SnowPro Associate: Platform Certification

Digital Hive
Oct 30
3 min read

Recently I passed the Snowflake Platform certification exam. Here I want to quickly go over my Snowflake journey, what led me to take the exam and some tips regarding preparation for the exam.

DataBricks Certified Data Engineer Associate Exam — SnowPro Associate: Platform Certification

My journey

I first started using the Snowflake platform about three years ago when I began working as a data engineer for Digital Hive. As part of my learning path, I got to know the main platforms and tools used within the company and at major clients. Besides the default Snowflake hands-on essentials track¹ I had the opportunity to explore more novel features such as Cortex² via Digital Hive’s partner account. After using snowflake in production for 6 months, i decided to try and get the SnowPro core certificate. At the time this was the only certification snowflake provided.

Shortly after obtaining the certification, I was fortunate enough to start working on a project where Snowflake was the main tool. I became more familiar with the practicalities of data ingestion and transformation in Snowflake. After more than a year and a half of using Snowflake daily, several more certificates became available. I found that the Associate: Platform Certification was closest in content to what I have been using on a day-to-day basis with respect to Snowflake features.

About the certification

The SnowPro Associate: Platform Certification guide¹ states that a minimum of three months of Snowflake usage is recommended before attempting the exam. I agree with this, as it is roughly half of what is required for the SnowPro Core certification. Unlike the Core exam, the Associate: Platform Certification focuses more on modern Cortex functionalities and general platform operations rather than broad architectural theory.

Here are the main topic domains and their weightings:

Domain	Weighting
Interacting with Snowflake and the Architecture	35%
Identity and Data Access Management	15%
Data Loading and Virtual Warehouses	40%
Data Protection and Data Sharing	10%

The certification has no prerequisites, which might make it attractive for new starters as an introductory exam. However, in my opinion, the SnowPro Core Certification should be everyone’s first introduction to Snowflake exams, since it has a broad coverage of all the Snowflake features, both on a theoretical and implementational level. So: no Core = no Platform!

Some additional details from the official documentation that are worth knowing:

The Associate: Platform Certification was announced as of February 3, 2025.⁵
The exam cost for the Associate level is USD 100.²
The exam is unproctored, meaning you take it online in your own environment and have 24 hours after scheduling to launch it. ⁵
Once you have the credential, it remains valid for two years. ⁵
The exam includes multiple choice, multiple select, and interactive question types such as matching and drag and drop. ⁵

The preparation

For this certification Snowflake has made live training sessions available via the Snowflake Education platform⁴. However, I do not think this is a must if you already obtained the SnowPro Core Certification and have used Snowflake long enough to be comfortable with the following activities:

Create databases and stages, and use compute resources
Load and leverage structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data
Understand Snowflake roles, and data access management
Understand and manage the Snowflake Account structure
Set up and navigate the Snowflake user interface

Aditionally what is important is a good understanding of the Snowflake Cortex AI functionalities and being up to date with the latest developments regarding:

Cortex LLM functions
Snowflake Notebooks

Memorise the different LLM functions available their capabilities and limitations. The same applies to Notebooks.

I was surprised when I planned the exam and redeemed my voucher that I received a notification that I should complete the exam within the next 24 hours, or the voucher would become invalid. My guess is that since there is no proctoring, there is also less scheduling overhead. So, make sure you do all your preparation first and only redeem your voucher on the day you want to take the exam.

Final thoughts

I see this certification more as an approachable refresher of Snowflake’s Cortex and novel platform capabilities. It is something that complements a practitioner’s day-to-day use of Snowflake rather than a deep architectural or migration credential.

I would recommend this exam to anyone who has been using Snowflake for a few months and wants to formalise their knowledge. It is not about deep theoretical mastery but about confident, effective use of the platform. Prepare properly, cover the features, and walk in with practical experience. This combination will give you the best shot at success.