Data engineer certification: what 21,791 US job ads name

Which certification is best for a data engineer?

The best certification for a data engineer is the exam for the data platform or cloud provider that the companies you apply to run, at the level that matches your experience. No single exam covers every vendor's tools, because each vendor tests only its own.

In the table, associate is the level at which AWS, Microsoft and Databricks place their first data engineering exams. Professional is the level above it at Databricks, and Google's data engineering exam starts at the professional level. A prerequisite is an exam you must pass first. Proctored means a supervisor watches you take the exam, online or at a test center. A course certificate records that you finished online lessons and includes no supervised final test. Microsoft Fabric is Microsoft's analytics platform, and Spark is an engine that processes large data sets on a cluster of computers.

Data engineer certifications by situation. Source: Databricks pages read October 4, 2026; Snowflake, AWS, Microsoft Learn and Google Cloud pages read October 7, 2026; Coursera listing read October 3, 2026 (links under Sources).

Anyone who already queries data at work can start with the first exam of whichever platform or cloud their local ads name. None of the first vendor exams in this table sets a formal prerequisite; what differs is the recommended experience in the right-hand column. The Google and Professional rows are for later.

Which data engineer certifications do job ads name?

We asked Adzuna how many job ads in the US, the UK and India had the words data engineer in the job title in October 2026. Then we counted the ads containing each of two certification phrases anywhere in the text: databricks certified, matched approximately (the ad wording can differ slightly), and the exact phrase snowpro.

Source: Adzuna job-ad data, ads with data engineer in the job title, collected in October 2026. Analysis: CertWorthIt. How we count.

Each phrase covers a whole program. The Databricks phrase can match any Databricks Certified exam, including its machine learning and analyst exams, and snowpro matches SnowPro Core as well as the higher SnowPro exams. So a count can include ads that ask for a SnowPro or Databricks exam outside data engineering, and it misses ads that write snowflake certification without the word SnowPro.

The UK counts are small, so one ad more or less shifts them; read them with care. We do not count the AWS, Microsoft, Google or IBM credentials in data-engineer ads, so this page gives no job-ad figure for them.

What is the data engineer certification path?

The data engineer certification path has three steps: learn SQL and Python, pass one entry-level platform or cloud exam, then show a working pipeline. Professional and advanced exams come later, once you run pipelines in your job. People who already write SQL at work can start at step two. If your local ads name no certification, do step three before step two.

Step 1: entry-level data engineer certification for beginners

None of the data engineering exams we checked is written for a complete beginner. Four of the five vendors (Databricks, Snowflake, AWS, Google) recommend hands-on experience first, and Microsoft lists skills instead. The Databricks FAQ recommends at least six months of hands-on use, and Snowflake describes its Core candidate as having six or more months on the platform. AWS describes an ideal candidate with 2 to 3 years in data engineering, Google recommends three or more years, and DP-700 candidates should be able to manipulate data with SQL, PySpark and KQL. That makes a data engineer certification for beginners a course rather than an exam.

The IBM Data Engineering Professional Certificate on Coursera is one such course: beginner level, 16 courses, open to people from any background who have basic IT literacy. It ends in a course certificate, not a supervised exam. Coursera's listing showed no price; check it when you enroll. We have no job-ad figure for it.

Step 2: one platform or cloud exam

Pick the exam that matches the set of tools in your local ads. The Databricks Certified Data Engineer Associate has 45 scored questions in 90 minutes and comes in English, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese and Korean. SnowPro Core (exam code COF-C03) has 100 questions in 115 minutes, and you pass with 750 on Snowflake's scaled score of 0 to 1,000 (a raw result converted to a fixed scale). Both are proctored, meaning watched by a supervisor, online or at a test center.

If your target employers run a cloud provider's own data tools instead, the AWS, Microsoft and Google exams are in the cloud section.

Step 3: a pipeline project employers can open

Build one pipeline from start to finish: it pulls a public data set on a schedule, cleans it with SQL or Python and loads the result into a table that a simple chart reads from. Add a README file (a text page stored with the code) that walks through each step and its running cost. Publish the code in a public repository, an online folder for code that an interviewer can open. When you build in a cloud account, set a spending alert first and stop the services after each session.

Later: the professional level

Databricks Certified Data Engineer Professional costs $200 for 59 questions in 120 minutes. SnowPro Advanced: Data Engineer (exam DEA-C02) requires SnowPro Core first and recommends two or more years as a data engineer in production, meaning running pipelines for a real company. It costs $375, or $300 in India, for 65 questions in 115 minutes. Google's Professional Data Engineer sits at the same stage of the path, with its three-year recommendation.

What do data engineer certifications cost, renewals included?

The first data engineering exam at each vendor costs $150 to $200 at US list price (the price on the vendor's page before tax or local pricing). SnowPro Advanced: Data Engineer costs $375. Each exam in the table expires or needs renewing. The table adds the first renewal to each first attempt; renewal falls due at the end of the period in the "Valid for" column. Training and retakes are extra.

Exam fees and renewal costs at US list prices. Totals assume you renew by exam (the same exam, or the renewal exam where one exists) at today's price; Snowflake's course option and any version change are not priced here. Source: vendor pages listed under Sources.

The last column covers different spans: one renewal ends year 2 at Databricks, Snowflake and Google, year 3 at AWS and year 1 at Microsoft. Microsoft's renewal repeats every year at no cost, so DP-700 over three years is still $165 ($165 + $0 + $0 + $0).

At Snowflake, the renewal can double as a step up. If you pass SnowPro Core and then SnowPro Advanced: Data Engineer before Core expires, the fees come to $550 ($175 plus $375). Snowflake's policy page says a higher SnowPro certification renews a lower one; check that page for which exams count. At Databricks, the exam fees for the Associate and then the Professional come to $400 ($200 plus $200), separate from the renewal total in the table.

Snowflake and AWS charge the full fee again for a retake; the other vendors' pages we read do not say. The waits before a retake differ: 14 days at Databricks and AWS, seven days at Snowflake, 24 hours after a first attempt at Microsoft. AWS sets its Associate passing score at 720 on a scaled score, and Databricks does not publish its passing scores.

Show the numbers

Databricks certification vs SnowPro Core: what each certification costs. Source: databricks.com, learn.snowflake.com, checked October 4, 2026.

Item	Fee
Databricks certification: Fees to get certified: Exam	$200
Databricks certification: Fees to get certified: One retake (optional)	$200
SnowPro Core: Fees to get certified: Exam	$175
SnowPro Core: Fees to get certified: One retake (optional)	$175

AWS, Azure or Google Cloud: which cloud exam fits a data engineer?

The cloud exam that fits is the one for the cloud your target employer uses. A platform exam, such as a Databricks or SnowPro exam, tests one company's product, while a cloud exam tests one provider's own tools.

AWS: the Data Engineer Associate

The AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate costs $150 and runs 130 minutes, with 65 multiple-choice or multiple-response questions (questions with more than one right answer), at a test center run by Pearson VUE (an exam-delivery company) or online. It comes in English, Japanese, Korean and Simplified Chinese and stays valid for three years. AWS describes the ideal candidate as having 2 to 3 years in data engineering or data architecture and at least 1 to 2 years of hands-on AWS work. Its exam page showed no retirement notice or newer version. Our AWS certification overview lists the other AWS levels.

Microsoft: DP-700 replaced DP-203

Older lists recommend DP-203, the Azure Data Engineer Associate. Microsoft retired that exam on March 31, 2025, along with its renewal assessment. Microsoft's current data engineering credential is the Fabric Data Engineer Associate, exam DP-700: $165 in the US (priced by the country where you take it), 100 minutes, offered in ten languages. Microsoft announced an update to the English version for October 19, 2026, so check the skills outline (the list of topics the exam tests) before you study. Our Azure overview covers the rest of Microsoft's cloud exams.

Google Cloud: the Professional Data Engineer

The Professional Data Engineer costs $200 plus tax for a two-hour exam of 40 to 50 questions, in English or Japanese, and is valid for two years. Google lists no prerequisite but recommends three or more years of industry experience, including at least one year designing and managing solutions on Google Cloud. Google's page says the exam will soon be updated to reflect branding changes.

Do data engineers need certifications?

Whether you need a certification to be a data engineer is up to employers, not the exam vendors. The one formal prerequisite we found is SnowPro Core before SnowPro Advanced. In October 2026, the phrase snowpro appeared in 60 of the 21,791 ads of US data-engineer ads on Adzuna and databricks certified in 173 of the 21,791 ads. An ad without either phrase can still ask for Databricks or Snowflake skills; the job-ad section explains what we count.

Is a data engineer certification worth it?

Paying for an exam is worth it when it closes a gap you can name. For example, you query data well but have not yet used the platform your target employers run, or an employer you want to work for writes the exam into its ads. It is worth less as a first purchase for someone who cannot yet write SQL, because four of the five vendors recommend hands-on experience before the exam (see Step 1 above).

What do Reddit posters ask about the best certifications for data engineers?

Posters ask which exam to take next, whether a certificate helps a job search and how to prepare. We grouped the questions in the Reddit posts we collected on r/dataengineering, r/AzureCertification and r/cscareerquestionsEU (Reddit is a discussion site; each "r/" is a forum). Posters are a self-selected group, so this list shows what people ask, not how many share a view.

• Whether to take the Databricks Data Engineer Associate or Microsoft's Azure Databricks exam, a Microsoft exam on Databricks run in Microsoft's Azure cloud (r/dataengineering, August 2026, r/AzureCertification, August 2026). Our Databricks certification page covers the Databricks exam.
• What a data engineer who holds the Databricks Associate (its first-level exam) should take next, the Azure Databricks exam or the AWS data engineering exam (r/dataengineering, August 2026, r/AzureCertification, June 2026). Our answer: see the cloud section.
• Whether the Databricks Data Engineer Associate is worth it for a data analyst with more than five years of experience (r/dataengineering, October 2026). Our answer: it depends on whether ads for the data-engineer jobs that poster wants name Databricks.
• Whether a developer in a job with little coding should start applying now or first finish data engineering certifications (r/cscareerquestionsEU, August 2026).
• How to prepare for the Databricks exams (r/AzureCertification, July 2026) and whether an Azure Databricks exam can be passed in four days with no Databricks experience (r/AzureCertification, August 2026). Our answer on preparation: the Databricks Associate page lists no prerequisite but highly recommends related training.

We did not check Microsoft's Azure Databricks exam, or whether applying now or certifying first leads to a job sooner.

Related roles and where to go next

A data analyst works with the tables that data engineers fill, and that page shows which tools data-analyst ads name. A cloud engineer runs the cloud systems that pipelines sit on, and an AI engineer builds software on top of the data. Our pages for data scientists and for becoming a data engineer without a degree cover the neighboring questions. The data and analytics field overview lists every data credential we track, and our SnowPro Core page covers Snowflake's exams in detail.

Sources

• Adzuna job-ad counts, ads with data engineer in the job title in the US, the UK and India, October 2026; analysis: CertWorthIt. How we count.
• Databricks, certification overview, certification FAQ, Data Engineer Associate, Data Engineer Associate renewal exam and Data Engineer Professional, read October 4, 2026.
• Snowflake, SnowPro Core, SnowPro Advanced: Data Engineer and SnowPro program policies, read October 7, 2026.
• AWS, Certified Data Engineer – Associate, read October 7, 2026, and after-testing policies, read October 3, 2026.
• Microsoft Learn, Fabric Data Engineer Associate and DP-203, read October 7, 2026; certification renewal, read October 3, 2026.
• Google Cloud, Professional Data Engineer, read October 7, 2026.
• Coursera, IBM Data Engineering Professional Certificate, read October 3, 2026.
• US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Database Administrators and Architects, May 2025 pay and 2025–2035 projection, read October 7, 2026.
• Reddit threads linked in the text, from the posts we collected.

Edited by Jere Salmisto · Data checked October 7, 2026