In this post I cover four simple facts about the DP-600 exam. I want to do this post because there has been a lot of discussions about the exam recently.
So, I want to make things clearer and give people some peace of mind.
In addition, I want to mention the fact that due to positive feedback about some of my posts I have created a new DP-600 category on my website. So that people can find posts relating to the exam easier.
Anyway, the four simple facts are as below.
1: Named as replacement for DP-500 exam
Microsoft has named the DP-600 exam as the replacement for the DP-500 exam. You can see the below warning now when you go to the exam page.
In addition, the Azure Enterprise Data Analyst Associate certification that you gain by passing this exam will be retired as well.
2: Exposure to multiple workloads is required
In order to pass DP-600 exam you must have exposure to multiple items within Microsoft Fabric. Which has been highlighted by me and other members of the community in various blog posts.
For example, the post where I share my thoughts about the DP-600 exam. Plus. the detailed measured breakdown and resource links provided by Andy Cutler.
To give you a better idea, below are the main workloads and services you need to focus on for the exam based on the contents of the study guide.
In addition, you need to have knowledge about where DAX Studio and Tabular Editor 2 come into play as well.
It can seem daunting, but at the end of the day the idea is that you gain the certification because you put the effort in to learn the competencies that Microsoft deem necessary to be a Fabric analytics engineer.
Plus, to quote Andy Cutler (l), it actually prepares you to use the platform. As the saying goes; nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Even though the exam has a got of breadth just remember that other exams have just as much breadth. If not more.
For example, you currently need to know about the below services for the DP-203 exam to gain the Azure Data Engineer Associate certification.
- Azure Data Factory
- Azure Synapse Analytics
- Azure Stream Analytics
- Azure Event Hubs
- Azure Data Lake Storage
- Azure Databricks
One key point to remember is that in order to study for the DP-203 exam you need to work with a variety of different Platform as a Service offerings.
For the DP-600 exam it is a mindset change as you mostly need to work with different workloads within the same Software as a Service offering.
3: Power BI professionals must learn other competencies
Because this exam focuses on designing, creating and deploying enterprise-scale solutions you need more than Power BI knowledge for this exam. You must learn about other competencies as well.
This includes knowledge about both Data Warehouses and Lakehouses. Including basic syntax when working within notebooks and the Warehouse Editor.
In addition to the recommended Microsoft Learn material for the exam there is plenty of online material available online to help gain the required knowledge. For example, I have an entire category of blog posts dedicated to Microsoft Fabric.
4: Experienced Data Engineers must gain deep Power BI knowledge
On the other hand, if you come from a Data Engineering background you need Power BI knowledge for the exam.
Even though I say Data Engineering here, in reality this can be any role you hold that is outside of the visualization arena where you handle data. Including analytics engineer or data platform administrator.
Basically, if you work with data and have little or no experience with Power BI you need to learn more for this exam.
In addition to the recommended Microsoft Learn material for the exam there is plenty of online material available online to help gain the required Power BI knowledge. For example, Nikola Ilic (l) leverages his Power BI knowledge to provide DP-600 learning material.
Final words about these four simple facts
I hope this post about four simple facts about the DP-600 exam makes things clearer for some of you.
As I know there has been plenty of discussions surrounding it and I want to make things clearer for everybody. Because even though there is a lot of breadth required for this certification I think it is worth doing.
Of course, if you have any comments or queries about this post feel free to reach out to me.
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