Microsoft describes Azure Data Engineers as people who:

… design and implement the management, monitoring, security and privacy of data using full stack of Azure data services to satisfy business needs.

A person should be able to perform aforementioned data-related tasks with Azure in order to pass their certification exams. Although there will be no practical tasks to be performed in the test, the multiple choice questions asked gauge problem solving in a practical scenario which Data Engineers face on a daily basis.

A question may either ask you one or more solutions to a use case or a sequence of steps to solve a particular problem. So you not only have to know Azure services and its intricacies but you also have to know how to execute them.

I remember when I read about the level of dedication it requires to pass this certification exam, I wished someone could guide me through this path and share their experience. This is what I intent to do for everyone trying to earn the certification.

To prepare myself for this exam and get acquainted with the Azure platform I decided to prepare for the Azure Fundamentals AZ-900 exam. In hindsight, I think it was the right decision because it introduced me to Azure’s security features and policies which I would have studied just enough to pass. Now I realize the importance of these services and the broad impact it has on our work. This was a good starting point for me, I spent time on the Azure portal, learn about Azure’s architectural components, the Service Level Agreements and some handy tools like the Azure Advisor and Azure Security Center.

After clearing the AZ-900 exam and getting into a more focused state of mind, I delved into data-oriented services of Azure. I started following Microsoft’s learning path to gain the skills to become certified. At the same time, I asked a colleague who had recently passed the DP-200 and DP-201 exams for guidance. He advised me to take DP-201 exam before DP-200. According to him, the DP-201 exam, which is about designing an Azure data solution, was more logical, well structured and covered smaller chunk of the syllabus. For me, a more logic based exam would be easier to clear than a theory-intensive one, so I decided to take DP-201 first. Additionally, he also agreed to give me a practical overview of major services for a couple of hours everyday for a week. This became a great confidence booster for the exam. I learned about lambda & kappa architecture which was beneficial when solving questions. I referred to Azure’s YouTube channel to clear some tricky concepts like partitioning and distribution and view application of various triggers. To validate my skills, I practiced questions provided free of cost by a few websites. Be cautious as answers provided by them are not necessarily correct.

After almost three weeks of hard work dedicating four hours per day on an average, I was able to clear my first step towards being a Data Engineer.

Having all that knowledge under my belt, I scheduled my DP-200 exam to ten days after.

I realized the importance of guidance and decided to gain expertise from a professional trainer. I enrolled in Eshant Garg’s course on DP-200 namely “DP-200: Implementing an Azure Data Solution + Practice Tests” on Udemy. I chose this course because it was recently updated and was in accordance to the new syllabus. I watched nearly 19 hours of video content, completed quizzes and practiced sample questions over the remaining days. The knowledge provided was top quality, everything was rigorously covered and clearly explained. The practice tests proved to be advantageous.

udemy

Finally, all that hard word proved worthwhile and I was able to clear the DP-200 exam. I became a Microsoft certified Azure Data Engineer Associate.

data engineer certificate