Microsoft to provide free training, deeply discounted certs and more...

[scorpion]

Beat me to it! This is a great deal. I've used these certs in a BACS at TESU, and at $15 instead of the normal ~$165ish, it's a steal.

FYI, I wrote a post with some more info on what the certs are like and how to prepare for them.

I was wondering if you(or anyone else) had any recommendations for which of these certs would be good for someone relatively new to the field of IT in general? I have CompTIA A+ and am working google IT support along with a few other entry certs.

I'm only familiar with Azure, so I can't comment on the 365 exams.

The AZ-103 Azure Administrator: Associate is your best best for a first cert, if you can finish it before August 31st. It's more general IT than the other developer- or security- focused associate certs, it only requires a single exam to get the cert, and it awards credit. It has a pretty short learning path that mostly covers IT administration, ops, and architecture concepts. There's also a recent prep video available from Microsoft Ignite, which is an exceptional crash course for what you need to know.