Azure serverless is a gateway towards a wide array of attractive career opportunities. You can get into promising domains like cloud development, data engineering, and cloud architecture. These lucrative job roles revolve around creating and using applications, handling data pipelines, and constructing cloud solutions by deploying serverless technologies like Azure Functions, Azure Logic Apps, Azure Event Grid, and Azure Container Apps. 

Let us delve a bit deeper into each of these Azure Serverless options.

Azure Functions: Your Go-To for Event-Driven Code

These are event-driven, stateless, serverless compute that comes under the umbrella of Azure Serverless. They use an open-source foundation enabling developers to write and employ code that is activated by events that don’t require infrastructure management. Events that activate these functions include HTTP requests, message queue events, or timer events. Additionally, these functions do not hold information during executions. A wide range of programming languages, like C#, JavaScript, Python, F#, Java, and PowerShell, are supported by these functions. These functions can be used to run tailor-made code in response to certain events. Overhead requirements can be kept low, and at the same time, excellent control can be maintained over the logic of your application. They can be employed using Visual Studio, Azure CLI, and Azure Portal. 

Certifications

• AZ-204 (Azure Developer Associate): Comprehensive coverage of Azure Functions development, including triggers, bindings, and integration patterns 

• AZ-400 (DevOps Engineer Expert): Covers deployment, CI/CD pipelines, and management of Azure Functions 

• AZ-305 (Azure Solutions Architect Expert): Includes designing solutions with Azure Functions as serverless components

Azure Logic Apps: Orchestrating Work Flows with Ease

These apps are used for developing automated workflows that combine and coordinate tasks. Using these apps, workflows can be created with very little coding. Logic Apps are well-suited for sophisticated workflows that are carried out in multiple steps. Common uses of these apps include integration scenarios and process automation. Manual efforts can be reduced and efficiency can be improved as these apps facilitate the automation of repetitive tasks. Complex and tedious processes can be effectively coordinated. These apps are activated by events similar to a new file being uploaded to OneDrive, a scheduled event, or the arrival of a new email. Lastly, these apps are capable of connecting systems in the cloud, on-premises, or in hybrid scenarios.

Image: Logic App Workflow Designer screenshot from Microsoft Azure. 

Source: Microsoft. Used for illustrative purposes.

Certifications 

• AZ-204 (Azure Developer Associate): Covers implementing workflow automation using Logic Apps

• AZ-104 (Azure Administrator Associate): Includes managing and monitoring Logic Apps

• AZ-305 (Azure Solutions Architect Expert): Covers designing integration solutions using Logic Apps

Azure Event Grid: The Central Nervous System for Events

This is primarily a service that helps to route events from any source to any destination. Any changes in your Azure resources, like storage blobs, resource groups, or subscriptions, can be handled adeptly using this service. You can further use this to integrate third-party services, such as GitHub, Twilio, or SendGrid. Event Grib comes with built-in filtering and mapping capability. This further enables you to customize the events according to your preference. The key features under Event Grid are Event publishers and subscribers. Publishers are associated with events such as Azure services like Blob Storage or Azure Active Directory. Subscribers, on the other hand, encompass services or applications that respond to events. Events of various types, including Azure-defined and custom ones, are supported by Event Grid.

Image: Azure Event Grid architecture diagram showing MQTT integration. 

Source: Microsoft Azure Documentation. Used for illustrative purposes.

Certifications

• AZ-204 (Azure Developer Associate): Focuses on implementing event-based messaging using Event Grid 

• DP-203 (Data Engineer Associate): Covers event-driven architectures for data pipelines and solutions 

• AZ-305 (Azure Solutions Architect Expert): Includes designing event-driven and messaging solutions

Quick Mention: Azure Container Apps

This is a platform used to simplify the use and management of containerized applications on Azure. This helps developers to focus their time and energy on developing and employing applications without dealing with the infrastructure. This is built on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS). It can easily handle scaling, monitoring, and integrations with other Azure services. The platform supports containerized applications with the help of any runtime, programming language, or development stack. Additionally, containerized applications are employed using a simple and effective process. 

Image: Azure Container Apps example scenarios diagram. Source: Microsoft Azure Documentation. Used for educational purposes.

Certifications

• AZ-204 (Azure Developer Associate): Covers containerized application development and deployment

• AZ-104 (Azure Administrator Associate): Includes managing container environments in Azure

• AZ-305 (Azure Solutions Architect Expert): Covers designing container-based solutions

Putting It All Together: The Serverless Synergy

Azure serverless components can be combined in myriad ways to develop potent and flexible applications. These components are equipped with unique functionalities for event-oriented execution of code, implementation of workflows, and management of events. Developers will have the luxury of combining these components to create state-of-the-art solutions. These solutions will be capable of adjusting on their own, bringing down infrastructure management, and concentrating on business logic. A wide range of business needs can be addressed, and simultaneously, costs can be reduced by the efficient combination of these components. 

If you are trying to explore an exciting and promising career path in Azure Serverless, HappyTechies.com is the place to be. Our platform is a melting pot of exceptionally talented professionals and exciting career opportunities in the realm of Microsoft technologies.