My AWS Certified Data Engineer Associate DEA-C01 BETA Exam Experience

My AWS Certified Data Engineer Associate DEA-C01 BETA Exam Experience

I recently completed the online beta exam for AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate DEA-C01. Right from the start, I noticed its similarities to the AWS Certified Data Analytics Specialty test, although it doesn't entirely match in terms of depth. This new Associate-level exam is designed to affirm the skills and knowledge of IT Professionals in fundamental AWS data services. It evaluates capabilities such as implementing data pipelines, optimizing costs, resolving data workflow issues, and applying best practices in data engineering within the AWS environment.

AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate BETA Exam Details

Beta exams within the AWS Certification program serve as a means to assess the initial set of "exam items" or questions for performance before their official release. It's essential to note that the beta exam process may or may not be implemented when an official AWS exam undergoes an update. For example, the transition from CLF-C01 to CLF-C02 for the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner test in September 2023 did not include a beta offering. Successfully passing a beta exam grants you the distinction of being among the first to attain the new certification. Additionally, beta exams are typically priced at a 50% discount, although they may feature a slightly higher number of questions compared to the subsequent live version.

The BETA version of the AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate exam is identified by the code DE1-C01 and is priced at $75 USD. It comprises 85 questions presented in either multiple-choice or multiple-response formats, with a time limit of 3 hours or 180 minutes for completion. The exam can be taken either at a Pearson VUE testing center or through an online proctored exam. Opting for the latter, I took the exam smoothly on a Sunday morning using Pearson's OnVue app, encountering no issues.

A passing score of 720 is required, mirroring what will be expected in the upcoming live version. It's important to note that the BETA exam period spans from November 27 to January 12 of the following year. To secure a spot, it's advisable to schedule the exam as early as possible to avoid missing out on available slots.

The results for the DEA-C01 beta exam will be accessible after a 90-day period. Upon successfully passing the exam, the AWS Certified Data Engineer Associate certification will be promptly credited to your account. This Associate-level certification serves as a successor to the AWS Certified Data Analytics – Specialty test, which is scheduled for decommissioning on April 8, 2024, next year. The AWS Certified Data Engineer Associate exam is anticipated to go live in April, immediately following the complete phase-out of the Data Analytics – Specialty DAS-C01 exam.

Compared to the AWS Certified Data Analytics – Specialty exam, the new Data Engineer – Associate certification test provides a broad overview of data engineering. It encompasses areas such as data ingestion, data transformation, data store management, data security, and data governance. However, the DEA-C01 exam doesn't extensively delve into advanced concepts like Observability, Data Collection, Visualization, and similar topics. Notably, there is a notable presence of questions related to Machine Learning.

In my personal estimation, these two exams share a significant overlap, ranging from 70% to 80% similarity. This similarity is evident in the nearly identical list of AWS services associated with both exams.

Exam Resources for AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate DEA-C01 Exam

Here is a compilation of the study materials I utilized to ready myself for the AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate exam's BETA version:

DEA-C01 AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate Exam Topics

The majority of the questions I encountered align with the content outlined in the official Exam Guide. Specifically, the DEA-C01 exam emphasizes AWS Glue, Amazon Athena, AWS Lake Formation, and includes a small portion on Amazon SageMaker. Here’s the list of relevant AWS services that you should focus on:

Compute:

  • AWS Batch
  • Amazon EC2
  • AWS Lambda
  • AWS Serverless Application Model (AWS SAM)

Analytics:

  • Amazon Athena
  • Amazon EMR
  • AWS Glue
  • AWS Glue DataBrew
  • AWS Lake Formation
  • Amazon Kinesis Data Analytics
  • Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose
  • Amazon Kinesis Data Streams
  • Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka (Amazon MSK)
  • Amazon OpenSearch Service
  • Amazon QuickSight

Application Integration:

  • Amazon AppFlow
  • Amazon EventBridge
  • Amazon Managed Workflows for Apache Airflow (Amazon MWAA)
  • Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS)
  • Amazon Simple Queue Service (Amazon SQS)
  • AWS Step Functions

Cloud Financial Management:

  • AWS Budgets
  • AWS Cost Explorer

Containers:

  • Amazon Elastic Container Registry (Amazon ECR)
  • Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS)
  • Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS)

Database:

  • Amazon DocumentDB (with MongoDB compatibility)
  • Amazon DynamoDB
  • Amazon Keyspaces (for Apache Cassandra)
  • Amazon MemoryDB for Redis
  • Amazon Neptune
  • Amazon RDS
  • Amazon Redshift

Developer Tools:

  • AWS CLI
  • AWS Cloud9
  • AWS Cloud Development Kit (AWS CDK)
  • AWS CodeBuild
  • AWS CodeCommit
  • AWS CodeDeploy
  • AWS CodePipeline

Frontend Web and Mobile:

  • Amazon API Gateway

Machine Learning:

  • Amazon SageMaker

DEA-C01 Exam Domains

The official exam guide for the AWS Certified Data Engineer Associate test provides information on exam weightings, content domains, and task statements essential for certification. Each domain includes task statements outlining relevant knowledge and skills. It's important to note that while comprehensive, this list is not exhaustive, and should be treated as a general guide.

The exam has the following content domains and weightings:

  • 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)

AWS Services to Focus On for the DEA-C01 Exam

To effectively prepare for the AWS Data Engineer Associate exam, it's crucial to concentrate on specific concepts and AWS services to optimize study time and avoid unnecessary topics. Allocating more time to understanding the following AWS services is highly recommended:

  • Amazon Athena
  • Amazon Redshift
  • Amazon QuickSight
  • Amazon EMR (Amazon Elastic MapReduce)
  • AWS LakeFormation
  • AWS EventBridge
  • AWS Glue- AWS Glue DataBrew- All AWS Glue features
  • Amazon Kinesis- Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose- Amazon Kinesis Data Streams?
  • Amazon Managed Service for Apache Flink
  • Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka (Amazon MSK)
  • Amazon OpenSearch Service

Exam Tips for the AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate DEA-C01 Beta Exam

If you are relatively new to both AWS and Data Engineering, you may find the DEA-C01 exam topics challenging, given their combination of open-source Apache technologies and AWS services. The official exam guide outlines various Apache technologies, such as Apache Flink, Apache Kafka, Apache Ranger, Apache Pig, Apache Hive, Apache Airflow, Apache Spark, Apache Cassandra, and more, all specifically related to data engineering. Additionally, the exam covers diverse data formats like Apache ORC (Optimized Row Columnar), Apache Parquet, Apache Avro, and others. Consequently, it is essential to familiarize yourself with the relevant open-source programs, data formats, and tools within the field of data engineering.

It is advisable to dedicate additional time to both theoretical learning and practical hands-on labs for relevant AWS services. Focus on acquiring proficiency in services like Amazon Athena, Amazon Redshift, Amazon QuickSight, Amazon EMR (Amazon Elastic MapReduce), AWS Lake Formation, AWS EventBridge, AWS Glue, AWS Glue DataBrew, Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose, Amazon Kinesis Data Streams, Amazon Managed Service for Apache Flink, Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka (Amazon MSK), Amazon OpenSearch Service, and others.

It is advisable to thoroughly read the entire exam guide cover to cover, taking note of essential data engineering concepts and other AWS services that require focus. For additional information, you may refer to the AWS Certified Data Engineer DEA-C01 Study Guide .

* This newsletter was sourced from this Tutorials Dojo article .

Anitha Acharya

Software Developer at BNY

2 天前

Excellent journey and very helpful for us. I recently completed the Aws data engineer exam and scored 921. The exam was quite challenging, featuring many scenario-based and lengthy questions, so managing your time effectively is crucial. Practice tests were a major part of my preparation. I used Skillcertpro mock exams extensively https://skillcertpro.com/product/aws-data-engineer-associate-dea-c01-exam-questions/ and found that the actual exam questions were very similar to those in the practice tests, with around 70-80% being nearly identical. These practice tests were instrumental in my success, and the Exam Notes provided were great for quick reference. A key takeaway: If you're not scoring above 85% on these mock exams, you might need to adjust your preparation. Good luck to everyone else!

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Eduardo Freitas

Data Engineer | SQL | Airflow | Spark | AWS | Kubernetes

9 个月
Jaleleddine Hajlaoui, Phd

Cloud Data Engineer/Architect | DevOps | MLOPS | GCP | AWS Solutions Architect Associate certified | Kubernetes KCNA certified | Airflow AAF certified

10 个月

I have taken the beta DE associate without any ML questions. Surprise!

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Lisete C.

Application Development Manager

10 个月

Congrats Jon!

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Sardor Boboshov

Big Data Engineer | AWS Certified Developer

10 个月

What do you think questions are difficult and asks deeply like data analytics or is it more high level?

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