Which Azure certification are you currently preparing for, or planning to take next?

A practical way to choose the next Azure certification is to map it to the work you want to do next, not just the exam order.

For a broad foundation, AZ-900 is still the right starting point. If you want to run Azure environments day to day, AZ-104 is the strongest next step. For architecture work, AZ-305 becomes more valuable after you already understand governance, networking, identity, monitoring, and resiliency. For security-focused roles, AZ-500 is a good target, and for developers building cloud apps, AZ-204 is usually more useful than jumping straight to architecture.

My suggestion is to pair the cert with a small lab project: deploy a secure app, add monitoring, configure RBAC, set budgets, document recovery steps, and then tear it down. That makes the learning stick much better than only doing practice questions.