AWS Certified Data Engineer - AssociateDEA-C01Exam Guide
An Associate exam covering data ingestion and transformation, data stores, pipeline operations, data quality, security, and governance.
Associate · AvailableInformation verified 2026-08-24
English questions for this exam are not yet available. Practice links open the Japanese version.
Exam overview
- Exam code
- DEA-C01
- Level
- Associate
- Exam status
- Available
- Intended candidate
- Data engineers with the equivalent of 2–3 years in data engineering and 1–2 years of hands-on AWS experience.
- AWS-recommended knowledge and experience
- The equivalent of 2–3 years in data engineering and 1–2 years hands-on with AWS
- Question formats
- Multiple choice and multiple response
- Languages
- English, Japanese, Korean, and Simplified Chinese
- Testing options
- Pearson VUE testing center or online proctored exam
- Certification validity
- Three years from the date earned; see AWS recertification guidance for renewal options
Who this exam is for
- People building batch and streaming data pipelines on AWS
- People designing and operating data lakes, warehouses, and catalogs
- People responsible for data quality, monitoring, access control, and governance
These learning profiles are organized from the AWS intended-candidate and recommended-experience guidance.
Official exam domains
A concise rendering of the domains, weights, and task statements in the official exam guide.Data Ingestion and Transformation
34%Designs batch and streaming ingestion, transformation, and orchestration.
Key tasks
- Perform data ingestion
- Transform and process data
- Orchestrate data pipelines
- Apply programming concepts
Services and concepts to review
AWS GlueAmazon KinesisAmazon MSKAWS Step Functions
Data Store Management
26%Manages data stores, models, catalogs, and lifecycles for requirements.
Key tasks
- Choose a data store
- Understand data cataloging
- Manage data lifecycles
- Design data models and schemas
Services and concepts to review
Amazon S3Amazon RedshiftAmazon DynamoDBAWS Glue Data Catalog
Data Operations and Support
22%Covers process automation, analysis, monitoring, maintenance, and data quality.
Key tasks
- Automate data processing
- Analyze data with AWS services
- Maintain and monitor pipelines
- Ensure data quality
Services and concepts to review
Amazon CloudWatchAmazon AthenaAmazon EMRAWS Glue Data Quality
Data Security and Governance
18%Implements authentication, authorization, encryption, masking, auditing, and privacy controls.
Key tasks
- Apply authentication and authorization
- Implement encryption and masking
- Prepare audit logs
- Understand privacy and governance
Services and concepts to review
AWS IAMAWS KMSAWS Lake FormationAmazon MacieAWS CloudTrail
Suggested study path
- Map the data lifecycle from ingestion through storage, transformation, and consumption
- Compare batch versus streaming and lakes versus warehouses by requirements
- Integrate monitoring, quality, authorization, and encryption across the pipeline
- Practice all four domains, then use a mock exam for cross-domain decisions
Relevant AWS services and concepts
Ingestion and processing
Why review these: To choose between batch, streaming, and orchestration approaches.
AWS GlueAmazon KinesisAmazon MSKAmazon EMRAWS Step Functions
Storage and analytics
Why review these: To choose stores based on data shape, access, performance, and cost.
Amazon S3Amazon RedshiftAmazon DynamoDBAmazon Athena
Quality and governance
Why review these: To design quality, permissions, encryption, and sensitive-data discovery together.
AWS Glue Data QualityAWS Lake FormationAWS KMSAmazon Macie
How this exam differs from other AWS Certifications
SAA-C03
SAA-C03 covers AWS architecture broadly; DEA-C01 focuses on implementing and operating data pipelines and stores.
Open exam guideAIF-C01 / MLA-C01
DEA-C01 centers on data platforms and excludes model training/inference; AIF covers AI concepts and MLA covers ML implementation.
Learning with Path & Pass
Practice questions: 300 questions
- Practice by domain
- Quick practice
- Review and bookmarks
- Mock exams
- Progressive hints
- Immediate scoring and detailed explanations
- On-device learning history and progress
All questions are original practice content based on public exam objectives. They are not actual, recalled, or past AWS Certification exam questions.
Frequently asked questions
Its main scope is data pipelines, stores, operations, quality, and security. The official guide lists ML training and inference as out of scope for the target candidate.
No. There is no prerequisite certification, though AWS networking, storage, and security fundamentals are useful.
No. They are original practice questions based on public exam guides and primary sources, not actual or recalled AWS Certification exam questions.
Official sources
Last verified:
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