12 months ago, I passed Databricks Data Engineer Associate certification. Since then, I have also completed Data Analyst Associate, Data Engineer Professional, Gen AI Engineer Associate and ML Engineer Professional. Here I will share some thoughts on certifications in general and some tips on approaching certification, with an emphasis on the current Databricks offerings.

Why Certify?
They are people for and against certifications, and I can see both sides of the argument.
While certifications are not the be-all and end-all for obtaining new skills, I have found that they can work well for me. Some of the arguments from my personal experience for doing certifications include:
- Broaden My Focus: They force me to spend more time on elements of the syllabus that might not naturally interest me as much as other areas, ensuring a well-rounded understanding.
- Discover Best Practices: They might uncover best practices or approaches that I was previously unaware of, even in areas I thought I knew well.
- Enhance and Structure Knowledge: They increase my overall knowledge on a topic and help consolidate and structure the knowledge I already have.
- Appreciate other personas: as an architect knowing how the analysts, engineers and data scientists view the platform can help with many elements of being successful in my work.
In the real-world things can be messy and complex. Sometimes, it’s nice to have something well-defined to work towards!
Another way certifications have been beneficial is through the explanations and metaphors provided by trainers. These can be invaluable when explaining topics to customer stakeholders or team members. Thinking of analogies on the spot is hard but getting it right can really help a conversation move in the right direction, especially when working with non-technical stakeholders or colleagues less familiar with the platform.
My approach to studying
In this post I will attempt to describe my approach to studying for the certification. I’ll reference the Databricks materials, but the ideas can be applied to any vendor or topic.
I have passed the following Databricks certifications first time all in the past 12 months, in addition to becoming a Databricks Solutions Architect Champion.
- Data analyst associate
- Data engineer associate
- Data engineer professional
- Generative AI engineer associate
- ML engineer professional
Find out more about the current certifications on the Databricks site.
As an architect I may need knowledge from any of these areas to ensure I am correct when talking to clients, non-technical and technical team members and colleagues. Being able to meet the technical leads of each area and know the language and technology that we are working on enables a focused conversation. I think for most people 1 or 2 of the certifications is enough to solidify your working knowledge of the platform in relation to your role.
There are 3 main stages in my learning approach.
- Prepare
- Learn
- Create & Embed
Prepare
Having the background.
Have some working knowledge of the domain and tool. Ideally, you’ve been introduced to something through your day job and you’ve spent some time becoming familiar with the environment. This may be because you have experience in similar domains or tooling or just because you have a problem to solve. Working on a team with real problems to solve is the best way to get a grounding in a topic.
If you can’t get the hands-on experience this way, find the getting started guides and get hands on. Follow some tutorials and think about the sorts of the use cases that can be solved. If you know what certification you want to aim for chose topics from this area to spend some time on. Time box this activity so it doesn’t become a way to procrastinate before the more focused steps.
You can use the “Getting Started with Databricks” videos available on the learning academy. The accreditations provide prerequisite knowledge and give you a badge along the way. Learning material is provided on the learning platforms. You can take a multiple choice test on the platform to obtain the badge. The test is not proctored meaning you can take it any time.

Research the Exam topics
Go to the Databricks website and download the exam guide pdf (available on each exam page). Read the page about the exam topics and read the pdf to understand the topics in greater details. Think about what you might already know and what is new to you. Make a note of this so when you come to study you can allow extra time in this area.
Do the example questions at the end of the exam guide pdf. This is a way you can gauge where you are with the required knowledge. It will also show you the sort of detail in the questions that you’ll need to know for the exam.
I like to work out how many questions there will be on each topic in addition to the the percentages given on the exam page. This will help you think about how much time to spend on a section relative to the other sections.
Learning
Learning takes time and effort, and this is the largest and most obvious section! The partner or customer academy from Databricks is the place to go. Register / login and find the learning path that applies to the certification.
Next level view
I often find I watch the introduction videos for each section before going through all the material. I like to build an overview picture before fully getting to the detailed content. This will help with the why and introduce any new terms that you can look up. Knowing why an approach or tool is used is a big help in thinking clearly in exam and work contexts.
Detail view
Watch the videos, complete one section before moving onto the next. I find watching videos is not a great way for me to learn unless it relates to a very specific issue that I am trying to understand. To keep engaged while watching, I’ll make some notes, usually as nested bullet points to structure the areas covered in the videos. This also serves as a good information store when you are revising, using the technology or recertifying. If I am struggling to stay focused on the video content, I may do a practice exam at this point to remind myself that I need to study and focus to pass.
Example notebooks
Do the exercise notebooks as you go, try and do them without checking the answers but use the notes you have made and the example notebooks from the lectures. Try and engage and give it a good attempt, but don’t try spending hours on the same problem. If I know I have made a good attempt and engaged with the learning content, then checking the solution (and then implementing it) will still aid my learning.
If I haven’t yet booked the exam date, I will do so during this phase so that I have a date to work towards. This really helps ensure you are focused on moving towards the exam date.
Create and Embed
Now you have covered the content you can reflect on what you have learned. Take this chance to think about where you might need to review topics.
In this phase, I will try and do some example questions and practice exams. It’s a good time to review the example questions in the exam guide. I may rewatch videos or download and play with the relevant demos from dbdemos.
Build up your own knowledge repository.
This can be code snippets, PoC style projects, summaries of the course materials or references to additional materials that you found along the way or are finding now to embed the ideas. All these items will help you prepare for the exam but also serve you well when it comes to implementation, presentations and even recertification.
I also like to create my own view of the materials. Researching the documentation and blog posts on the low-level topics that are in the exam guide helps me think about the topics. I will save these links so that I can use to review when I have some spare time or need to recall the knowledge in the future after taking the exam. In fact, I have done this and shared these for DE Pro and ML Pro.
On the Day

I like to book my exams first thing in the morning so I have a clear head. The temptation to do some last-minute cramming is removed and I am not yet distracted by work. Find out what works best for you. I still have the feeling that I am an imposter just when the exam starts! I’ve learnt to live with that and treat it as part of the buzz of taking an exam now.
Good luck on your Databricks certification journey!
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