Apache Cassandra Developer Associate study guide
Apache Cassandra Developer Associate · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Cassandra Developer Associate credential is an entry-level certification for software engineers who build applications on Apache Cassandra rather than administer clusters. It signals that you can model data around query patterns, write correct CQL, and use a client driver without fighting the database's distributed nature. The Apache Cassandra Developer Associate study guide has 6 sections and about 2,422 words.
01Cassandra Architecture and Data Distribution
This domain tests how Cassandra places data, replicates it, and coordinates reads and writes. Expect questions on token ownership, virtual nodes, replication factor, consistency levels, gossip, snitches, hinted handoff, and repair.
409 words, about 2 min02Data Modeling and Schema Design
This domain tests whether you can design tables from access patterns rather than from entity relationships. Cassandra is a distributed partitioned store, so schema choices determine which queries are efficient and which fail.
410 words, about 2 min03CQL (Cassandra Query Language)
This domain tests fluent CQL: keyspace and table DDL, data types, primary-key syntax, INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE semantics, TTL, batches, lightweight transactions, and paging. Questions often hinge on whether a statement is valid and which consistency or performance trade-off it implies.
373 words, about 2 min04Client Drivers and Application Development
This domain tests application integration: building a cluster/session, preparing statements, choosing consistency, handling retries and timeouts, paging, and applying backpressure. The exam expects you to know driver behavior rather than only CQL syntax.
401 words, about 2 min05Performance Tuning and Query Optimization
This domain tests why queries are fast or slow: partition size, tombstones, compaction, caching, indexes, paging, and repair. The exam focuses on diagnosing read/write amplification and choosing schema or operational fixes rather than tuning random settings.
425 words, about 2 min06Operations, Maintenance, and Troubleshooting
This domain tests day-2 operations: topology changes, repair, snapshots, monitoring, and troubleshooting exceptions. Expect command identification and reasoning about safe sequencing, not memorizing every nodetool flag.
404 words, about 2 min