The Databricks Certified Data Engineer Associate validates skills to build ETL pipelines on the Databricks Lakehouse β Spark SQL, Delta Lake, Auto Loader, and Unity Catalog.
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Exam Overview
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Format | 45 multiple-choice |
| Duration | 90 minutes |
| Delivery | Online proctored |
| Cost | ~$200 USD |
Practical and scenario-based β know when to use Delta Live Tables vs manual pipelines.
Exam Domains
| Domain | Weight |
|---|---|
| Databricks Lakehouse Platform | ~26% |
| ELT with Spark SQL and Python | ~28% |
| Incremental Data Processing | ~18% |
| Production Pipelines | ~13% |
| Data Governance (Unity Catalog) | ~15% |
Must-know: Delta Lake ACID, CDF, merge operations, Auto Loader, structured streaming basics, Unity Catalog permissions.
6-Week Study Plan
| Week | Focus |
|---|---|
| 1 | Lakehouse architecture, workspaces, clusters |
| 2 | Spark SQL β joins, window functions, UDFs |
| 3 | Delta Lake β merge, optimize, Z-order |
| 4 | Auto Loader, structured streaming |
| 5 | Delta Live Tables, job orchestration |
| 6 | Unity Catalog + 2 full mock exams |
Hands-on: Databricks free community edition or trial β build one end-to-end ingestion pipeline.
Databricks Learning Path
- Associate Data Engineer (this exam) β pipeline builder
- Professional Data Engineer β advanced production
- Pair with SnowPro Core or PL-300 for full analytics stack coverage
CertStud Resources
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