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AWS · Data & Analytics · Associate

AWS Certified Data Engineer - Associate exam guide

Exam DEA-C01

The AWS Certified Data Engineer - Associate validates that you can build and operate data pipelines on AWS: ingesting and transforming data, managing data stores, operating pipelines and enforcing data security and governance. It is the AWS credential most aligned to data engineering roles feeding analytics and AI workloads.

Questions65
Time limit130 minutes
Passing score720 (100-1000 scale)
Exam fee$150 USD
Valid for3 years
DeliveryPearson VUE test center or online proctored

Format: Multiple choice and multiple response. Fee note: Plus applicable taxes/FX; 50% off with a voucher from a previously passed AWS exam.

Who it's for

Data engineers and data architects with 2-3 years of data engineering experience and 1-2 years of hands-on AWS work.

What the exam covers

Data Ingestion and Transformation34%
Data Store Management26%
Data Operations and Support22%
Data Security and Governance18%

Eligibility & prerequisites

Required: None

Recommended: About 2-3 years in data engineering or data architecture and at least 1-2 years of hands-on AWS experience.

Keeping it active

Valid 3 years. Recertify by passing the latest version of this exam before expiry,. After passing any AWS exam you receive a 50% discount voucher for your next exam.

Skills & careers

Skills it validates

  • Batch and streaming ingestion with Kinesis, MSK, DMS and AppFlow
  • ETL with AWS Glue (jobs, crawlers, Data Catalog) and EMR
  • Data lake design on S3 with partitioning and open table formats
  • Choosing and modeling Redshift, DynamoDB and RDS stores
  • Orchestration with Step Functions and Amazon MWAA
  • Querying with Athena and data quality checks
  • Governance with Lake Formation, IAM, KMS and Macie

Job roles

Data EngineerCloud Data EngineerETL DeveloperAnalytics EngineerBig Data EngineerData Platform Engineer

Where it fits in your path

Planning a degree too? See how this cert earns college credit in the College Credit Navigator.

Build my study plan

  1. Week 1: Exam guide review; S3 data lake fundamentals, file formats (Parquet, ORC), partitioning
  2. Week 2-3: Ingestion and transformation - Kinesis Data Streams/Firehose, MSK, DMS, Glue jobs, crawlers, Glue DataBrew, EMR basics
  3. Week 4: Data stores - Redshift (distribution/sort keys, Spectrum, Serverless), DynamoDB, RDS; Athena query tuning
  4. Week 5: Operations - Step Functions, MWAA, EventBridge scheduling, CloudWatch monitoring of pipelines
  5. Week 6: Security and governance - Lake Formation permissions, KMS, Macie, cross-account sharing
  6. Week 7-8: Build one end-to-end pipeline (ingest to Glue to Athena/Redshift) and take timed practice exams

Make it yours: pick your exam date and weekly hours. We'll split your time by domain weight and give you a printable plan.

Exam-day tips

  • Ingestion and Transformation is 34% - know Kinesis Data Streams vs Firehose vs MSK trade-offs cold
  • Know which Glue feature solves which problem: crawlers, job bookmarks, DynamicFrames, Data Quality
  • Redshift questions often hinge on distribution style, sort keys and when to use Spectrum or federated queries
  • Least operational overhead usually favors serverless options (Glue, Athena, Redshift Serverless, Firehose)
  • Lake Formation governs fine-grained data lake access; IAM alone is rarely the full answer for column/row level access

Key terms for this exam

All 46 terms Study with thinQcards™

Commonly confused on this exam

Frequently asked questions

How much does the AWS Data Engineer Associate cost?

$150 USD plus applicable taxes.

Is DEA-C01 hard?

It is moderate if you have built pipelines; candidates new to AWS data services find the breadth (Glue, Kinesis, Redshift, Lake Formation) the main challenge.

Do I need to code for the AWS Data Engineer exam?

You will not write code, but you need to read SQL and understand Spark/Glue job concepts and pipeline logic.

AWS Data Engineer vs Databricks Data Engineer Associate?

AWS DEA covers native AWS services end to end; Databricks focuses on the Lakehouse platform. Pick the one matching your employer's stack, or both if you use Databricks on AWS.

How long is the AWS Data Engineer certification valid?

Three years; renew by passing the current version of the exam.

Official page: aws.amazon.com. Reviewed November 2026. Vendors change fees and objectives, so confirm with the vendor before you book. Spot something out of date? Tell us.