certification

Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Developer Associate

RoleMath DifficultyRigor 61Barrier 54two cited lenses · profile below

Source-cited RoleMath page about Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Developer Associate.

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Researched by RoleMath Research. Every figure on this page traces to the official source shown next to it.

A recognized step forward — weigh the background the vendor recommends below.

Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Developer Associate maps to Microsoft's published exam domains, and Microsoft lists a recommended background — check it below before you commit, then use the domains as your study order. RoleMath Difficulty methodology

Who this certification is designed for

The vendor’s stated audience, plus an honest fit for your starting point. No pass rates, no guarantees.

Per Microsoft: As a candidate for this certification, you design, develop, test, and troubleshoot solution components using the extension points of Microsoft Power Platform. Your expertise encompasses implementing:; Custom user experiences and business logic.; System integrations.; Data conversions.; Custom process automation.; Complex Power Fx logic.; Power Automate workflow expressions.; AI as part of your solution logic.; You must have applied knowledge of:; Microsoft Power Platform services, including in-depth understanding of its capabilities, boundaries, and constraints.; Authentication, security, and application lifecycle management (ALM) practices for the Microsoft Power Platform.; Microsoft Power Platform developer tools including Power Platform CLI as part of the developer workflow.; AI tools, including copilots, to improve development and troubleshooting solutions.; As a candidate, you shoul Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Developer Associate — official vendor page

◐ Reach — conditions apply

yes It remains a reach for a new learner because the cited background recommendation is: Audience profile As a candidate for this exam, you design, develop, test, and troubleshoot solution components using the extension points of Microsoft Power Platform. Your expertise encompasses implementing: custom user experiences and business logic. system integrations. data conversions. custom process automation. complex Power Fx logic. Power Automate workflow expressions. AI as part of your solution logic. You must have applied knowledge of: Microsoft Power Platform services, including in-depth understanding of its capabilities, boundaries, and constraints. authentication, security, and application lifecycle management (ALM) practices for the Microsoft Power Platform. Microsoft Power Platform developer tools including Power Platform CLI as part of the developer workflow. AI tools, including agents, to improve development and troubleshooting solutions. As a candidate, you should have development experience that includes Microsoft Power Platform services, JavaScript, JSON, TypeScript, C#, HTML, RESTful Web APIs, Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code, and Microsoft Azure. Some exam-structure details still need human confirmation.

Eligibility source Recommended background and registration boundary Official credential page Official eligibility source

Funding to check: exam and prep costs may be reachable through vouchers, WIOA, Workforce Pell, GI Bill, or employer education assistance — eligibility depends on your location, provider, and status. Compare funding options →

Difficulty profile

A cited estimate of what the exam requires, split into two honest lenses — not one number, not a pass rate. RoleMath Difficulty methodology

Exam rigor (the test itself)61.1

2 of 4 cited signals · Moderate confidence

Barrier from zero (background it assumes)54

3 of 6 cited signals · Moderate confidence

These are exam-structure lenses, not a pass rate or anything about you.

Cost & upkeep

Exam fee plus what it takes to keep it — the recurring cost most pages hide.

Renewal terms
Do you know that Microsoft role-based and specialty certifications expire unless they are renewed? Learn the latest updates to the technology for your job role and renew your certification at no cost by passing an online assessment on Microsoft Learn. Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Developer Associate — official vendor page

No ROI math here — we never compare cost to a salary.

Exam at a glance

How Microsoft administers the exam — the logistics only. This is format, not a pass prediction, and it says nothing about how hard the material is for your background.

Duration
100 minutes
Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Developer Associate — official vendor page

Skills measured

The official objective domains and their exam weight — titles & weights only, straight from the vendor’s exam objectives. Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Developer Associate — official vendor page

30%Extend the platformPlain-English orientation: use this as the topic area to study for Extend the platform. The official objectives define the exact vendor tasks.Official study guide PL-400 (2026-06-12)
10%Create a technical designPlain-English orientation: use this as the topic area to study for Create a technical design. The official objectives define the exact vendor tasks.Official study guide PL-400 (2026-06-12)
10%Build Power Platform solutionsPlain-English orientation: use this as the topic area to study for Build Power Platform solutions. The official objectives define the exact vendor tasks.Official study guide PL-400 (2026-06-12)
10%Implement Power Apps improvementsPlain-English orientation: use this as the topic area to study for Power Apps improvements. The official objectives define the exact vendor tasks.Official study guide PL-400 (2026-06-12)
10%Extend the user experiencePlain-English orientation: use this as the topic area to study for Extend the user experience. The official objectives define the exact vendor tasks.Official study guide PL-400 (2026-06-12)
10%Develop integrationsPlain-English orientation: use this as the topic area to study for Develop integrations. The official objectives define the exact vendor tasks.Official study guide PL-400 (2026-06-12)

Prerequisites

What's required vs merely recommended — stated plainly.

“Recommended” is the vendor’s guidance, not a gate — you can register today.

Version & change log

Which version is current — so you prepare for the exam that’s live today, not a retired one.

Current version
Microsoft Learn page updated 2026-03-02T19:59:00Z
Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Developer Associate — official vendor page

What this proves — and how Microsoft says to prepare

Microsoft’s own framing of who earns it and what it signals, plus their free official study material. Quoted and cited — never dressed up as a job guarantee.

What it signals you can do
['Create a technical design', 'Build Power Platform solutions', 'Implement Power Apps improvements', 'Extend the user experience', 'Extend the platform', 'Develop integrations']
Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Developer Associate — official vendor page

Job titles the mapped roles report

Reported job titles from the U.S. Department of Labor’s O*NET for the occupations Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Developer Associatemaps to — the language of the market, not a placement or hiring claim. Titles vary by employer, seniority, and location.

Source: O*NET OnLine reported job titles for the mapped SOC occupations.

Pay context for the roles this maps to

Occupation-level government data for a related role — not a salary this certification pays you.

$61,580 to $167,970 · Project Coordinator (SOC 13-1082) BLS OEWS — Project Coordinator (13-1082), national

This is what the occupation pays across the whole economy — set by the job, your experience, and location, not by holding this certification. Your actual pay will differ. See the full role page →

Credential credit map

What this counts toward

RoleMath shows cited equivalency, baseline, stacking, and renewal signals as planning context. These are not hiring guarantees or universal transfer credits.

College-credit recommendation

An ACE / college-credit recommendation — acceptance is decided by each institution.

ACE credit recommendations are planning context; each institution decides whether and how to award credit.

  • ACE: 3 semester hour(s) recommendedsource visible

    Exam PL-400: Microsoft Power Platform Developer; ACE ID MLS-0096; active 08/01/2023-07/31/2026.

    Official source

Equivalency, credit, and baseline mappings come from official/authoritative sources and are shown as planning context only. ACE recommendations are accepted at each institution's discretion; DoD baseline status must be confirmed against the current official DoD Cyber Exchange table; 'comparable scope' means similar role positioning, NOT an equivalence or substitution. No certification guarantees a job, salary, or outcome.

Optional · about 2 minutes

Not sure if Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Developer Associate is the right next step for you?

Answer a few quick questions and we’ll map your background against the exam’s published domains and the vendor’s recommended prep — a study order and a sequencing read, not a score or a pass prediction. Everything you need to decide is already above; open this only if you want a personalized plan.

Every figure on this page, sourced

The claims above trace to these records — the source, and when it was last checked. If a figure has no row here, we did not publish it.

IDSupportsSourceChecked
SCHEMA-CIT-1Schema citationMicrosoft Certified: Power Platform Developer AssociateLogged in source packet
SCHEMA-CIT-2Schema citationOfficial Microsoft Learn objective-domain sourceLogged in source packet
SCHEMA-CIT-3Schema citationOfficial Microsoft Learn field sourceLogged in source packet
SCHEMA-CIT-4Schema citationOfficial Microsoft Learn field sourceLogged in source packet
SCHEMA-CIT-5Schema citationExam PL-400 study guideLogged in source packet

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