How did I get a Master Level badge in the CDMP foundational exam?
It’s been a while since my last post in the Data View House publication about ISO standards in data governance. I was busy settling into a new country with family (although Melbourne feels like Auckland on Steroids) while preparing for the Certified Data Management Professional (CDMP) exam. It’s been a week since I finally became CDMP — Associate. I am glad I surprised myself and got 88% on the first attempt, enabling me to use the Master level (> 80%) badge below. One can pass the CDMP exam at 60% as well. Still, you need 70% plus to gain a practitioner badge and to be eligible to pursue further specialisation in data management knowledge areas.
From my first certification in 2009 until July 2024, I obtained a dozen certifications in various products and technologies (including Oracle, Power BI, Tableau, four certifications from Data Governance solution OvalEdge and a few from Coursera !). However, the CDMP is the most notable, fulfilling and enlightening experience. Therefore, as a CDMP — Associate Master, I am encouraged to reflect on my journey from last year, which may encourage and assist someone in the same boat as I was a year ago. In the following blog, I organise my story in four phases of experiences :
- Motivation
- Preparation
- Realisation
- Satisfaction
Motivation
Over the last 14 years, my professional life revolved around solving data problems, from disaster recovery and data replication as a software engineer to leading data migration, integration and Business Intelligence projects and consulting services. Since 2016, I have regularly read data management books to research as a data management consultant and validate my data management framework, Data View House. Some of the physical books I read so far are below, while I would highly recommend Practitioner’s Guide to Health Informatics for data professionals in Healthcare from my Kindle collection.
After various technology-specific certificates over a decade, I was seeking a broader certification that covers data management as the subject area and enables me to strengthen my feet in the data management and strategy space from purely a technical professional. On the other hand, I sought more validation of my ideas under the Data View House framework. I also wanted to curate my drafts on the Data Migration Plan series with meaningful, validated and strategic content. I could not have asked for anything better than the DAMA Data Management Body of Knowledge ( DMBoK). I did not waste any time, so I bought the digital version of DMBoK in September 2023 as soon as I got introduced to the CDMP exam by DAMA.
It is a big book with 600+ pages, but I gathered all the courage and started reading it from chapter 1 after receiving the digital copy. Due to personal and professional reasons, my plan to relocate to Melbourne began around the same time, and I could only look at the DMBoK in December 2023. I gathered the courage again, made the 2024 resolution to be CDMP and ordered the physical book ( because I am a little old school when it comes to reading books for passing exams). I received the physical book in the first week of January. Receiving the actual copy of the book and feeling its actual weight almost persuaded me to revisit and amend my 2024 resolution.
Preparation
I started again from chapter 1 in January 2024. With one year on hand, I adopted the strategy of reading the whole book at least once for self-education and re-reading again later to pass the exam. With the allocation of 4–8 hours per week, I alternatively used both the book (at home) and the Kindle version during my train commute for work. I did not worry about highlighters or sticky notes in the first go. I have had my hiccups where I did not touch the book for two to three weeks for various reasons. However, I aimed to read a few pages per week, keeping it easy and maintaining the momentum without stressing about it.
Reading the DMBoK was a joyful experience. Past readings and real-world experience in multiple knowledge areas of DAMA Wheel, such as Data Warehousing and BI, Data Integration and Interoperability ( in the health sector), Data Security, Storage, Master Data and Data Quality, there was a lot to resonate while plenty more to understand in the DMBoK. On the other hand, I also found relevant information in the Data Governance, Metadata Management and Document Management knowledge areas of the DAMA Wheel, which I can leverage in my current role as ‘Data Governance — Technical Specialist’.
With a plethora of reference material coupled with beautiful articulation of logic, DMBoK deserves its name, while the people behind it deserve a gigantic appreciation from the data professional community. Once you read it, it is a forever reference book, and every serious data professional should own one. Beyond the Knowledge Areas, I would highly recommend reading other chapters on change management and maturity assessment to get your head around the people management part of the data. Although rare, DMBoK has those one-liners and sarcasm, too.
Realisation
Come July 2024, I crossed the DAMA Wheel chapters and started on the remaining complimentary chapters. I realised that my strategy was 50% executed — I was almost done reading once. The second stage was to re-read for the certification exam. Now, for the execution of the remaining 50% of the strategy, I adopted a tactical approach and started to look for blogs and YouTube videos on CDMP preparations, where I luckily stumbled upon the Data Strategy Professionals YouTube channel.
On the channel, I found a goldmine of group study sessions with great Q&A and valuable tips for the exam. With the physical book only, I reduced my focus on the DAMA Wheel chapters and started re-reading each chapter with highlighters and sticky notes, followed by watching that chapter’s video on the Data Strategy Professionals channel. During this phase, I turned into a rabbit from a turtle, allocated more time to study, and significantly improved the chapter-per-week ratio ( a big thanks to my awesome family for their support).
After the study session videos, I bought the three sample exams from the Data Strategy Professional site. Although there were limited questions compared to 100 questions in the real CDMP exam, the best thing about their sample question bank was the feedback of each question ( right and wrong) with the correct answer and precise location of the content in the DMBoK from where the question is formulated. The CDMP exam includes many scenario-based questions and a different look and feel than this sample question set. However, it helps identify weak areas and knowledge gaps and provides a chance to revisit them in DMBoK before the exam.
With progressive results in three sample exams, I finally bought the CDMP exam. It comes with sample tests with 40 questions in 36 minutes with unlimited attempts. I gave four attempts with gradual progression in my results. 97.5% in the fourth attempt encouraged me to take the real exam immediately. During the exam, I attempted all questions in one go and marked down those requiring more time for thinking or referring to the book. I was done in 60 minutes and had 30 minutes to review 15 questions I marked for revisit. Finally, late at night on 1st August, I became CDMP with 88%, and some of the loudest YES sounds mixed with my native slags, which I can’t write here.
Satisfaction
This might be my first time experiencing how completing a New Year resolution feels. Technical certifications were fantastic and brought a sense of achievement. However, CDMP makes you feel good about yourself as a data professional. In hindsight, my experience in data management and continuous learning (through the books above) has played a significant role in achieving CDMP certification. Therefore, I can conclude here that gaining work experience, being a genuine student of the subject, and being curious to find and learn more beyond your usual job will help you pass any exams.
The outcome for me is motivating enough to continue the journey ahead with DAMA and pursue specialisations — hopefully at the master level again :D
Aspire and Inspire , before you expire !
For more interesting readings on data strategy and management, follow my publications for more.
=> Data View House — Simplifying the language of data.
=> Data Migration Plan — Decommissioning a significant legacy business system.
