Note that O'Reilly Media has test prep materials in development. The exam does include questions in Scala, Python, Java, and SQL -- and frankly a number of the questions are about comparing or identifying equivalent Spark techniques between two of those different languages. The questions do not go into much detail for any of the languages Scala, Python, Java -- emphasis is on using Spark, not language nuances. Also, there is no coding required: the questions typically to have several code blocks and you select among them to identify the best answer.
Overall the exam is targeted at an "intermediate Spark user, with background as an application developer in either Python, Scala, or Java, and some familiarity with Big Data and distributed systems." Those were the requirements. Five different practice areas assess the following: 1. Understanding breadth of Spark API usage across Scala, Java, Python 2. Applying best practices to avoid runtime issues and performance bottlenecks 3. Distinguishing Spark features and practices from MapReduce usage 4. Integrating SQL, Streaming, ML, Graph atop the Spark unified engine 5. Solving typical use cases with Spark in Scala, Java, Python Understanding how Spark operates in a production environment is a major emphasis of the exam. Understanding about typical kinds of serialization exceptions is also important. If you look through earlier talks about Spark best practices from Matei Zaharia, Patrick Wendell, Reynold Xin, et al., those are great for prep. BTW, the Kryterion platform allows a person taking the test to mark questions for revisiting later. So if a problem seems difficult or non-intuitive, just mark it and move on the to the next one. Then come back to the marked ones later. Some questions are easier, some are harder, but the order is always randomized. There's a 90 minute limit; however, most people who pass finish within 60 minutes. So if you use "mark for later review" you'll likely have time at the end to revisit the harder questions. On Tue, May 5, 2015 at 7:05 AM, Gourav Sengupta <gourav.sengu...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi, > > I think all the required materials for reference are mentioned here: > http://www.oreilly.com/data/sparkcert.html?cmp=ex-strata-na-lp-na_apache_spark_certification > > My question was regarding the proficiency level required for Java. There > are detailed examples and code mentioned for JAVA, Python and Scala in most > of the SCALA tutorials mentioned in the above link for reference. > > > Regards, > Gourav > > On Tue, May 5, 2015 at 3:03 PM, ayan guha <guha.a...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Very interested @Kartik/Zoltan. Please let me know how to connect on LI >> >> On Tue, May 5, 2015 at 11:47 PM, Zoltán Zvara <zoltan.zv...@gmail.com> >> wrote: >> >>> I might join in to this conversation with an ask. Would someone point me >>> to a decent exercise that would approximate the level of this exam (from >>> above)? Thanks! >>> >>> On Tue, May 5, 2015 at 3:37 PM Kartik Mehta <kartik.meht...@gmail.com> >>> wrote: >>> >>>> Production - not whole lot of companies have implemented Spark in >>>> production and so though it is good to have, not must. >>>> >>>> If you are on LinkedIn, a group of folks including myself are preparing >>>> for Spark certification, learning in group makes learning easy and fun. >>>> >>>> Kartik >>>> On May 5, 2015 7:31 AM, "ayan guha" <guha.a...@gmail.com> wrote: >>>> >>>>> And how important is to have production environment? >>>>> On 5 May 2015 20:51, "Stephen Boesch" <java...@gmail.com> wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> There are questions in all three languages. >>>>>> >>>>>> 2015-05-05 3:49 GMT-07:00 Kartik Mehta <kartik.meht...@gmail.com>: >>>>>> >>>>>>> I too have similar question. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> My understanding is since Spark written in scala, having done in >>>>>>> Scala will be ok for certification. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> If someone who has done certification can confirm. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Thanks, >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Kartik >>>>>>> On May 5, 2015 5:57 AM, "Gourav Sengupta" <gourav.sengu...@gmail.com> >>>>>>> wrote: >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Hi, >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> how important is JAVA for Spark certification? Will learning only >>>>>>>> Python and Scala not work? >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Regards, >>>>>>>> Gourav >>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>> >> >> >> -- >> Best Regards, >> Ayan Guha >> > >
