PL — 300 / DA — 100 Certification Exam Guide

So, you plan to crack the — 300 (Previously called DA-100 exam Analyzing Data with Microsoft Power BI)

Here is a guide that can direct you to crack the exam. I will share my experience in parallel as well to let you determine where you may stand.

1. I am a hardcore BI guy and have worked predominantly (~4 years) with Teradata, Ab initio, Tableau. I am transitioning (probably forever) into the Big Data world. If you would like to know more, read this post.
2. Working in BI space for so long, anyone shall get acquainted with Data warehouses, databases, ETL tools, Reporting tools, and mainly Dimensional Modeling (Star and Snowflake schemas)
3. Before proceeding further, get the following terms ironed out in your brain

i. Dimensional Modeling (Star, Snowflake Schemas — pros and cons)
ii. SQL Basics
iii. Database terminologies
iv. Datawarehouse terminologies
v. Normalization, denormalization — pros and cons
vi. Basics of Excel
vii. Basics of database connectivity from a Client

4. Once you can confidently explain these terms to yourself, 50% of the preparation is already complete.

5. Power BI is a tool to manipulate and visualize data. Think of it like this Power BI = ETL Tool + Reporting Tool. So, what makes Power BI a leader in Gartner’s report? Well, it is Microsoft’s vision and the integration with the rest of the stack. You feel like you are working on PowerPoint with enhanced functionalities. More on that in your learning path

6. Go through the following learning path collection DA-100. Go through each module, take the knowledge assessments seriously.

Update : PL-300

7. Book your certification exam here

8. Comment how this guide helped after your exam :)

All the best folks!