Validates foundational knowledge of ingesting, transforming, orchestrating, deploying, monitoring and governing data pipelines on the Databricks platform.
A good Data Engineer Associate course follows the May 2026 exam version and has you build pipelines with Spark SQL, PySpark, Lakeflow and Unity Catalog yourself. We compared the options on coverage, hands-on practice and price.
Most people should start with Derar Alhussein's Udemy course, which is updated for the May 2026 exam and covers the full outline in about 6 hours, and practise alongside it in Databricks Free Edition. Choose Databricks' instructor-led course only when your employer pays.
| Course | Best for | Format | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
 Databricks Certified Data Engineer Associate - Preparation | Full course for the exam | Video | $110 |
 Data Engineering with Databricks | Employer-funded study | Live online | $1,500 |
| Databricks Free Edition | Free hands-on practice | Interactive | Free |
A hands-on course on the platform, ingestion, ETL with Spark SQL and PySpark, Lakeflow Jobs and Unity Catalog, in about 6 hours. Derar Alhussein updated it as version 4 for the May 2026 exam.
Great fit if you want a structured course that follows the current exam
Poor fit if you want official Databricks training; choose Data Engineering with Databricks
Databricks' official instructor-led course, recommended in the May 2026 exam guide. It runs 16 hours as four modules, with lecture notebooks in a hands-on lab environment.
Great fit if your employer pays for training
Poor fit if you want low-cost self-study; choose Derar Alhussein's course
A free Databricks workspace for practising notebooks, ingestion, pipelines and jobs. It does not teach the material itself, so use it alongside a course to build each step you learn.
Great fit if you need hands-on practice without a company workspace
Poor fit if you want guided lessons; choose Derar Alhussein's course
Compare all Databricks Certified Data Engineer Associate practice tests →
For most people, Derar Alhussein's Udemy course. It is updated for the May 2026 exam and covers the whole outline in about 6 hours with hands-on labs.
Databricks Free Edition gives you a free workspace to practise in, and the exam guide has 5 sample questions. Add one course for structure and a practice exam set.
Alhussein's course runs about 6 hours and Databricks' instructor-led class runs 16 hours. Plan for about 50 hours of preparation in total, from 30 if you build pipelines already.
No, there is no prerequisite. The exam covers PySpark and SQL transformations, so build them in Free Edition as you study.