Second Edition

More than two years have passed since the first edition of this Azure Data Engineer Associate Certification Guide. There have been a lot of changes to Microsoft’s Azure platform and the Microsoft cloud ecosystem in that time.

The overall scope of the exam remains focused on data engineering on the Microsoft Azure platform, including questions relating to data storage, data processing, data exploration, and data security. However, the specific topics and their weightings have been updated to reflect the evolution of Azure Data Services and technologies.

To address this, the second edition will provide updated exam materials and additional notes, hints, tips, and tricks to help you navigate the current exam and the certification process in the ever-evolving world of Microsoft Azure. It will give thorough coverage of the exam topics, spanning fundamental concepts and advanced strategies for Azure as well as introducing new areas of focus.

The key exam-related topics covered in this book are as follows:

• Partitioning strategies for Azure Synapse Analytics and Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 (ADLS Gen2)
• Ingesting and transforming data using Azure Synapse Pipelines or Azure Data Factory (ADF) and Azure Databricks (ADB)
• Handling late-arriving data and managing duplicate data
• Exploring data using SQL Serverless and Spark clusters in Azure Synapse
• Integrating Azure Purview for data lineage and metadata management
• The basics of Azure Data Services and architecture
• Leveraging Azure data storage and management and implementing a partitioning strategy
• Designing and implementing data processing solutions using ADF, Azure Synapse Analytics, and ADB
• Utilizing Azure Synapse Analytics and Azure Stream Analytics for Big Data and real-time analytics workloads
• Implementing security, monitoring, and troubleshooting strategies for Azure data solutions
• Optimizing and troubleshooting data storage and data processing

This book organizes this material in accordance with exam objectives, including both relevant theory and knowledge application through practical guidance and exam-related practice questions. Some topics have also been updated to align with the revised exam and incorporate the latest innovations and advancements in the Microsoft cloud ecosystem.

The new edition will give you unlimited access to the online practice resources platform. Here, you will engage with the mock exams and flashcards and perform practical exercises to let you practice what you learned in the book from any device. You will get access to specially designed flashcards and exam tips to help you memorize key topics and be fully prepared to ace the exam.