Talend Certification Frequently Asked Questions - FAQ

Recently, I have cleared Talend Open Studio Certification exam for Data Integration. Most of the users have some doubts or questions regarding the certification. Before giving the exam I have done some research on the exam. So in today's post I am going to compile list of frequently asked questions related to the Talend Certification. Here it goes:

Question. What are the exam objectives for the Talend Open Studio for Data Integration Certification?

Answer.  TOS for DI certification exam will only cover the topics from the objectives mentioned in the below links:

1. Talend Open Studio for Data Integration, Module 1
2. Talend Open Studio for Data Integration, Module 2

Question.  What is the cost of the Exam and from where I can buy it?

Answer. Cost of the Exam is $100 and you can buy the exam by visiting the link

http://www.talend.com/training/certification.

When you purchase a Talend Certification Exam, you receive an e-mail within two business days that includes all the information you need to access and complete the online test.

Question.  What kind of questions will be there in Talend Certification exam?

Answer.  Exam will have Multiple choice questions and answers. Most of the questions will be single answer and  there will be few questions with multiple answers.

Question.  How many questions will be there and the time duration to complete the exam?

Answer. For TOS DI certification exam there will be 60-70 questions. I am not sure about the time duration of the exam as I have not see any time ticker while giving the exam. However, Talend representatives has told me that one should be allowed to complete the exam in 60 minutes.

Question.  What’s the passing score of the certification exam?

Answer. Passing score of the exam is 80%. e.g. If there are 60 exam questions then to pass the exam you should at least answer 48 questions correctly.

Question.  Do I have to visit any prometric exam center for taking the Exam?

Answer. There is no need to visit any prometric center for the exam. The exam is purely online and can be given from anywhere.

Question.   Can I Retake the exam, If I am not able to pass the exam in first attempt?

Answer. Each purchase grants you a single attempt to pass the exam. So if you can not pass the exam in first attempt then you can always buy it again.

Question.  Will there be question related to Data Quality or Custom component creation?

Answer. The questions are all taken directly from the objectives mentioned in links below – no other topics are covered. Talend Open Studio for Data Integration, Module 1 & Talend Open Studio for Data Integration, Module 2

Question.  What’s the difficulty level of the exam?

Answer. This is a difficult question to answer. However, I will say that the difficulty level of the TOS DI certification exam is Medium. Just because of the fact that the passing score is 80% which is on thee higher side. However, if some one have good hands on experience on Talend open Studio then it will not be difficult to pass the exam.

Question.  Is there any training/course material available for the certification exam?

Answer. Yes, there are On-Demand training modules provided by Talend for covering Topics/Objectives. Cost of the On-Demand training modules in $500. You can buy the access to their on-Demand training from the link  http://www.talend.com/training/talend-on-demand-training.

You can also refer to the below links covering most of the exam objectives:

1. Creating Metadata in the Repository:

• Creating Metadata from CSV (Delimited) file.
• Creating Metadata from XML file.
• Creating Metadata from Database Tables.
• Creating Metadata from Excel Files.

2. Performing Transformations and Look up operations in Talend:

• Performing Look up Operation in Talend.
• Using tJoin component to Output Main and Reject data.
• Joining Excel worksheets having different schema.
• Difference between tMap and tJoin.

3. Context Parameters and Variables:

• Understand Context variables and define their value inside the Job.
• Define context variables in Repository, which can be made available to multiple jobs.
• Populate the values of context variables from file. (tContextLoad)
• Pass context variables or parameters from Parent Job to Child Job.
• How to Pass the value of Context Parameters /Variables from command Line.

4. Performing various Database Operations in Talend:

• How to Extract data from Database tables.
• How to perform Dynamic Database lookup.
• How to execute multiple SQL queries through Talend.
• How to share same Database connections with Child jobs.
• Implementing Slowly changing dimensions Type 1 (SCD Type1).
• Implementing Slowly changing dimensions Type 2 (SCD Type2).
• Implementing Slowly changing dimensions Type 3 (SCD Type3).

5. Working with Custom Routines in Talend:

• How to create Custom Routines.
• Example of Custom Routine - How to cast String to Date in Talend.
• Example of custom Routine - Generic routine to convert any date format in Talend.

6. Understanding Important Talend components with Examples:

• tFileList Component.
• tFlowToIterate Component.
• tNormalize & tDenormalize Components.
• tPivotToOutputDelimited - transpose rows toColumns.
• tSystem Component.
• tFileInputMSDelimited component.
• tRowGenerator Component.
• tMemorizeRows component.

6.  Other Important  learning in Talend:

• How to import external jars or libraries in Talend.
• How to read XML having Multiple Nested Looping Tags.
• How to generate sample data using Talend.
• Processing Multi schema files using Talend.
• Transform XMl to CSV using Talend.

  ·         Howto split or extract data from delimited fields using tExtractDelimitedFields Component.

  
  

Please let me know, if you have any other questions. I will be happy to answer.