A Comprehensive Guide To Microsoft Azure Data Scientist Associate Certification

By Archer Charles 21-Dec-2022
A Comprehensive Guide To Microsoft Azure Data Scientist Associate Certification

A data scientist is a data expert that derives insights from large volumes of unstructured and structured data. This is done at the organisational level to help businesses increase agility, lower costs, improve the customer experience and create new products. Teams of data scientists generally aim to recognise vital data assets from huge volumes of raw data which can be converted to data pipelines, feeding sustainable and scalable solutions and tools. This ranges from wind turbine placement tools for wind farms to fraud detection for credit card companies. 

Data scientist job roles have seen an exponential rise in demand as enterprises explore new ways to leverage data. According to a forecast by IDC in 2021, global spending on business analytics and big data were valued at $215.7 billion. It will continue growing over the next few years, with a 12.8% CAGR (compound annual growth rate) through 2025. 2021 was a significant growth year for data scientist hirings overall and 2022 is going to be no different. 

Roles that require data science capabilities can draw salaries as high as $167,000 per annum. Glassdoor lists the average salary in this domain as $117,212 per annum. If this is what you want to choose as the next step for your career, start by earning the Microsoft Azure Data Scientist Associate certification. 

Understanding the DP-100 Azure Data Scientist (Associate) Certification:

DP-100 is the exam code for the Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Scientist Associate certification. This credential will test you on technologies like NLP (natural language processing), Machine Learning, Predictive Analytics, AI Solutions etc. As a data science associate aspirant, you must master skills like identity and governance management, virtual network configuration and management and implementation and management storage. 

Benefits of the DP-100 Azure Data Science Certification for Your Career:

As an IT professional, if you want to advance your Data Science career and get recognition for it, the DP-100 Azure Data Scientist Associate Certification is the most important step. With this certification, a professional in the IT industry working with applications and tools used for Data Science can sharpen their skills. They will also understand how to use these tools and applications in other related domains as well. 

The DP-100 credential also enables IT professionals to specialise in data science particularly using Microsoft Azure, deploying ML workloads to the platform. This includes the design and deployment of flawless and effective working environments for data experiment execution. It also encompasses the upgrading, training and management of machine learning (ML) models. 

The domains covered in this certification and their weightage in the certification exam are:

  • Azure Machine Learning resource management - 25% to 30%

  • Model training and running experiments - 20% to 25%

  • Machine Learning solution deployment and operations - 35% to 40%

  • Responsible ML (Machine Learning) implementation - 5% to 10%

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DP-100 Exam Format:

Knowing the format of any exam before giving it will prepare you better. You will know what type of questions to expect and how you should divide your time. 

Some of the frequent questions in the exam are about backfill as a concept, data drift, scheduling and setting up alerts. Additionally, you should also be prepared for questions on defining your targets for deployments and compute. 

The Azure DP-100 data science exam is made up of about 40 to 60 questions that you need to answer in 2 hours or 120 minutes. This includes MCQs (multiple-choice questions) with both multiple and single answer options, situation-based questions, sequence reordering questions and completing sections of code by filling blanks. As a candidate, you need to score at least 700 out of 1000 or 70% to clear the exam and get a new certification. 

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Steps to Crack the Microsoft Azure Data Scientist Associate Certification Exam:

1. Collect the data you need: 

Instead of visiting blogs with unreliable sources around the internet, gather all the relevant data for your exam from the Microsoft official website. You will find a detailed exam breakup outline explaining which questions will come from which domains. It also tells you the topics you must cover under each of the domains.

2. Learn from legit sources like Microsoft blogs and tutorials:

Microsoft provides more than 3000 learning lessons based on various types of applications around all the necessary skills in the DP-100 exam. Alternatively, you can get all these resources along with expert mentorship when you enrol in a DP 100 training course on Koenig. This gives you access to interactive labs and 1-on-1 personal training sessions to give you a more holistic understanding of the study material. 

3. Learn using case studies, real-world scenarios and use cases:

The DP-100 qualifying exam evaluates a candidate’s understanding of several workloads on Microsoft Azure. This means you must have a strong understanding of Azure not only theoretically, but also of its real-world applications. You should understand the description of every Azure product out there and its applications in the enterprise. With advanced mentorship and guided learning, this should not be a problem. That’s one more reason you should enrol in a training course on Koenig for this exam. 

4. Do as many practice tests as possible:

As mentioned before, understanding the format of the exam prepares you for what’s coming. Not only do you understand the questions, you understand the mindset you need in the exam environment. It also helps you identify which areas need more work so that you can put extra effort towards those domains. Enrolling in an online training course on Koenig gives you access to Microsoft-approved practice tests that you can take at your pace and evaluate your preparation level.

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5. Repeat:

The more you practice, the better you’ll get. Repeat steps 2 through 4 for a higher chance of clearing your exam in the first attempt. 

The Microsoft Certified Azure Data Scientist Associate certification is an intermediate-level standard certification. It requires dedicated time and effort to prepare for but is worth the effort. It will future proof your career, expand your earning opportunities and equip you with vital technical knowledge and skills. Take the first step and enrol in a training course today.

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Archer Charles

Archer Charles has top education industry knowledge with 4 years of experience. Being a passionate blogger also does blogging on the technology niche.