Databricks Certified Data Engineer Associate

The Databricks Certified Data Engineer Associate exam tests your ability to use the Databricks Lakehouse Platform for common data engineering tasks. It covers building ETL pipelines with Spark SQL and PySpark, managing data with Delta Lake, orchestrating workflows, and applying governance through Unity Catalog. The exam targets engineers who work with production data pipelines on Databricks daily.

The exam consists of 45 scored multiple-choice questions to be completed in 90 minutes. No test aids are allowed. Some unscored pilot questions may be included and do not affect your score. Additional time is built in for unscored content. The exam is delivered online or at a Pearson VUE test center. Databricks does not publish an official passing score. The displayed score is a conservative estimate based on industry standards.

Many candidates underestimate the Delta Lake internals section. Know the difference between COPY INTO and Auto Loader, understand merge operations deeply, and be comfortable with structured streaming checkpoints. Unity Catalog permissions and data lineage questions are increasingly common. Do not skip the Databricks Workflows section, as pipeline orchestration questions carry real weight.

Registration fee is $200 USD. The exam is available in English, Japanese, Portuguese (BR), and Korean. No prerequisites are required, though hands-on experience is strongly recommended. Certification is valid for 2 years. To recertify, you must pass the current version of the exam.