I occasionally have someone reach out to me about getting into IT (broadly defined), and this blog post may serve as a reference I can provide.
For about three weeks, I have been studying for the Microsoft DP-203 “Data Engineering Associate” exam. Far harder than the AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals exam I recently passed, the DP-203 exam goes much deeper into Azure specifics including the particular code and menu functions needed to perform tasks like creating a Spark Cluster in Azure Databricks, and distinguishing between Databricks and Azure Synapse Analytics, which seems awfully similar at this point.
Allow me to briefly discuss the challenge above the orange line and then the one below.
Above the Orange Bar – Challenge 1
I purchased Microsoft data engineer Benjamin Perkins’ DP-203 exam study guide, which features one year of access to Sybex practice exams (perhaps only for DP-203). It is rich with content and quite readable with large screenshots and diagrams. Understanding that the “Case Study” questions of the exam often challenge folks and being a hands-on learner (“busy body”), I jumped into an exercise from the book.
After establishing a free trial Microsoft Azure account, I quickly found myself unable to proceed forward through an exercise. The Microsoft Azure environment evolves often, as I imagine is true for any of the big players, and with only limited previous Azure experience I struggled to identify if the instructions could be followed if only I found where the instruction-indicated options and menus were now placed.
I did find a workaround after some time and reported as much on the appreciated Github page for Perkins’ book. That Github page also includes the code found in the book for easy copy+paste, but I have hit a blocker. The Secrets utility reference page is failing so I would otherwise have to express my password explicitly in the Spark Configuration. I heed Microsoft’s warning.
I have asked the author on LinkedIn where we can discuss such challenges.
Below the Orange Bar – Challenge 2
The base for my study has been the free material at learn.microsoft.com and the 10-course “Microsoft Azure Data Engineering Associate (DP-203) Professional Certificate” specialization on the educational website, Coursera.org. I have also had trouble with those courses’ labs.
I show in the picture below the orange line that after figuring out how to create and attach a Spark cluster to an Azure Databricks workspace, cells fail to execute because the referenced file was not found. Therefore, to answer questions for the required course exam positioned after the labs, I have opened browser window per lab-indicated notebook and will use the commands in the cells to learn what Python is needed.
Conclusion
I will persist in study while asking questions in the intellectual megamind available online. I am prepared to invest hours to gain understanding that would have been achieved far faster if course material could be engaged as it would have been at the time of its creation.
To do this kind of work requires enormous persistence. Some call it grit. Expect to work long hours at times, and especially in the early years.
If you are ready and willing to show evidence of such grit then I am happy to help as I can.
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