>> There's a new certification out for Azure Cosmos DB.
Learn all about it and how to prep for
the exam this week on Data Exposed.
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>> Hi, I'm Anna Hoffman,
and welcome to this episode of Data Exposed.
Today, we have Mustafa Branch from the Cosmos DB team.
Mustafa, thanks so much for joining us today.
Can you tell us a little bit about what you do?
>> Yeah, thanks for having me. Happy to be here.
My name is Mustafa Branch.
I'm the Portfolio PMM for Azure Cosmos DB.
As far as what that role requires
tends to be a lot of different things,
but mainly I'm focused on creating
content and messaging for the employer audience.
>> Cool. Awesome. I know you have
a couple of series I was just watching.
They're really awesome, so we'll be
sure to put that in the description.
But today we're going to be talking about some new stocks.
But for folks who might not have heard of Cosmos DB,
I thought it might be nice if you could start by telling us
a little bit about what is Cosmos DB.
>> Yeah, sure. Azure Cosmos DB is Azure as
fast horizontally scaling, NoSQL database software.
We have multiple database APIs that
support multiple NoSQL models such as document model,
the graph model,
and the key value model and column model.
There's no one for Schema,
which is something that's really important about our database.
That means your database can
evolve as your application needs evolve,
and that's not something that's typically
the same in a relational database.
To cover the full spectrum of pricing,
as well as the needs of different size apps large and small,
we also have a really great free tier offering
a really cost effective consumption
based serverless offering and
an auto scaling provision throughput offering.
>> Awesome, cool. Yeah, it seems like
a great place for building new apps,
especially when you need this scaling
or you're just getting started something free,
so awesome all around.
Now, as people get up to speed on using
Cosmos DB or other services in Azure or Microsoft,
for that matter, a lot of times there are certifications.
You can prove that you are good and
qualified to work with these types of products.
I think there's a new certification.
Can you tell us a little bit about it?
>> Yeah. We have a new certification
that's scheduled for June and March.
It's called the Azure Cosmos DB Developer Specialty Certification,
and there's also a certification for data engineers.
That certification basically covers
relational databases for the most part,
and we found that the NoSQL skillset was really in need that we
needed to address more directly
with more narrow scopes certification,
and so with this one,
we focus on Cosmos DB specifically.
It covers everything you need to know from like modeling,
partitioning all the way up to optimization and monitoring.
It's really there to lay the groundwork for some of
those foundational and key concepts
that partners and implementers
felt like they might have been missing,
especially when coming from a relational setting.
>> Gosh, that makes sense, and for myself personally,
I think exams are a great way to push myself to learn something.
This is a great way to do that with
Azure Cosmos DB along those lines,
are there certain resources that you
might recommend for people that
are going to try to take this exam and
become Azure Cosmos DB experts?
>> Yeah, so in creating the certification,
and I think the exams official title is DB 420.
Our engineering team put together
a whole swath of new learning modules.
If you go to the one of the links in the description,
there's actually a MS Learn collection
with all the new modules in it.
That's a really great place to start.
In addition to one of our awesome Cloud advocates,
Thomas Moore put together
a pretty great study guide that people can follow as well,
and so both those things are in the description.
They're great resources.
>> That's awesome. We promote Microsoft Learn
a lot on this show because it
has so many great resources and it
takes you step by step and a lot of times you get hands on.
It's awesome to hear you brought
all the things you need into Microsoft Learn,
as well as these tips and tricks.
What about if you're just getting started
with NoSQL like on this show and in general,
a lot of people talking about relational databases
or SQL type databases.
Starting this journey you want to
explore NoSQL, you want to learn about it.
How can people get started?
>> Yeah, so a great resource to get started is
actually a series we've been
working on called the Azure Cosmos DB Essential Series.
If you really have no experience
in NoSQL that's usually a great place to start.
Because it'll explain what it is,
what are the use cases.
It'll break down some of the topics like
request units and how we think about those and Cosmos DB,
and it'll explain the APIs,
and so that's a really great format.
If you consume things on video,
a lot better than you do maybe reading them.
Then we also have another resource,
a Podcast run by one of our PMS, Mark Brown.
In that Podcast,
he deep dives into some of the more technical topics.
He'll focus on specific topics like Synapse Link.
He'll have other PMS and guests on to deep dive
into maybe products that are built on Cosmos DB,
as well as some feature level explanations
from the PMS working on them.
That's a pretty great resource to
hear some of the learning content
direct from the people who built it.
>> Awesome. Yeah, I love it,
and Mark Brown's great I love the podcast,
so I'm glad we're promoting it here.
I also just check out your series,
the Azure Cosmos DB for beginners,
and it is awesome.
It is so well done.
I think it's going to be really useful for people,
so definitely encourage folks to check it out.
Hey, as we wrap the show up,
Mustafa do you have any final tips or tricks or advice for
people either getting started with
Cosmos DB or getting started to prepare for this exam.
>> Yeah, so I'd say for people who are just getting started.
One place they can start is the Product Page.
There's some links to try free,
as well as some other descriptions of NoSQL.
But I'd say the most important thing is to
just jump right in and get learning.
MS Learn is a great place for that.
You can maybe start with one module
like partitioning or getting started with Cosmos DB.
From there it's just a day-by-day process.
>> I love it. Yeah, always learning.
There's tons of great resources.
Thanks so much, Mustafa for coming on the show.
This is useful for myself.
I've got some things to go check out.
I think our viewers will as well.
To our viewers, be sure to check the links in the description
for everything you need to know to get
started with Azure Cosmos DB.
If you like this video go ahead give it a like,
comment, and let us know what you think of the certification.
We hope to see you next time on Data Exposed.
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