Data Engineer Pro
Databricks Data Engineer Professional
Everything you need for the Databricks Certified Data Engineer Professional exam: format, the nine sections, a study plan and free sample questions.
- Questions
- 60 scored
- Duration
- 120 min
- Fee
- $200
- Validity
- 2 years
The Databricks Certified Data Engineer Professional exam assesses your ability to perform advanced data engineering tasks on the platform. Where the Associate asks whether you can build a pipeline, this asks whether you can write the code, tune it for cost and performance, secure it, and debug it when it fails at scale.
There are no prerequisites and the Associate is not required. Databricks recommends one year of hands-on experience with the data engineering tasks in the exam guide.
The outline changed on 9 October 2026. Exams taken from that date follow a new nine-section outline with 60 scored questions; the old ten-section version ran until 8 October. The exam format page lists what moved.
What the exam covers
| Section | Weight |
|---|---|
| Developing Code for Data Processing using Python and SQL | 23% |
| Cost & Performance Optimisation | 15% |
| Data Ingestion & Acquisition | 12% |
| Data Manipulation | 12% |
| Monitoring and Alerting | 10% |
| Debugging and Deploying | 10% |
| Ensuring Data Security and Compliance | 8% |
| Data Governance | 5% |
| Data Modelling | 5% |
Nine sections, still the most granular structure of any exam covered here. Only one exceeds 15%, and three are 8% or less.
Two things follow. First, writing code is the centre of the exam: at 23%, Developing Code for Data Processing using Python and SQL is nearly a quarter of it and has no counterpart on the Associate. Second, nothing else is large enough to carry you, so breadth is mandatory and blind spots are expensive.
Note what grew relative to the Associate: cost and performance optimisation is a 15% section of its own, where the Associate bundles tuning into a 10% troubleshooting section. Ingestion drops from 21% to 12%, and at this level it includes CDC from relational databases, OpenSharing (formerly Delta Sharing), Clean Rooms and Lakehouse Federation rather than basic file loading.
Format at a glance
60 scored questions in 120 minutes, multiple choice, online or at a test centre. The fee is $200 and the credential is valid for two years.
Databricks’ exam page still lists English, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazil) and Korean, and does not say whether the new version is available in each of those yet. Check the language list when you book.
Where to start
Read the exam format, then how it differs from the Associate if you hold that credential. The study plan groups the nine sections into manageable blocks.
Data Engineer Pro guides
- Databricks Data Engineer Professional formatThe Databricks Data Engineer Professional format from 9 October 2026: 60 scored questions, 120 minutes, $200 and all nine section weights.
- Databricks Data Engineer: Professional vs AssociateHow the Databricks Data Engineer Professional differs from the Associate: code, optimisation and nine sections instead of seven.
- Databricks Data Engineer Professional study planA six-week study plan for the Databricks Data Engineer Professional exam, grouping its nine sections into manageable blocks by weight.
- Free Databricks Data Engineer Professional questionsFive worked Databricks Data Engineer Professional sample questions across the nine sections, each with an explained answer.
- Databricks DE Professional: developing codeThe largest Data Engineer Professional section explained: PySpark and SQL, UDFs, Lakeflow pipelines and jobs, and stateful Structured Streaming.
- Databricks DE Professional: cost and performanceThe Data Engineer Professional optimisation section explained: Liquid Clustering, deletion vectors, Predictive Optimization, skew, small files and caching.
- Databricks DE Pro: ingestion, manipulation, modellingThree Data Engineer Professional sections explained: ingestion with CDC, sharing and federation, data manipulation with VARIANT, and data modelling.
- Databricks DE Professional: monitoring and deployingTwo Data Engineer Professional sections explained: monitoring and alerting on pipelines, plus debugging failures and deploying safely.
- Databricks DE Professional: security and governanceTwo Data Engineer Professional sections explained: security and compliance with ABAC, masking and data purging, and Unity Catalog governance.
- Is the Databricks DE Professional worth it?Is the Databricks Data Engineer Professional certification worth taking? Who benefits, what it costs, and when the Associate is enough.
- Databricks Data Engineer Professional test20 free Databricks Data Engineer Professional practice questions across all nine sections of the October 2026 outline, with explained answers.
- Data Engineer Professional resourcesPreparing for the Databricks Data Engineer Professional exam, and why production experience is the real prerequisite.
- Data Engineer Professional cheat sheetA one-page Databricks Data Engineer Professional reference: section weights, production patterns and the traps.
- Is Databricks DE Professional hard?Yes, it is hard: 60 scored questions across nine sections in 120 minutes, no published pass mark. Who copes with the Data Engineer Professional exam.
- Databricks Data Engineer Pro career pathsWhere the Databricks Data Engineer Professional can lead: the wording Databricks uses, senior pipeline roles, what a passing score cannot show, next exams.
- Databricks Data Engineer Pro renewal rulesDatabricks Data Engineer Professional expires after two years and renews only by sitting the exam again. Retake gap, fees, rescheduling and open questions.
- Data Engineer Professional study scenariosThree planning profiles for the Databricks Data Engineer Professional on its 9 October 2026 outline: Associate holder, pipeline owner, software engineer.
- Data Engineer Professional prerequisitesDatabricks Data Engineer Professional has no formal prerequisites, but assumes real hands-on pipeline experience. What to have in place before you start.