Recently, AWS announced a new certification i.e. the Data Engineer Associate. This has replaced the Data Analytics Specialty exam that has existed for a few years.

Top Reasons for AWS to build Certification Program for Data Engineers

According to the latest data published by AWS, Data engineering is experiencing rapid growth. Job listings worldwide for data engineers grew 45% from 2021 to 2023 and are expected to increase by another 28% over the next decade. With this new AWS certification, candidates get an opportunity to apply for in-demand job roles in data engineering. 

Data engineering is also essential to the other major trends across various industries: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). Generally, most ML algorithms need clean data for the purpose of training and evaluation. Data engineers link the source of the data together with the operation that consumes it. Additionally, they also engineer the features and sanitise the data. This, in turn, improves the models’ results.

How does the AWS Data Engineer Associate (DEA-C01) Certification Help Data Engineers?

Using key AWS data services, the AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate Certification validates your skills. This certification exemplifies how well the candidate manages to monitor and troubleshoot and build data pipelines. Besides, it also optimises the performance and cost by keeping the industry best practices and following them in mind. 

Understanding the AWS Data Engineer Associate Certification

CategoryAssociate
Exam duration130 minutes
Exam format65 questions, either multiple-choice or multiple-response
Cost150 USD. Do visit Exam pricing section to know about the additional cost information. This also includes foreign exchange rates.
Test in-person or onlinePearson VUE testing centre or online proctored exam
Languages OfferedEnglish, Japanese, Korean, and Simplified Chinese

Note that the exam comprises of 65 questions and the time limit is 130 minutes.
You need a minimum score of 720 out of 1000 points to pass the exam.

Response types:

 Two types of questions constitute this exam:

  • Multiple choice: This type consists of one correct answer and three incorrect options (distractors).
  • Multiple responses: This type requires selecting two or more correct answers from five or more options.

In fact, most questions asked in the exam are in the form of 1-2 lines of a scenario, followed by the actual question. For instance, you may be asked to select the MOST cost-effective, MOST secure, or MOST operationally efficient option in the exam.

DEA-C01 AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate Exam Domains

The exam comprises the following content domains and weightings. Ensure you take a look at each of these as it will help you to prepare well. 

  • Domain 1: Data Ingestion and Transformation (34% of scored content)
  • Domain 2: Data Store Management (26% of scored content)
  • Domain 3: Data Operations and Support (22% of scored content)
  • Domain 4: Data Security and Governance (18% of scored content)

Explore the AWS Data Engineer Associate Certification study guide

Exploring the AWS Data Engineer Associate Certification Program study guide

As a first step in exam preparation, explore the AWS Data Engineer Certification study guide and familiarise yourself with the exam objectives and format. Review the exam domains mentioned in the study guide and get familiar with the exam concepts. While preparing for the exam, the first step includes going through the AWS Data Engineer Certification study guide. This will help you get familiar with the objectives and format of the exam. Next, you need to check the exam domains specified in the study guide and familiarise yourself with the exam concepts. After thoroughly understanding the concepts in the theoretical part, opt for practical exposure.

AWS Services to Prioritise for the DEA-C01 Exam

The AWS Data Engineer Associate exam covers a wide range of concepts and AWS services. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to know which specific items you need to focus on. Doing so will help you avoid studying the things that are not likely to be asked in the exam. Thin, in turn, will help you save time. You have to spend more time learning the following AWS services:    Invest additional time to learn the AWS services mentioned below:

How to Prepare for this Exam?

I will go through all the steps I took and explain which ones worked for me:

After glancing through all the steps that I followed, I have explained the ones that are worth mentioning. 

  • Free exam readiness course:
    AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate – This FREE AWS course gives you a great overview of all the domains. It also has some guidance on how to read the exam questions and how to eliminate answers. Moreover, this course also provides guidance to help you read the exam questions. You will also learn how to eliminate the answers.
  • Paid Course: Stephane Mareek’s Course on Udemy.
  • Hands-on: As a next step, start doing labs to get a good understanding of all the integration steps required to achieve the exam objectives. This will help you the most throughout the preparation time.

Take Practice Exams

This is one of the most helpful steps. It will help you manage your time, learn unfamiliar concepts, and identify areas for improvement.

Some of the Practice Tests are :

  1. Stephane Mareek’s Practice Test [PAID] 💲
  2. Neal Davis Practice Test [PAID] 💲y
  3. Shaping Pixel Youtube Videos [FREE] :smiley:

AWS Service Cheat Sheets

These cheat sheets serve as concise yet comprehensive summaries of critical AWS services, useful for reviewing concepts and service functionalities in a timely manner. Well, cheat sheets are nothing but crisp yet extensive summaries of critical AWS services. These sheets are beneficial for reviewing service functionalities, as well as, concepts on time. The following are some of the best AWS cheat sheet resources out there that everyone should use.

Schedule and Take the Exam:

Once you feel confident in your knowledge and preparedness, it’s time to schedule your exam. Visit the AWS Training and Certification website to book your exam appointment at a Pearson VUE testing centre or opt for an online proctored exam from the comfort of your home or office. Lastly, when you are confident enough about the concepts and your exam preparation, you can proceed towards scheduling your exam. In order to book your exam appointment at a Pearson VUE testing centre, do visit the AWS Training and Certification website. Besides, you can also opt for an online proctored exam without going anywhere and doing it from your office or home. 

Final Words!

AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate (DEA-C01) exam is designed to test your skills in designing, building, and maintaining data processing systems on the AWS platform. It covers domains such as data ingestion, management, support, operations, governance, and security. This exam covers domains like data ingestion, support, security, management, operations, and governance. Preparation is key, and plenty of resources are available to help you succeed. With the right study materials and hands-on practice, you can enhance your career opportunities in the field of data engineering. As a matter of fact, there is more room for career opportunities in the data engineering field, all you need to do is refer to the right study materials. Additionally, you need hands-on practice. Passing the exam opens up possibilities for lucrative career paths in the growing field of big data services.

If you are keen on exploring in-depth information about cloud technologies, AWS services, data science, and cloud migration, visit the official Cloudzenia website today. 

Thank you for reading, and I wish you the best of luck. For any queries or doubts, do reach out to me on LinkedIn or leave your comments here. I would love to help.

Vaibhav Kaushik

Linkedin

Aug 13, 2024