Microsoft DP-100 Certification: An Overview

The DP-100 Azure Data Scientist Associate Certification exam measures your ability to accomplish the following technical tasks:  

• Manage Azure resources for machine learning  
• Run experiments and train models  
• Deploy and operationalize machine learning solutions 
• Implement responsible machine learning. 

Why Take up the DP-100 Azure Data Scientist

Certification: Motivational Factors

This certificate is named “Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Scientist Associate” and is one of the top 15 Data Science certifications. This certification tests the candidates on Machine Learning, AI Solutions, Predictive Analytics, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Computer Vision. Some of the skills that you need to master are managing identities & governance, configuring & managing virtual networks, deploying & managing resources, and implementing & managing storage to pass this certification.

How Helpful is the DP-100 Certification to Build a Career as a Data Scientist?

Those IT professionals, intending to develop their career in Data Science and require recognition, may find that the Microsoft Certified – Azure Data Scientist Associate Exam DP-100 is the best course to begin with. This certification helps to hone skills of an IT professional who can work with the tools and applications which are used in Data Science and relevant fields under the Azure platform. 

This certification also allows the IT professionals to function mainly as Azure Data Scientists one deploys machine learning workloads to the Azure platform. It includes designing and deploying an effective and flawless working environment to execute data experiments; train, manage and upgrade machine learning models.

All That You Must Know About Taking the DP-100 Exam

How difficult is DP-100? 

In the DP-100 Exam, the candidate will assume the role of an Azure Data Scientist who uses knowledge of data science and machine learning to implement and run ML workloads on Azure using the Azure Machine Learning Service. This involves planning and creating a suitable working environment for data science workloads, running data experiments, training predictive models, managing, and optimizing models, and deploying machine learning models into production. A lot of this makes the Exam DP-100 a little difficult. 

Various enterprises are always looking for candidates who have effective communication skills and the ability to work in a team. In other words, a Data Scientist Associate would serve as a part of a multi-disciplinary team that will incorporate all the ethical, privacy, and governance considerations into any solution. So, make sure you are well equipped with these skills, before proceeding further. 

The DP-100 is at an intermediate difficulty level. With relentless preparation, anyone can clear the exam on their 1st attempt. A word of caution is do not rely on free dumps or practice tests that are available online as they contain lots of mistakes and will misguide you during preparation.

1. Getting Prepared for the Exam 

• Due to Covid-19, there is only one option available right now: take the exam from home. You will need a working computer, stable internet, and a quiet place. For example – My friend decided to take up the examination from his bathroom, I selected the living room and send my kids to watch a movie with my parents on the second floor of my home. 
• For this exam, you will need to practice with real-world Python and Azure Machine Learning use-cases, provide yourself sufficient time for coding, and be especially good with Python.
• Undergo DP-100 Certification Training from an Authorized Training Partner like CloudThat.
• Review the content for the Dp-100 exam on the official Microsoft exam page.
• To get have a hands-on experience with every technology involved in the exam, you can utilize your Azure subscription to build your own demos.
• Book your exam. On the examination day, be relaxed, it’s just a certification exam, not a battle of life. Do breath in-breath-out. Cherish yourself which keeps you comfortable. 
• Have fun and get your new badge!

2. How I cracked the DP-100 exam: Firsthand Experience 

First, I began with basic knowledge of python, having worked on it for at least 3-6 months made it easy to prepare for the exam. Second, I ensured that I had a fundamental knowledge of machine learning. This will help in understanding the codes, and you will be able to answer ML questions during the exam. 

To pass the exam, you should be well aware of defining code development environments, preparing data for modeling, performing feature engineering, and developing data models. To be a master with all these skills is not exactly a brisk walk, but by opting for the right preparation strategy, it is very possible. 

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time! Chunk down the materials and pace yourself. That is what I did, and I passed the exam in one and a half months. Here are some key steps and resources… 

MS Learn 

Go through the exam skills outline document, at Microsoft’s official portal which is updated regularly. You can also access online material to support the four learning paths at no cost on the website. 

You will learn Python implementations of regression, classification, and clustering algorithms. You will also work with PyTorch and TensorFlow notebooks to get familiar with the Azure Machine Learning Studio and Workspace. 

Official Practice Test 

If you’re willing to learn everything in your DP-100 exam prep, you wish to check in for an official practice test so on gain familiarity with DP-100 exam questions and formats. While reviewing the answer explanations, follow the reference links to see the code snippets and learn the classes and functions you will need to know for the exam. 

Here is the fine print: Most official practice test sites are not keeping up with the exam’s latest content. Microsoft updates the outlines of the courses by adding new topics regularly. As such, you must pay close attention to changes within the “exam skills outline” document. 

Sample Templates 

As usual, we say practice makes a man perfect. And when you progress through the official practice tests, you have to implement and execute the learnings from the sample Azure ML notebooks. The MS Learn tutorial will guide you to set up a free Azure account and workspace. 

You can access the notebooks by creating a compute instance resource in Azure ML studio. 

 After this, go to the Azure ML sample notebooks tab, where you will find the Jupyter Notebook. 

 The text cells in the notebooks will be handy in getting a good grasp of ML workflows, like setting up a workspace, loading datasets, creating pipelines, publishing, and deploying models. 

Exam Format 

Finally, familiarize yourself with the exam format. The DP-100 exam topics cover four modules: 

• Setting up an Azure ML workspace
• Run experiments and train models
• Optimize and manage models
• Deploy and consume models

Some sample questions that you might come across during the DP-100 exam include data drift, the concept of backfill, setting up an alert, and scheduling. In addition, you should know how to define your compute and deployments targets. 

You will be having 120 minutes (about 2 hours) for answering 40 to 60 DP-100 questions. The types of questions include multiple-choice questions (single and multiple answers), sequence reordering, scenario-based questions, and fill-in-the-blanks to complete the code. 

The passing marks for the DP-100 exam is 700/1000 

FAQ’s 

1. Does DP 100 have labs? 

The labs and course materials are designed to enable you to practice using the technologies described. You can view the instructions for the lab exercises at https://aka.ms/mslearn-dp100 and the equivalent self-paced modules on Microsoft Learn. 

https://github.com/MicrosoftLearning/mslearn-dp100 

2. Does DP 100 have negative marking? 

This examination has no negative marking. Thus you can attempt all the questions without any sort of problem. So, you can try guessing the correct answer. If your guesswork is right, you will end up scoring higher marks. If not, then there is no harm, as there is no penalty for wrong answers.

DP-100 Salary & Career Path

Microsoft has designed the Microsoft Azure Data Scientist-Associate Exam DP-100. The demand for data Scientists is soaring. So, the basic salary for a Data Scientist Associate Engineer is Rs. 9, 00,000 at an entry-level. At an experience level, salaries can range to Rs. 15,00,000.

How CloudThat’s Training Can Help You Get DP-100 Certified?

The Microsoft DP-100 BootCamp course from CloudThat is designed to train candidates to take up the Microsoft DP-100 certification exam. Appearing for this course and passing the Microsoft DP-100 exam will meet all the requirements necessary to become a Microsoft Certified Azure Data Scientist Associate. 

After completing this course, you will be able to: 

• Understand and build AI solutions on Azure 
• Learn about various Azure Machine Learning services usage & integration 

• Understand the profound impacts Machine Learning is making in smart business decisions 

https://www.cloudthat.com/training/azure/design-implement-data-science-solution-on-azure-dp-100/ 

WRITTEN BY Gurjot Brar

Gurjot Brar serves as the Vertical Head of Cloud Security at CloudThat, a prominent company specializing in cloud training and consulting services. Additionally, she holds the esteemed title of Microsoft Certified Trainer and boasts a remarkable nine Azure certifications. She is a proficient corporate trainer who frequently contributes insights on cloud computing, cybersecurity, AI/ML, Big Data, and technology trends through her blog posts.