Certification paths
Individual exam guides tell you what one exam covers. These pages answer the question that comes first: which exam should you take, and what comes after it.
Each path lays out the exams in order, says what level of experience each one assumes, and is honest about which ones are worth skipping. All of them link through to the full guides and free practice tests.
The single most common mistake is booking an exam one level above where you actually work. Associate and professional exams assume you have done the job, not that you have watched a course. Start where your daily work sits, not where you would like it to sit.
Choosing between vendors rather than within one? The comparison guides put exams head to head across ecosystems. And check the exam changes tracker before booking anything — objectives and versions move more than most people expect.
- Azure AI certification pathWhich Microsoft Azure AI certification to take first, what follows, and which exams you can safely skip.
- AWS AI and ML certification pathWhich AWS AI certification to take first, how AIF-C01 and MLA-C02 differ, and who should skip the foundational exam.
- Databricks certification pathHow the seven Databricks certifications fit together, which to take first, and how big the jump to professional really is.
- CompTIA certification pathWhere Network+ sits in the CompTIA sequence, when to take it, and how the newer SecAI+ exam relates to it.
- ISACA AI certification pathHow AAIA, AAIR and AAISM differ, who each is for, and why none of them is an entry point into governance.
- Salesforce AI certification pathWhere the Agentforce Specialist exam fits, what it assumes about Salesforce experience, and who should not take it.