DP-750 prerequisites: what to know first
DP-750 has no formal prerequisite certification: Microsoft does not require you to pass another exam first. What it does assume is stated in the audience profile on the official study guide: you can ingest and transform data with SQL and Python, you have used software development lifecycle practices including Git, and you are familiar with Microsoft Entra, Azure Data Factory and Azure Monitor. If any of those is new, close the gap first.
What the audience profile asks for
| Assumed knowledge | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Subject matter expertise in integrating and modeling data | You can design tables and load patterns, not just run queries |
| Building and deploying optimised pipelines | You have scheduled and deployed work, not only developed notebooks |
| Troubleshooting and maintaining workloads | You have read a Spark UI and repaired a failed run |
| Data quality and governance in Unity Catalog | You have granted privileges and applied constraints |
| SQL and Python | You can write joins, aggregations, MERGE and DataFrame code |
| SDLC and Git | You have used branches, pull requests and conflict resolution |
| Microsoft Entra, Azure Data Factory, Azure Monitor | You know the role of each in an Azure data platform |
A self-check
You are ready to start the study plan if you can do most of these without looking anything up:
- Write a query with a join, a window function and a GROUP BY.
- Read a PySpark DataFrame chain and say what it returns.
- Explain the difference between a service principal and a managed identity.
- Create a branch, commit, open a pull request and resolve a conflict.
- Describe what a data lake and a Delta table are.
If two or more of these are shaky, spend a week on them first.
Cloud and Azure basics
You do not need a Microsoft administrator certification, but you should understand subscriptions and resource groups, Azure storage accounts, role-based access, and what Microsoft Entra ID provides. If those are unfamiliar, the foundations in AZ-900 are a useful warm-up, and AZ-104 goes further into identity and storage.
Databricks experience
The exam is written for people who use Azure Databricks. Create a workspace and spend at least a few weeks building real things: a medallion-style set of tables, an Auto Loader ingestion, a job with several tasks, a bundle deployed to two targets. A free trial or a small subscription is enough; shut compute down after each session.
If you already know Spark from another platform, you only need to learn what is specific to Azure Databricks: Unity Catalog, serverless and job compute, Lakeflow, and Azure integrations. The vendor’s own Data Engineer Associate exam is a good adjacent study path, though it is a separate certification.
Where DP-750 sits
The credential is an associate-level certification on Microsoft Learn, with the role Data Engineer and the product Azure Databricks. If your work is on Microsoft Fabric rather than Databricks, see DP-750 vs DP-700.
Next step
Read the exam format, then decide whether you need a preparation week or can start straight away.