In this era of rapid technological advancement, data engineering skills are indispensable. This is particularly true as organizations strive to harness the power of AI. Data engineers play a pivotal role in designing and implementing the infrastructure and data processing that enable efficient data analysis. And these are foundational elements for any successful data and AI initiative.

Data engineering skills are essential for transforming data at scale and for training and deploying AI models. The Microsoft Fabric software as a service (SaaS) model frees up data engineers to focus on crucial tasks, such as data transformation, scalability, and optimization, without worrying about setting up infrastructure—it just works! And Azure Synapse Analytics offers data engineers more control over the infrastructure they need to transform data within a platform as a service (PaaS) framework. 

Announcing the new Fabric Data Engineer Associate Certification

Microsoft Certifications verify world-class technical proficiency for in-demand job roles and are a vital part of our flexible credential portfolio. In keeping with our continued investment, we’re pleased to announce the upcoming Microsoft Certified: Fabric Data Engineer Associate Certification and its related Exam DP-700: Implementing data engineering solutions using Microsoft Fabric (beta), both of which will be available in late October 2024.

Fabric data engineers have subject matter expertise in data loading patterns, data architectures, and orchestration processes. This Certification measures the following Fabric data engineer skills:

• Implementing and managing an analytics solution
• Ingesting and transforming data
• Monitoring and optimizing an analytics solution

These professionals work closely with analytics engineers, architects, analysts, and administrators to design and deploy data engineering solutions for analytics.

Hone your skills with Microsoft Credentials for analytics and data science

The new Fabric Data Engineer Associate Certification strengthens Microsoft’s credentials portfolio. It helps you to prove your skills for critical roles and key scenarios that involve using Fabric and Azure in areas like data engineering, data analytics, or data science. Depending on your current or desired role, the projects you’re working on, or those you want to work on, there are several suggested combinations of credentials for you to explore.

Certifications validate broad role-based competencies while Microsoft Applied Skills help you demonstrate your capabilities in specific scenarios or workloads. Applied Skills complement the broader skill set validated by Certifications. You can combine these two types of Microsoft Credentials to demonstrate a comprehensive skill set in data and AI.

Explore the many combinations of Microsoft Credentials to validate your skills in data engineering, data science, and data analytics.

Grow your data engineering skills. If you’ve already earned the Azure Data Engineer Associate Certification (Exam DP-203), consider earning the new Fabric Data Engineer Associate Certification to help future-proof your skills, since Fabric is the next-generation analytics platform. By doing so, you can expand your skills from data engineering with PaaS to SaaS models in the context of Microsoft data services.

To prove your skills for common data projects, like building data lakehouses, Real-Time Intelligence solutions, or data warehouses, consider the relevant Applied Skills, as itemized in the illustration. These credentials are logical complements for the Azure Data Engineer Associate, the new Fabric Data Engineer Associate, the Fabric Analytics Engineer Associate, or the Power BI Data Analyst Associate Certification, since they demonstrate your ability to perform additional skills by using Fabric.

Connect with complementary roles in data projects. End-to-end analytics focused on data engineering and data science supports machine learning model training and AI development. After data engineers ensure that the data is on the platform, they work closely with people in analytics and data science roles, and some skills can be transferable from one role to another. For example, as a data engineer, you can benefit from combining skills proven by the Fabric Analytics Engineer Associate or the Azure Data Scientist Associate Certification, or scenario-specific data science skills validated by Applied Skills. Data analysts can also combine skills to enrich data for analytics, proven by the Fabric Analytics Engineer Associate Certification.

Start now to help future-proof your data engineering skills

The new Exam DP-700 will be available in late October 2024, but you can start building your skills now as you prepare to take the exam and earn the Certification:

• See what to expect on the exam and explore potential topics it covers in our Exam DP-700 study guide.
• Work through the Prepare for the Fabric Data Engineer Certification Official Collection of curated content to help you get ready.
• Explore the capabilities of Fabric, with the Get started with Microsoft Fabric learning path.
• Join the Microsoft Learn Learning Room: Microsoft Fabric Café, and stay updated with the latest trends, features, and updates in Microsoft Fabric.
• Read the European Microsoft Fabric Community Conference (FabCon) 2024 announcements.

Build your technical skills for any role or project

No matter what your current or desired role, we have the resources and offerings you need to build and prove your technical skills. Check out the many options on Microsoft Learn.

And stay tuned for the Fabric Data Engineer Associate Certification and Exam DP-700: Implementing data engineering solutions using Microsoft Fabric (beta)—available in late October 2024—and get ready to prove your data engineering skills in Fabric.