Azure Data Science Certification
What Is the Azure Data Scientist Associate Certification?
The Azure Data Scientist Associate certification, offered by Microsoft, documents your expertise in using data science and machine learning on the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform.
Earn the credential by passing the DP-100, demonstrating your ability to run experiments, train artificial intelligence models, and put solutions to work as real-world applications. The Azure data science certification exam evaluates your mastery of theoretical knowledge and your skills in building actual machine learning applications in the Azure cloud environment.
As you explore what you can do with your computer science degree, you’ll find that passing the DP-100 opens doors to roles like Azure-focused data scientist, machine learning engineer, or AI specialist, to name a few career paths.
Prerequisites for Certification
The Azure Data Scientist Associate certification is not for beginners. You’ll have to gain knowledge and experience in several domains before you’re ready to take the exam, covering fundamental concepts from Azure and data science basics to knowing how to code and use data science libraries for machine learning.
Azure Basics
You’ll need to know what Azure’s core services are, as well as the fundamentals of cloud computing concepts. Beyond these basics, you’ll need to know how to navigate and work with components in the Azure Machine Learning workspace.
Coding Proficiencies
You must be able to code in Python or R and use prebuilt libraries for cleansing, manipulating, and visualizing that are used to build and evaluate machine learning models. Commonly used machine learning–relevant libraries include NumPy, Pandas, Matplotlib, scikit-learn (sklearn), PyTorch, and TensorFlow.
Data Science Knowledge
You require a solid background collecting, organizing, interpreting, and performing various types of statistical analysis on data. You also need to invest in developing know-how in the area of machine learning, including data presentation, evaluating and scoring your learning model, and optimizing how a given model functions.
What Is Covered on the DP-100?
To help you know what to expect on the DP-100 exam, here are key Azure, data science, and machine learning concepts that the test will cover.
Azure Machine Learning Workspace
You will be asked questions about creating on Azure Machine Learning workspaces, managing projects on the platform, creating databases, data warehouses, and data lakes. You will select hardware resources and configure these compute targets to handle training the workloads of machine learning.
Training Models and Experimenting
You’ll need to create and train machine learning models using the ML Designer visual interface and then run and manage the models using the tools and libraries in Azure SDK. The test will measure your expertise in producing metrics, using data from training runs to evaluate models, and troubleshooting any glitches.
Optimizing and Managing ML Models
You will need to show you can use Azure Data Studio or Azure SKD to create models with the automated machine learning (AutoML) tool and then fine-tune its hyperparameters if you detect data drift and resulting performance declines.
Deploying and Consuming ML Models
This last test area is concerned with how your models perform in the real world. You’ll select compute targets upon which to deploy your model, set up the model as a service on the Azure platform, and then create and run batch inference models to make predictions based on your dataset.
Prep for the DP-100 with Excelsior
Earning your Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Excelsior University not only gives you a broad foundation for a career in tech also imparts the knowledge and skill set you’ll need for the DP-100. The Data Science concentration, in particular, gives you the edge you need to perform at a high level when earning your Azure data science certification.
Becoming a Microsoft Certified Azure Data Scientist Associate positions you for roles in one of the fastest growing disciplines in tech. And a computer science degree from Excelsior is your first step on that path.
