Databricks Partner Enablement Guide.pdf

Enablement Guide

1. Training Guide
for Partners
Version 1.0 | Published December 2020

2. Overview
Partners are core to Databricks’ go-to-market
and customer success strategies and a vital
extension of our organization. Databricks
customers turn to our Consulting and SI
partners for experience and expertise in
modern data solutions, including Databricks.
The goal of this guide is to help you make the
most of your partnership with Databricks to
drive value for our joint customers. From
access to self-paced training, to instructor led
training to a larger enablement plan, this guide
will provide you with everything you need to get
started.
Partner Enablement Program
■Context
■Partner Enablement Journey
■Databricks Developer Essentials
■Databricks Developer Foundations
■Solution Architect Essentials
■Machine Learning Data Scientists
■Data Engineering with Databricks
■AdvancedData Engineeringwith
Databricks
■ISA -Demand Forecasting
■ISA -Risk Management
■SQL Analytics
■Badges
■Your Enablement Plan
Appendix
(not provided by Partner Enablement Team)
■Certifications
■Champions Program
■Sales Enablement

3. Context
Databricks invests in our partner ecosystem in many ways.
Training at Scale is one of those ways.

4. Solutions
Architect
Essentials
Instructor
Led Training
Solutions Architect Essentials Badge Learning Pathway
Partner Solutions Architect Essentials
This is a 3 half-day instructor led training designed to enable
partners to architect solutions that incorporate the Databricks
Unified Data Analytics Platform and effectively position them.
Topics included:
●Platform Architecture
●Security
●Deployment on both Azure and AWS
●Delta Lake
●MLflow
Solutions Architect Essentials Capstone
After attending Solutions Architect Essentials, Participants
should be able to present and discuss Databricks
differentiators and effectively articulate platform value to
address customers’ business needs. Successful completion of
this project will result in a working knowledge of Databricks
Delta Lake & MLflow and a Solutions Architect Essentials
Badge.
After earning the Developer Essentials Badge,
Databricks Partner Solution Architects are
encouraged to earn their Solution Architect
Essentials badge. To earn the Solution Architect
Essentials badge as a Databricks Partner, solutions
architects must attend Partners Solutions Architect
Essentialsand successfully complete and pass the
Solutions Architect Essentials Capstone.
Prerequisite:
●Developer Essentials Badge
Link for more information on this course
Flight School for Partners Calendar

5. Course Offerings for Machine Learning Data Scientists
Generating Reliable Inventory Forecasts with
Databricks
In this half-day course prepared specifically for Databricks
partners, attendees will learn how to perform fine-grained
demand forecasting at scale with Facebook Prophet and
Apache Spark. By the end of this course, attendees will leave
with techniques that enable them to produce more
efficient/accurate time series forecasts at a finer-scale than
using traditional techniques/methods.
Modernizing Financial Risk Management with
Databricks
In this half-day course prepared specifically for Databricks
partners, attendees will learn how to modernize traditional
value-at-risk (VaR) calculation through the use ofvarious
components of the Databricks Unified Data Analytics Platform,
including Delta Lake, Apache Spark and MLflow. By the end of
this course, attendees will leave with techniques that enable
them to produce more efficient/accurate VaR calculations
than using traditional techniques/methods.
Databricks Partners are encouraged to grow their
skill sets with Databricks Training. Industry Solution
Accelerators cover topics tailored to a Partner’s
specific needs within their industry.
Prerequisite:
●Developer Foundations Badge
Scalable Machine Learning
This is a 4 half-day instructor led training designed data
analysts and data scientists to practice the full data science
workflow by exploring data, creating features and building
models, performing hyperparameter tuning, and tracking
parameters and managing models with MLflow. By the end of
this course, you will have built end-to-end machine learning
models ready for production.
Machine
Learning
Data
Scientists
Instructor
Led Training

6. Data
Engineering
with
Databricks
Instructor
Led Training
Data Engineering with Databricks Training
Data Engineering with Databricks Training
Data professionals from all walks of life will benefit from this
comprehensive introduction to the components of the
Databricks Lakehouse Platform that directly support putting
ETL pipelines into production. Students will leverage SQL and
Python to define and schedule pipelines that incrementally
process new data from a variety of data sources to power
analytic applications and dashboards in the Lakehouse. This
course offers hands-on instruction in Databricks Data
Science & Engineering Workspace, Databricks SQL, Delta Live
Tables, Databricks Repos, Databricks Task Orchestration, and
the Unity Catalog.
This is an introductory course that serves as an
appropriate entry point for anyone with strong SQL
knowledge. This course seeks to prepare students to
complete the Associate Data Engineering
certification exam and provides the requisite
knowledge to take the course Advanced Data
Engineering with Databricks.
Prerequisite:
●Basic SQL Knowledge
●Work or educational experience as a data or IT
professional
●Experience using SQL to query data from enterprise
data stores
●Familiarity with basic cloud concepts (virtual
machines, object storage, identity management)
●Basic familiarity with Python variables, functions, and
control flow (preferred)

7. Advanced
Data
Engineering
with
Databricks
Instructor
Led Training
Advanced Data Engineering with Databricks Training
Advanced Data Engineering with Databricks Training
In this course, students will build upon their existing knowledge of
Apache Spark, Structured Streaming, and Delta Lake to unlock
the full potential of the data lakehouseby utilizing the suite of
tools provided by Databricks. This course places a heavy
emphasis on designs favoring incremental data processing,
enabling systems optimized to continuously ingest and analyze
ever-growing data. By designing workloads that leverage built-in
platform optimizations, data engineers can reduce the burden of
code maintenance and on-call emergencies, and quickly adapt
production code to new demands with minimal refactoring or
downtime. The topics in this course should be mastered prior to
attempting the Databricks Certified s Data Engineering
Professional exam.
This instructor-led course builds upon topics
presented in self-paced content to prepare
students for the Databricks Certified Data
Engineering Professional certification exam. The
course assumes general familiarity with
Databricks, Spark, Delta Lake, and robust
experience completing the day-to-day work of a
data engineer.
Prerequisite:
●Comfort using PySparkAPIs to perform advanced data
transformations
●Familiarity implementing classes with Python
●Experience using SQL in production data warehouse or
data lake implementations
●Experience working in Databricks notebooks and
configuring clusters
●Familiarity with creating and manipulating data in Delta
Lake tables with SQL
●Ability to use Spark Structured Streaming to
incrementally read from a Delta table

8. Industry
Accelerator
-Demand
Forecasting
Instructor
Led Training
Demand Forecasting
Objectives
●By the end of this course, attendees will leave with
techniques that enable them to produce more
efficient/accurate time series forecasts at a finer-
scale than using traditional techniques/methods.
Prerequisites
●Developer Foundations Badge
●Familiarity with Spark SQL and Spark DataFrames
●Proficiency in Python
●Experience building and deploying machine learning
models
Agenda
●Explanation of fine-grained demand forecasting
●Benefits for retail organizations
●Performing fine-grained demand forecasting on
Databricks
NEW!
In this ½ day course “Generating Reliable Inventory
Forecast with Databricks”, Data scientists and
machine learning engineers will learn how to perform
fine-grained demand forecasting at scale with
Facebook Prophet and Apache Spark. This training
will focus specifically on benefits for retail
organizations.

9. Industry
Accelerator
-Risk
Management
Instructor
Led Training
Risk Management
Objectives
●By the end of this course, attendees will leave with
techniques that enable them to produce more
efficient/accurate VaR calculations than using
traditional techniques/methods.
Prerequisites
●Developer Foundations Badge
●Familiarity with Spark SQL and Spark DataFrames
●Proficiency in Python
●Experience building and deploying machine learning
models
Agenda
●Explanation of modern VaR calculations
●Benefits for financial services organizations
●Performing modernized VaR calculations on Databricks
NEW!
In this 2 half-day course “Modernizing Financial Risk
Management with Databricks”, Data scientists and
machine learning engineers will learn how to
modernize traditional value-at-risk (VaR) calculation
through the use ofvarious components of the
Databricks Unified Data Analytics Platform, including
Delta Lake, Apache Spark and MLflow. This training
will focus specifically on benefits for financial
services organizations.

10. Databricks
SQL
Self Paced
Training
Databricks SQL Learning Pathway
Setting Up Databricks SQL
This course covers the steps an administrator performs to set
up SQL Analytics for a user.
Databricks SQL Fundamentals
Databricks SQL Analytics offers SQL users a platform for
querying, analyzing, and visualizing data. This course guides
users through the interface and demonstrates many of the
tools and features available in the Databricks SQL Analytics
interface.
Data Visualization with Databricks SQL
In this course, you will learn how to use SQL Analytics, an
integrated SQL editing and dashboarding tool, from your
Databricks workspace. Working with SQL Analytics on
Databricks allows you to easily query your data lake, or other
data sources, and build dashboards that can be easily shared
across your organization.
This self-paced course bundle is designed to enable
Databricks Partners to leverage Databricks SQL Analytics
interface to query and visualize data directly on the data lake.
Courses
●Setting Up Databricks SQL
●Databricks Databricks SQL Fundamentals
●Data Visualization with Databricks SQL
Link for more information on this Learning Pathway
Note: Databricks SQL is in preview; will need to provide
workspace ID to get access to gated public preview for SQL
Analytics

11. Appendix

12. Champions
Multiple Project Experience + Databricks Expert
Advanced
Hadoop / Industry Solution Accelerators (Instructor Led)
Developer Essentials
Databricks Academy Training (Self-Paced)
Aware
Partner Portal / Databricks Overview Session / Data & AI Summit Videos / YouTube
So What’s Your Plan?
Let’s work together to define the appropriate target state and timeline for your organization.
Some Key Questions:
●How many team members in your ‘Data/Analytics/AI’
Practice today?
●Where are they located?
●Number of Data Engineers vs. Data Scientists?
●Existing Databricks Skills?
●How many clients do they serve?
●Any Cloud preferences?
●Any known needs today?
The
Enablement
Plan
The Plan (How Many / Timeline / Next Steps):
●Champions
●SA Essentials Badge
●Advanced Trainings
○Hadoop
○Industry
○Machine Learning
○Developer Advanced
●Community or COE Events / SA Workshops
●Developer Essentials Badge
●Partner Portal / Data & AI Summit
Recordings
SA Essentials
SA Flight School Instructor Led)

13. SoWhat’s Your Plan?
●Developer Essentials Badges: ___ / quarter
●Developer Advanced Badges: (coming soon)
●SA Essentials Badges: ___ / quarter
●Speciality Badges
○Hadoop Migration: ___
○Industry Solution Accelerators: ___
○SQL Analytics: (coming soon)
●Champions: ___
The
Enablement
Plan
Actions:
●…
●…
●e.g.get vouchers for self-paced training
●e.g.register for available training
●e.g.schedule private training events
●e.g.engage w/ SA Team for Champions Path

14. Certification
s
Note:The Certification program is nota part
of the Databricks Partner Enablement
Program.
DB Academy Certifications are a great way to
assess an individual’s knowledge of Apache
Spark & Databricks through proctored
multiple choice tests. But in our experience,
functional capstone exams that demonstrate
the ability to apply knowledge to solve code
based challenges in our product are better
predictors of field readiness and success in
services engagements with our customers.
That is why we introduced partner badges
and code based capstone exams that our
partner enablement program is based on.
Databricks Certifications
Certified Associate ML Practitioner for Apache Spark 2.4
The Databricks Certified Associate ML Practitioner for Apache
Spark 2.4 certification exam assesses the understanding of
and ability to apply machine techniques using the Spark ML
library.
Databricks Certified Professional Data Scientist
The Databricks Certified Professional Data Scientist
certification exam assesses the understanding of the basics of
machine learning, the steps in the machine learning lifecycle,
the understanding of basic machine learning algorithms and
techniques, and the understanding of the basics of machine
learning model management.
Databricks Certifications
Certifications assess an individual’s knowledge and
understanding of various topics. We will provide Partners
with a 25% discount on certification exams.
There are four certifications available today.
Certified Associate Developer for Apache Spark 3.0
The Databricks Certified Associate Developer for Apache Spark
3.0 certification exam assesses an understanding of the basics
of the Spark architecture and the ability to apply the Spark
DataFrame API to complete individual data manipulation tasks.
Certified Associate Developer for Apache Spark 2.4
The Databricks Certified Associate Developer for Apache Spark
2.4 certification exam assesses an understanding of the basics
of the Spark architecture and the ability to apply the Spark
DataFrame API to complete individual data manipulation tasks.

15. Partner
Champions
Program
A Databricks Champion is a
technical expert who combines
(pre-)sales, delivery and/or
architecture excellence. The
invite-only program provides this
expert with mentoring, early
access to roadmaps and other
‘community’ benefits. The
program to become a Tech
Champion can take up to six
months, with no mandatory time
requirement.
Databricks Partner Champions
Graduation Steps
■Complete competency assessment (Gap Analysis
Session)
■Determine track -Developer / Architect
■Set bi-weekly sync cadence with your Databricks
mentor
■Plan + attend Databricks Academy Course and
Databricks Architecture workshop
■Setup Databricks workspace
■Download + practice Databricks Demos
■Develop technical validation plan & execute a mock
POC
■Shadow/co-develiver a joint customer engagement
■Databricks Certification: Certified Apache Spark
Developer exam
Graduation Criteria
■Completed Databricks-led platform architecture
workshops
■Completed Certified Apache Spark developer exam
■Delivered Databricks POC/Joint Engagement
The Partner Champions Program aims to develop the
most senior technical Partner experts to become
Databricks Tech Champions.
Benefits:
■Dedicated mentor from Databricks and access to
discussions with Databricks SAs over Slack
■Access to Databricks demo and workshop GitHub
repositories
■Access to Quarterly roadmap update (NDA)
■Invitation to Databricks internal Tech Summit (yearly)
■Data & AI Summit Discounts, Pre-Summit training
vouchers
■Featured on Databricks.com, LinkedIn Badge
■Databricks Champion Plaque
Prerequisites:
■Tech Champion are to be nominated by the Partner and
Databricks Business Development Manager
■Nominee is a technical leader (Senior/Lead Architect)
within their organization
a.Has prior hands-on spark and data engineering
experience or data scientist experience
b.Has cloud experience
c.Has consulting, pre-sales & public speaking skills
d.Can commit to becoming a Databricks Champion

16. 10X Sales
Training
Accessible via thePartner Portal
10X Sales Training
Phase 2: Sales Ready
In this 3-hour instructor led workshop, the objective is to make
customer-facing roles conversant on Databricks with the
Partner ecosystem with positioning and technical alignment
focused on teaching how Partners can achieve a 10X Multiplier
of SI Services Rev with Databricks.
Instructor Led Options
■Tailored Live Webinar:Training is configured and
aligned to the specific Partner; highly interactive.
■Turnkey / Multi-partner (in-person / webinar):
Training is designed to work out of the box and remain
highly interactive
■Recorded Modules:Micro workshops that cover the
complete half-day split into live web e-workshops
■On-Site In Person:Indefinitely suspended due to
Covid-19
Topics of Discussion:
■Methodology
■Qualification
■Discovery
■Product Positioning
■Reference Architecture
■Industry Use Cases
■Account Mapping
These courses aimed at all customer facing roles
provide an understanding of Big Data, Spark and
Databricks. It covers customer sales engagement,
key features and market differentiators and
Databricks Partner benefits. During the training,
multiple customer stories will be shared.
Phase 1: Self Service
e-Learning content that level sets the knowledge of attendees
going into a training workshop. Completion of Self Service
unlocks Business Essentials Certification.
■Partner Intro & Expectations
■Databricks Company Overview
■How Databricks work with Partners
■Market Landscape
■Personas (DE, DS)
■Platform
■Platform Positioning
■Partner Wins
■Customer Wins
■Sales Pitch

17. Thank You
For questions not covered in this guide, please contact Scott Smith or Naomi Chiu
Scott Smith
Sr. Manager, Education Partner Enablement
[email protected]
Naomi Chiu
Partner Enablement Operations
[email protected]