The Professional exam has 59 questions across 10 domains and 120 minutes to answer them. If you're coming from the Associate, the biggest surprise is that ingestion drops from the largest domain to the smallest, while Python and SQL coding jumps to 22% of the exam.
Last updated July 2026.
| Professional | Associate | |
|---|---|---|
| Questions | 59 multiple-choice | 45 multiple-choice |
| Time limit | 120 minutes | 90 minutes |
| Cost | $200 USD | $200 USD |
| Validity | 2 years | 2 years |
| Domains | 10 | 7 |
| Delivery | Online or test center | Online or test center |
| Prerequisites | None (Associate knowledge assumed) | None |
Source: Databricks Certified Data Engineer Professional and Associate official exam pages.
The Professional exam guide lists ten competency areas, each with an explicit weighting. Sorted by weight, heaviest first:
| Domain | Weight |
|---|---|
| Developing Code for Data Processing (Python and SQL) | 22% |
| Cost and Performance Optimisation | 13% |
| Data Transformation, Cleansing, and Quality | 10% |
| Monitoring and Alerting | 10% |
| Ensuring Data Security and Compliance | 10% |
| Debugging and Deploying | 10% |
| Data Ingestion and Acquisition | 7% |
| Data Governance | 7% |
| Data Modelling | 6% |
| Data Sharing and Federation | 5% |
Source: databricks.com/learn/certification/data-engineer-professional
The domain names change and so does the balance. Three shifts are worth understanding before you plan your study time.
On the Associate, Data Ingestion and Loading accounts for 21% of the exam. On the Professional, Data Ingestion and Acquisition is only 7%. The Professional presumes you can already load data reliably, whether using Auto Loader, Lakeflow Connect, or structured streaming. That knowledge is assumed; it is not re-tested at depth.
The largest Professional domain (22%) is Developing Code for Data Processing using Python and SQL. The Associate also tests code, but often through recognition: pick the best snippet. The Professional expects you to reason through edge cases, debug production code, and explain why a particular approach behaves the way it does under load or partial failure.
The Associate bundles both into a single 15% domain. The Professional separates them: Ensuring Data Security and Compliance (10%) and Data Governance (7%), totaling 17% of the exam. Questions go deeper into Unity Catalog's permission model, attribute-based access control, column masking, row-level filtering, and audit logging. A new domain, Data Sharing and Federation (5%), also appears here that has no direct equivalent on the Associate exam.
The top four domains by weight account for roughly 55% of the scored questions. If your preparation time is limited, these are the right place to start.
Yes. The Professional has 59 scored questions in 120 minutes; the Associate has 45 questions in 90 minutes. Both exams cost $200, are valid for two years, and use only multiple-choice questions.
No formal prerequisite exists. Databricks does assume Associate-level knowledge as background on the Professional exam, so most candidates work through Associate-level material first.
Developing Code for Data Processing using Python and SQL at 22%. Cost and Performance Optimisation is second at 13%. The two security-related domains together add another 17%.
Yes, but lightly. Data Ingestion and Acquisition is only 7% of the Professional, down from 21% on the Associate. The Professional assumes ingestion is solid and shifts weight to coding depth, optimization, and security.
Work through the Associate's seven domains across 35 short chapters, then test yourself with full practice exams. The Professional topics build directly on that foundation.
Start Chapter 1 →