Snowflake University recently issued its 5,000th Hands-On Essentials badge. The Hands-On Essentials Series is a set of free, self-paced workshops designed to give learners practical hands-on experience using Snowflake to perform essential data-related tasks. When learners complete a course, they receive a badge validating their success.
Our badge holders have collectively invested tens of thousands of hours learning Snowflake, and we are honored and grateful for their trust and investment in building their Snowflake skills. We’ve been told that Snowflake experience helps a resume stand out, and the buzz around Snowflake makes users curious to see if Snowflake is truly as easy to learn as they’ve been hearing. We do not think they will be disappointed.
The badge system is separate and distinct from our SnowPro Certification programs. Rather than taking a high-stakes certification exam, badge seekers submit project work showing the work they’ve performed. Their projects are viewed and assessed for quality and accuracy before badges are awarded.
In Badge 1: Data Warehousing, learners present proof of the database, tables, views, stages, and sequences they’ve created. This introductory course can be started any time and most people finish in less than 8 hours.
“I had the opportunity to do some work for a client who was using Snowflake, so I needed a quick crash course, and the workshops were perfect for that.” —Trevor Deane, Telecom and Analytics Consultant
In Badge 2: Data Sharing, learners consume data via Snowflake Data Marketplace and learn to publish data by creating a provider profile, a standard listing, and a personalized listing. They also look at and test listings created by their fellow learners, and then they send and process requests.
In Badge 3: Data Applications, learners build a web application, using Python, that pulls and posts data to and from their Snowflake database. Many Badge 3 learners report they have never written a line of Python code prior to this workshop, and they are excited to see where their new Python and Snowflake skills will lead. Badge 3 also shows learners how to generate IoT data using their smartphone and shepherd that data through cloud-based streaming applications until it arrives in Snowflake via Snowpipe.
“[A] great opportunity to learn something of vital importance to me in such an easy, interesting, and available way.” —Kiryl Kudzin, Data Quality Engineer
There is a core group of learners who watch for and seize on new workshops as soon as they become available.
The Snowflake University team is working hard to create three additional badge workshops to round out the offerings that will cover Snowflake’s six workloads.
Badge earners often move on from the Hands-On Essentials Series to seek out the next level of Snowflake training: either paid on-demand courses or instructor-led courses. For those learners, the Hands-On Essentials Series acts as a springboard, helping them move from beginner-, to advanced-, to expert-level Snowflake professionals.
Learners come to Snowflake University from all over the world.
With worldwide learner interest, the badge program helps organizations all over the world feel confident that when they move their data to Snowflake, they’ll be able to find local experts who can support them.
To ensure the workshops are accessible to a wide audience, lab guides are offered in six languages and project work can be submitted in five languages. We also offer speed controls and captions in our instructional videos.
Once a badge is earned, learners are excited to share it with their friends and colleagues. Most often, learners will share the badge on their LinkedIn profile, and many follow up by also posting their badges on their LinkedIn newsfeeds. Because of those shares, the 5,000 badges we’ve awarded have been viewed, collectively, almost 34,000 times.
Of course, those 34,000 views are what lead so many new learners to make their way to Snowflake University seeking their very own hands-on badges. We look forward to having you join us at Snowflake University very soon.