New study notes added and an exciting practice project in the works
Here is the first weekly update of my "Study for the dbt Analytics Engineering Certification with me" series.
Part of the “Mastering dbt” series. Access to the full Study Guide. Let’s connect on LinkedIn!
We started on this journey of preparing for the dbt Certified Developer exam a week ago, and I am so happy with the feedback I have received thus far.
My post on LinkedIn announcing the Study Guide hit 22k impressions and counting! I have received dozens of messages from fellow analysts sharing their frustrations with the lack of resources and the challenges of self-paced study.
This definitely motivates me to keep adding the study notes, improving the Study Guide as we go, and sharing my journey. Which is exactly what we are going to be doing in the Weekly Updates.
Table of contents:
New study notes added
This week, I added two new study notes:
This post reviews the concept of modularity, what it looks like in practice, and the pitfalls of modular techniques. I particularly appreciated the detailing of the layers of a project (source, base, staging, intermediary, dims & facts). When I built my first models, I was very confused as to how to structure the layers, so this is a very important post.
This post outlines key steps for different stages of a project. Some steps are a bit advanced, but I wanted to give a good visibility of what a full project looks like. Besides, there are some very important tips on how to structure your DAG. A good complement to the lessons learned from the post on Modularity above.
Next week, I am hoping to add the remaining study notes for Checkpoint 1.
Improvements to the Study Guide
There was an update on the link with sample datasets that you could use for your practice project. The previous link was incorrect.
For next week, I am preparing a lot of improvements on the practice steps, including setup instructions for this live dataset that Leo Godin created.
Challenges of self-paced study
I am a freelance data analyst, and this week I was handed two ad-hoc projects for a client, which made my schedule quite hectic. The freedom of having no set times to start/finish working is fantastic, but I am starting to realise I am going to need to set specific times to study so I don’t fall behind with the study notes.
Concentrating in the mornings is a bit of a struggle for me, so I have decided to make my working hours midday until six, with 3-4 hours of work/study on the weekends. I’ll report back next week!
I would love to hear how you’ve been studying for the dbt Certified Developer Exam: share your tips, struggles, and wins in the comments!