Got it — I’ll arrange these topics into a logical learning order so you build knowledge step-by-step, starting from fundamentals and moving toward advanced Databricks optimization topics.
Databricks Data Engineer Professional – Recommended Study Order
1. Core Foundations
- Cloud Infrastructure & Security (15%)
- Understand AWS/Azure/GCP basics for Databricks, networking, IAM, and cluster security.
- Governance (Unity Catalog, ACLs) (10%)
- Learn data governance, permissions, and Unity Catalog features.
- Cluster Basics
- Types of Clusters & Optimizations
- Cluster Policy
- Cluster Config – Best Practices
- What are Disk-operated Clusters / Memory Management
- Memory Issues
2. Spark & Databricks Fundamentals
- Spark Core & Tuning (25%)
- Spark architecture, RDDs, DataFrames, lazy execution, caching, and performance tuning.
- Photon Engine
- Learn Databricks’ optimized query engine and when it’s beneficial.
3. Data Storage & Processing
- Delta Lake & Delta Live Tables (20%)
- ACID transactions, schema evolution, time travel, Z-ordering, Liquid Clustering.
- Hash Functions
- Understand usage in partitioning, joins, and deduplication.
4. Data Pipelines & Streaming
- Lakeflow Declarative Pipelines
- Declarative ETL orchestration, Auto Loader, dependency handling.
- Streaming (Structured Streaming, Kafka) (15%)
- Batch vs streaming, triggers, watermarks, Kafka integration, processing guarantees.
- Kafka
- Specific producer-consumer concepts and integration with Spark.
5. Data Modeling & Optimization
- Modelling
- Star/Snowflake schema, medallion architecture.
- Cost & Performance Optimization (10%)
- Query tuning, caching, partitioning, data skipping, autoscaling.
6. Machine Learning & AI
- Machine Learning / MLflow (5%)
- Experiment tracking, feature store, model registry.
- ML
- Model training, deployment, and ML runtime environment.
- Generative AI & Advanced Tuning (Optional but useful)
- Databricks AI functions, LLM integration, fine-tuning models.
Final Step – Advanced Topics & Review
- Databricks Advanced Tuning
- Z-order (covered under Delta Lake)
- Liquid Clustering (covered under Delta Lake)
- End-to-End Exam Practice
- Use official Databricks sample questions & hands-on labs.
