Cloud Constellation/Careers/Solutions Architect

CAREER PATH

Solutions Architect

You don't just deploy — you decide. This path covers the breadth an architect needs: compute, storage, networking, identity, governance, and resilience, so you can weigh trade-offs, not just follow a runbook.

18 clusters 9 domains ~95 hours AZ-305 aligned

Drag to rotate · click a node to jump straight into that domain

Who this is for

You've likely worked as an engineer already and want the design-level view. If you're starting from zero, Azure Cloud Engineer is the better first stop.

How this path works
Each cluster below links to its real lesson page. Go in order the first time through — later clusters assume the ones before them. Once you've done a full pass, use it as reference.

The path — in order

Compute

01
Virtual Machines & Compute
The baseline compute unit every design starts from.
Domain 1 · Compute
02
Serverless & Event-Driven
When not to provision a server at all.
Domain 1 · Compute
03
Kubernetes (AKS)
Container orchestration at scale.
Domain 1 · Compute

Storage & Data

04
Object & File Storage
Where most architectures store their data.
Domain 2 · Storage & Data
05
Relational Databases
Azure SQL and Managed Instance trade-offs.
Domain 2 · Storage & Data
06
NoSQL Databases
Cosmos DB and when schema-flexibility wins.
Domain 2 · Storage & Data

Networking

07
Core Networking
VNets, subnets, and segmentation strategy.
Domain 3 · Networking
08
Connectivity
Hybrid connectivity: VPN, ExpressRoute, Virtual WAN.
Domain 3 · Networking
09
Delivery & Load Balancing
Global traffic distribution design.
Domain 3 · Networking

Identity & Security

10
Identity & Authentication
Entra ID as the trust foundation.
Domain 4 · Identity & Security
11
Access Management
RBAC and Conditional Access design.
Domain 4 · Identity & Security

Operations

12
Governance & Policy
Management groups, policy, and guardrails at scale.
Domain 5 · Operations
13
Cost Management
Designing for cost, not just capability.
Domain 5 · Operations

IaC & DevOps

14
ARM Templates & Bicep
Infrastructure as code as an architectural discipline.
Domain 6 · IaC & DevOps

Resilience

15
Disaster Recovery
RTO/RPO as design inputs, not afterthoughts.
Domain 7 · Resilience
16
High Availability & Resilience
Availability zones and multi-region design.
Domain 7 · Resilience

Hybrid & Workplace

17
Azure Arc
Designing for hybrid, not just cloud-native.
Domain 8 · Hybrid & Workplace

AI, Data & IoT

18
Azure Machine Learning
Knowing when AI belongs in the architecture.
Domain 9 · AI, Data & IoT

Certification this path maps to

AZ-305: Solutions Architect Expert

AZ-305 requires AZ-104 (Azure Administrator) first — see Azure Cloud Engineer for that path.

Where this leads

From here, most architects specialise further into Cloud Security Architect for security-first design, or stay generalist and take on larger, multi-team programs.

Start the path → See other career paths