Arduous to consider it was final September when AWS first introduced its model new Information Engineer – Affiliate (DEA-C01) certification. This announcement was newsworthy for a few causes:

• It represented the primary new Affiliate-level AWS certification in over a decade! (The Options Architect, Developer, and SysOps Administrator Affiliate exams all debuted with the arrival of the AWS international certification program again in 2013.)

• It signaled the start of a shift within the AWS certification panorama. Shortly after asserting the brand new AWS Licensed Information Engineer – Affiliate certification, AWS additionally introduced that it will be retiring three of its Specialty-level exams: the AWS Licensed Information Analytics – Specialty, AWS Licensed Database – Specialty, and AWS Licensed SAP on AWS – Specialty. With fewer Specialty-level certifications, AWS seems to now be prioritizing job role-based certifications on the foundational, affiliate, {and professional} ranges.

The AWS Licensed Information Engineer – Affiliate examination was accessible to take a seat as a beta between November 27, 2023 and January 12, 2024, and pass-fail outcomes have now been shared with everybody who sat the beta examination throughout that point. AWS is now able to launch the ultimate model of this examination on March 12, 2024!

On this weblog publish, I’m going to reply some questions you may need about this brand-new examination, together with:

• Who ought to take the brand new DEA-C01 examination?
• When will the brand new DEA-C01 examination be accessible?
• What’s the format of the brand new DEA-C01 examination?
• What data will likely be coated on the brand new DEA-C01 examination?
• How can Cloud Academy assist me put together for the brand new DEA-C01 examination?

Who ought to take the brand new DEA-C01 examination?

In accordance with the brand new DEA-C01 examination information, the brand new AWS Licensed Information Engineer – Affiliate (DEA-C01) examination is geared in direction of people with 2-3 years of expertise in information engineering and at the least 1-2 years of hands-on expertise working with AWS providers. The examination information additionally states that candidates for this certification ought to perceive “the consequences of quantity, selection, and velocity on information ingestion, transformation, modeling, safety, governance, privateness, schema design, and optimum information retailer design” and guarantees to validate a candidate’s potential to carry out the next duties:

• Ingest and rework information, and orchestrate information pipelines whereas making use of programming ideas.
• Select an optimum information retailer, design information fashions, catalog information schemas, and handle information lifecycles.
• Operationalize, keep, and monitor information pipelines.
• Analyze information and guarantee information high quality.
• Implement acceptable authentication, authorization, information encryption, privateness, and governance.

Passing this examination would require expertise and experience as an IT on-premises or cloud information engineer who works with extract, rework, and cargo (ETL) pipelines, makes use of information lakes for information storage, and understands the way to analyze information and guarantee information high quality and consistency.

That being stated, there aren’t any formal stipulations for this–or another–AWS certification examination, so anybody can register for and sit this examination.

When will the brand new DEA-C01 examination be accessible?

Registration opens for the DEA-C01 examination on Tuesday, March 12, 2024. The examination will likely be accessible to take a seat starting that very same day.

What’s the format of the brand new DEA-C01 examination?

Like the opposite three Affiliate-level AWS certifications, the brand new AWS Licensed Information Engineer – Affiliate (DEA-C01) examination will value $150 USD and accommodates 65 a number of alternative and a number of response questions. Most questions can have 4 attainable reply choices the place you have to choose one right reply, whereas others could have 5 or 6 reply choices from which you have to choose two or three right solutions. Of the 65 questions within the examination, solely 50 of them will rely in direction of your rating. The opposite 15 questions are utilized by AWS for analysis functions and don’t have an effect on your rating in any method. There isn’t any approach to inform which questions are scored or unscored however there may be additionally no penalty for guessing, so at all times remember to reply each query, even when it’s simply an informed guess!

The examination has a pass-fail designation and is scored on a scale of 100-1,000, with a minimal rating of 720 required to go, similar to the opposite Affiliate-level exams.

What data will likely be coated on the brand new DEA-C01 examination?

The brand new DEA-C01 examination information references 4 domains, that are proven within the desk under.

DEA-C01 Domains

Let’s briefly focus on what’s coated inside every of those 4 domains in slightly extra element.

DEA-C01 Area 1: Information Ingestion and Transformation (34%)

This area accounts for over one-third of the general examination content material and focuses on ingesting, remodeling, and processing information, in addition to orchestrating ETL pipelines in your information. This consists of realizing the way to learn information from AWS providers that stream information akin to Kinesis, Redshift, and DynamoDB streams, then remodeling it primarily based in your necessities utilizing providers like Lambda, EventBridge, and AWS Glue workflows. You’ll additionally want to know some primary programming ideas akin to infrastructure as code, SQL question optimization, and steady integration and steady supply, or CI/CD, when testing and deploying your information pipelines.

DEA-C01 Area 2: Information Retailer Administration (26%)

On this area, you’ll must know the way to retailer and catalog your information. This entails every little thing from modeling your information to defining schemas in your information, which might be structured, unstructured, or semi-structured. It’s best to have an intensive understanding of all AWS storage platforms and know the way to decide one of the best information retailer in your wants primarily based on availability and throughput necessities. You’ll additionally must handle the lifecycle of your information in a method that’s value environment friendly, safe, and resilient to failure.

DEA-C01 Area 3: Information Operations and Assist (22%)

This area will assess your potential to make use of AWS providers to investigate your information, making certain information high quality as you automate the processing of your information. This consists of configuring acceptable monitoring and logging of your information pipelines, utilizing providers like CloudTrail and CloudWatch to help in troubleshooting any points which will come up. You must also be acquainted with AWS Glue DataBrew and perceive how it may be used for every little thing from making ready information to be remodeled to defining information high quality guidelines, verifying, and cleansing information.

DEA-C01 Area 4: Information Safety and Governance (18%)

This closing area is all about information privateness, authorization, and compliance. It’s best to perceive the position of safety inside an AWS structure and perceive the way to implement safety in each your VPC community infrastructure in addition to your customers with AWS Id and Entry Administration. This consists of realizing the precept of least privilege and the way to apply role-based, attribute-based, and policy-based safety when acceptable. You’ll additionally want to know encryption and the way to leverage the AWS Key Administration Service to encrypt and decrypt your information.

How can Cloud Academy assist me put together for the brand new DEA-C01 examination?

As quickly as the brand new AWS Licensed Information Engineer – Affiliate examination was introduced final 12 months, our crew right here at Cloud Academy started to evaluate the content material in our library to assist curate a model new AWS Licensed Information Engineer – Affiliate (DEA-C01) Certification Preparation course that absolutely covers all elements of the brand new DEA-C01 examination information.

We additionally sat the beta model of this examination when it was accessible (it was very difficult for an Affiliate-level examination!) and leveraged our collective data and expertise to construct new and up to date classes, hands-on labs, and assessments overlaying the entire matters which might be emphasised within the new DEA-C01 examination. Our new course is at present accessible in preview, however will likely be absolutely up to date and printed by March 12, 2024!

To seek out out the most recent details about this examination, in addition to to study extra about updates to different AWS certification exams, you possibly can go to the Coming Quickly to AWS Certification web page. From there, you possibly can assessment the examination information for the brand new DEA-C01 examination.

For coaching preparation on all AWS certifications, I encourage you to browse our whole library of AWS certification content material.

Better of luck together with your learning, and control this house for extra AWS certification updates within the months forward. When you’ve got any questions, please be happy to achieve out to me and I’ll be glad to assist!

Danny