated Claude and ChatGPT as my 24/7 private tutors.
- Don’t understand a concept? Copy the documentation into Claude and say: “Explain this to me like I’m a junior dev who just drank too much coffee.”
- Need to test yourself? Paste a module summary and ask: “Roast me. Ask me 5 hard multiple-choice questions about this topic and tell me why I’m wrong.”
Don’t be passive. Abuse these tools. That’s what they are there for.
2. The “Shipping” Mindset
A lot of people fail these exams because they try to memorize syntax. That is a waste of RAM.
Instead of thinking, “I need to learn the Custom Vision API,” shift your mindset to: “I need to build a tool that detects if my cat is stealing food.”
When you think about shipping a product, the dry technical details suddenly have context. You aren’t “studying” anymore; you are hunting for the right tools to solve a problem. This makes the concepts stick way better than rote memorization ever will.
3. Certification $\neq$ Capability
Let’s address the elephant in the room. Does having this badge make me an AI expert? No.
It proves I know the Azure ecosystem and I can navigate the tools. But in the tech world, and especially in the AI era, skills expire fast.
A certificate is just an entry ticket. It gets you past the HR filters. But real capability comes from building things. If you get the cert but don’t use the skills to build, deploy, and break things, that piece of paper is worthless.
Ship more. Ship fast.
Final Thoughts & Acknowledgments
The AI-102 is a solid overview of what Azure offers—from old-school OCR to the newer OpenAI integrations. If your company uses the Microsoft stack, it’s a no-brainer to get this under your belt.
Huge shoutout to NAB for fostering a culture that actually supports continuous learning (and paying for it!). Special thanks to Kenith and Dheeraj for approving the budget and my study leave without hesitation. It makes a huge difference when leadership gets it.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a Battle Brothers campaign to salvage.