Join me as we tour the solar system in pursuit of greater cosmic knowledge... or at least greater knowledge of Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL! This course is designed to prepare you to sit for and pass the DP-420 exam in pursuit of the *Microsoft Certified: Azure Cosmos DB Developer Specialty* certification. Throughout the lectures, demos, labs, and quizzes in this course, you'll prove and improve your skills in developing applications for Azure Cosmos DB, writing efficient SQL queries, and creating appropriate indexing policies. You will also gain experience in server-side objects and hone your ability to intepret JSON, read C# or Java code, and use PowerShell and the Azure CLI. The exam covers the five domains defined by Microsoft for mastery of the exam material: * Design and implement data models * Design and implement data distribution * Integrate an Azure Cosmos DB solution * Optimize an Azure Cosmos DB solution * Maintain an Azure Cosmos DB solution #### What You Bring All of this does assume you have a baseline knowledge of cloud concepts in general and solutions in Azure in particular. And of course, for a certification designed for developers, you’re expected to have hands-on coding experience. Throughout the course lectures and most labs, we assume that you have at least a novice understanding and application of at least some SQL, C#, or a similar object-oriented language, and, ideally, JavaScript and some command-line experience, as well. No prior certifications are required, but students who hold other Microsoft database or programming certifications will have a head start. Within each domain are a variety of subtopics that we’ll cover in greater detail throughout the course. We’ll go through each domain, using each previous lesson as part of the foundation for the next topic. This way, you will not only be able to answer the questions on the exam successfully but also develop practical knowledge of how these pieces fit together and how you can design solutions to common problems faced in enterprises today. You'll get experience with hands-on labs to solidify your knowledge, and you can look forward to practice questions throughout the course to ensure you’re ready to move on. With the word "cosmos" in it's name, we couldn't resist a solar system theme. To keep things interesting, each section starts with a little solar system trivia or other planetary chit-chat. You will also learn about your instructor's near-obsession with Pluto and it's demotion to dwarf status. Let's get started!