AWS · Associate
AWS Data Engineer Associate (DEA-C01)
Ingest, transform, store, and secure data pipelines on AWS using Glue, Kinesis, Redshift, and Lake Formation.
DEA-C01 exam at a glance
| Exam code | DEA-C01 |
|---|---|
| Vendor | AWS |
| Level | Associate |
| Domains | 4 |
| Published practice questions | 250 |
| Our mock exam | 65 questions in 130 minutes |
| Our practice pass target | 72% |
| Checked against the exam guide | September 22, 2026 |
| Official exam page | AWS — DEA-C01 |
The mock exam length, time limit and pass target are our practice settings, not official exam scores or a guarantee of passing. Check the official DEA-C01 exam page for the current format, price and scoring before you book.
DEA-C01 exam domains
Weights show our practice allocation, built from the official exam guide; official blueprints may give ranges. Each domain links to its free sample questions (with explanations) and study guide preview once they are published.
Data Ingestion and Transformation
34%Design and build data ingestion pipelines, apply transformations, and orchestrate data workflows on AWS.
- AWS Glue: crawlers, jobs, Data Catalog, Glue Studio, Glue DataBrew
- Amazon Kinesis Data Streams: shards, partition keys, retention, enhanced fan-out
- Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose: delivery streams, buffering, transformation with Lambda
- Amazon Kinesis Data Analytics: SQL and Apache Flink applications
- AWS DMS: migration tasks, CDC, source/target endpoints
- Amazon MSK: Kafka on AWS, topics, consumer groups, schema registry
- AWS Step Functions: orchestration, state machines, error handling
- Amazon EventBridge: event-driven pipelines, rules, pipes
- AWS Lambda: event-driven transformations, Powertools, error handling
- Apache Spark on EMR and Glue: partitioning, caching, broadcast joins
- Data formats: Parquet, ORC, Avro, JSON, CSV — conversion and compression
- Batch vs streaming ingestion trade-offs and when to use each
Free Data Ingestion and Transformation practice questions →Data Ingestion and Transformation study guide →
Data Store Management
26%Select, configure, and manage appropriate data stores for analytical and operational workloads.
- Amazon S3: storage classes, lifecycle policies, Intelligent-Tiering, versioning, event notifications
- Amazon Redshift: distribution styles, sort keys, compression, workload management (WLM)
- Redshift Spectrum: querying S3 from Redshift, external tables
- Amazon Athena: partitioning, partition projection, query optimization, Iceberg tables
- AWS Lake Formation: data lakes, permissions, tag-based access control, governed tables
- Amazon DynamoDB: table design, capacity modes, GSIs, DynamoDB Streams
- Amazon RDS and Aurora: use cases for OLTP in data pipelines
- Amazon OpenSearch Service: indexing, search, log analytics
- AWS Glue Data Catalog: databases, tables, schema evolution
- Data lakehouse patterns: Delta Lake, Apache Iceberg, Apache Hudi on AWS
- Choosing the right store: OLAP vs OLTP vs key-value vs search
Free Data Store Management practice questions →Data Store Management study guide →
Data Operations and Support
22%Monitor, troubleshoot, automate, and optimize data pipelines in production.
- Amazon CloudWatch: metrics, logs, alarms, dashboards for data pipelines
- AWS CloudTrail: auditing API calls in data workflows
- AWS Glue job monitoring: job runs, bookmarks, error handling
- Amazon Kinesis monitoring: iterator age, shard-level metrics
- AWS Step Functions execution history and error handling
- Cost optimization: Spot instances for EMR, Glue DPU tuning, Redshift reserved nodes
- Data quality: AWS Glue Data Quality, Great Expectations patterns
- Redshift: vacuuming, analyzing, WLM queues, query monitoring rules
- Athena query optimization: partition pruning, columnar formats, result reuse
- EMR: cluster sizing, auto-scaling, instance fleet vs instance group
- Pipeline automation with AWS Glue workflows and triggers
Free Data Operations and Support practice questions →Data Operations and Support study guide →
Data Security and Governance
18%Implement security controls, data governance, and compliance for data engineering workloads.
- AWS Lake Formation: fine-grained column and row-level security
- AWS Glue Data Catalog: resource policies, cross-account access
- Amazon S3: bucket policies, ACLs, Block Public Access, Object Lock
- AWS KMS: encryption at rest for S3, Redshift, DynamoDB, RDS
- TLS/SSL in transit for all AWS data services
- AWS IAM: roles, policies, least privilege for data engineers
- Amazon Macie: PII detection and classification in S3
- AWS Secrets Manager: managing credentials for data pipeline connections
- VPC endpoints for private connectivity to S3, Redshift, DynamoDB
- Data masking, tokenization, and anonymization patterns
- Compliance: GDPR, HIPAA, PCI-DSS considerations for data pipelines
- Redshift: column-level access control, dynamic data masking
Free Data Security and Governance practice questions →Data Security and Governance study guide →
DEA-C01 FAQ
How is the Data Engineer Associate (DEA-C01) practice assessment configured?
Our practice format targets 65 questions in 130 minutes. Availability depends on the published question bank and is shown on this course page. Official exam question counts and formats may differ.
What does the 72% practice target mean?
Check the provider's current exam guide for official scoring. A practice percentage is not an official scaled score. DataCertPrep uses 72% as an internal practice target, not a prediction or guarantee of passing.
How should I assess my progress in Data Engineer Associate (DEA-C01)?
Use practice accuracy to find weak topics. Repeating familiar questions can inflate your score. Check coverage of the current objectives, practise hands-on tasks, and assess yourself on unseen questions.
What is the best way to study Data Engineer Associate (DEA-C01)?
Read the available guides, work through practice explanations, use flashcards and complete practical exercises. Take a timed assessment when available. Check the provider's current exam guide before booking your exam.
Should I use DEA-C01 exam dumps?
No. "Dumps" are questions copied or recalled from the live exam. Certification exams are covered by a candidate agreement that prohibits sharing or using them, and breaking it can lead to a revoked certification or a ban from future exams. Dumps are also often wrong, and they go out of date when the exam blueprint changes. Memorising answers does not build the skills the exam tests. Study the official AWS exam guide and practise with original questions that explain each answer, such as the free sample questions linked on this page.
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