Azure Data Scientist Associate Certification Guide: A hands-on guide to machine learning in Azure and passing the Microsoft Certified DP-100 exam

Develop the skills you need to run machine learning workloads in Azure and pass the DP-100 exam with ease

Key Features

• Create end-to-end machine learning training pipelines, with or without code
• Track experiment progress using the cloud-based MLflow-compatible process of Azure ML services
• Operationalize your machine learning models by creating batch and real-time endpoints

Book Description

The Azure Data Scientist Associate Certification Guide helps you acquire practical knowledge for machine learning experimentation on Azure. It covers everything you need to pass the DP-100 exam and become a certified Azure Data Scientist Associate.

Starting with an introduction to data science, you'll learn the terminology that will be used throughout the book and then move on to the Azure Machine Learning (Azure ML) workspace. You'll discover the studio interface and manage various components, such as data stores and compute clusters.

Next, the book focuses on no-code and low-code experimentation, and shows you how to use the Automated ML wizard to locate and deploy optimal models for your dataset. You'll also learn how to run end-to-end data science experiments using the designer provided in Azure ML Studio.

You'll then explore the Azure ML Software Development Kit (SDK) for Python and advance to creating experiments and publishing models using code. The book also guides you in optimizing your model's hyperparameters using Hyperdrive before demonstrating how to use responsible AI tools to interpret and debug your models. Once you have a trained model, you'll learn to operationalize it for batch or real-time inferences and monitor it in production.

By the end of this Azure certification study guide, you'll have gained the knowledge and the practical skills required to pass the DP-100 exam.

What you will learn

• Create a working environment for data science workloads on Azure
• Run data experiments using Azure Machine Learning services
• Create training and inference pipelines using the designer or code
• Discover the best model for your dataset using Automated ML
• Use hyperparameter tuning to optimize trained models
• Deploy, use, and monitor models in production
• Interpret the predictions of a trained model

Who this book is for

This book is for developers who want to infuse their applications with AI capabilities and data scientists looking to scale their machine learning experiments in the Azure cloud. Basic knowledge of Python is needed to follow the code samples used in the book. Some experience in training machine learning models in Python using common frameworks like scikit-learn will help you understand the content more easily.

Table of Contents

1. An Overview of Modern Data Science
2. Deploying Azure Machine Learning Workspace Resources
3. Azure Machine Learning Studio Components
4. Configuring the Workspace
5. Letting the Machines Do the Model Training
6. Visual Model Training and Publishing
7. The AzureML Python SDK
8. Experimenting with Python Code
9. Optimizing the ML Model
10. Understanding Model Results
11. Working with Pipelines
12. Operationalizing Models with Code

Andreas Botsikas is an experienced advisor working in the software industry. He has worked in the finance sector, leading highly efficient DevOps teams, and architecting and building high-volume transactional systems. He then traveled the world, building AI-infused solutions with a group of engineers and data scientists. Currently, he works as a trusted advisor for customers onboarding into Azure, de-risking and accelerating their cloud journey. He is a strong engineering professional with a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in resource optimization with artificial intelligence from the National Technical University of Athens. Michael Hlobil is an experienced architect focused on quickly understanding customers' business needs, with over 25 years of experience in IT pitfalls and successful projects, and is dedicated to creating solutions based on the Microsoft Platform. He has an MBA in Computer Science and Economics (from the Technical University and the University of Vienna) and an MSc (from the ESBA) in Systemic Coaching. He was working on advanced analytics projects in the last decade, including massive parallel systems and Machine Learning systems. He enjoys working with customers and supporting the journey to the cloud.