In this post I want to cover the differences between the self-study material for the DP-600 exam and the new DP-700 course material for the DP-700 exam. To raise awareness that the content is different.
For some time now Microsoft has provided a list of recommended Microsoft Learn learning paths for you to study before taking the DP-600 exam. In fact, Microsoft recently changed their recommendations to the ones you see below.
In addition, Microsoft recently announced details about a new DP-700T00-A Microsoft Fabric Data Engineer course.
As you can see, it states that the course will be available on 17th January 2025. However, when you scroll down the page the self-study content is already available.
When you compare the two lists of learning paths you can see that there are differences. However, somebody online suggested the two sets of recommendations were the same. Which is why I decided to do this comparison.
Differences between the self-study material
When you compare the two lists of recommended self-study material you can already see that they include different learning paths.
For instance, the self-study material for the new DP-700T00-A course includes a learning path for Real-Time Intelligence.
I must admit I can see why there may be some confusion. Since the below learning paths were originally recommended for the DP-600 exam before the DP-700 exam was introduced:
When you look deeper into all the different Learning paths you can see some overlapping. For example, the Learning Path to get started with Fabric covers a variety of workloads.
Treemaps to visualize the differences between the self-study material
To help visualize the differences I created two treemaps in Power BI. Based on the distribution of self-study material per workload for both the DP-600 exam and the DP-700 course. With an additional category added for the Microsoft Fabric platform itself.
As you can see, I kept the colour scheme for the workloads consistent in the treemaps for easier viewing.
Anyway, these treemaps are not a true representation of the amount of knowledge required for each workload for the exams for a variety of reasons. Including the fact that the learning path to get started with Microsoft Fabric contains multiple workloads.
Plus, there is some repetition of modules in the learning paths. For example, the module that covers how to ingest Data with Dataflows Gen2 in Microsoft Fabric appears in two separate learning paths for the DP-700 course.
With that being said, the treemaps do help highlight the differences between the two exams more.
Because the DP-600 focuses more on Power BI items, especially Semantic Models. Whereas the DP-700 exam clearly focuses more on Data Engineering, Data Warehouse and Real-Time Intelligence workloads. As part of the core Data Engineering knowledge required.
The Complete Guide to Certifications for a Microsoft Fabric Professional
Those of you who are keen to pursue Microsoft Fabric certifications are more then welcome to attend the workshop that Frank Geisler and myself will be presenting at the Microsoft Fabric Community Conference in Las Vegas.
We will be covering the complete guide to certifications for a Microsoft Fabric professional. Providing a holistic overview of what is required to pass Microsoft Fabric Certification exams.
As well as our public community contributions relating to this topic, Frank is literally writing the book on Real-Time Intelligence, and I created custom material for my current employer who already has over a thousand employees with Microsoft Fabric certifications.
So, if you want to attend a certification workshop hosted by experts this is the one for you. Feel free to reach out to either of us if you have any general questions about the workshop.
Final words about the differences between the self-study material for the DP-600 exam and the new DP-700 course material
I hope this post raises awareness about the differences between the self-study material for the DP-600 exam and the new DP-700 course material.
Because I think that the self-study material for the DP-700 exam has a lot to offer. Even more so with the new module that covers how to implement continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) in Microsoft Fabric.
Those looking to take either of the exams are more than welcome to view my checklists for both the DP-600 exam and the DP-700 beta exam.
Of course, if you have any comments or queries about this post feel free to reach out to me.
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