Certification

Cross-cutting logistics for getting your certificate. Exact passing criteria differ per course - see the certification or project page on the individual course.

What is required

In every DataTalks.Club zoomcamp:

  • Submit the project (or required projects) by the deadline.
  • Complete the required peer reviews on time.
  • Reach the course-specific minimum project score.

What is not required:

  • Submitting all (or any) homework.
  • Attending live sessions.
  • Earning leaderboard points beyond the project.

What varies by course

  • Data Engineering Zoomcamp: one project, must reach the passing score, complete required peer reviews.
  • Machine Learning Zoomcamp: 2 of 3 projects (midterm + capstone, or capstone + second capstone), each with a deployed model.
  • LLM Zoomcamp: a single project meeting the rubric.

See the course-specific certification or project page.

Minimum passing score

Project rubrics are scored out of a course-specific maximum (typically 25 to 40 points). The passing threshold also varies. Look at the project rubric on the course page for the exact numbers.

When the certificate arrives

Issued after:

  • The final project deadline has passed.
  • All peer reviews are completed.
  • The cohort lead has finalized scores.

Typically 2 to 4 weeks after the project deadline. The exact date is announced in Slack and Telegram.

You cannot get the certificate early, even if you finish the project ahead of time. The certificate ceremony covers everyone in the cohort at once.

Where to find the certificate

The certificate is delivered through the course platform. Once issued, a “Get certificate” button appears on your dashboard. The certificate is a PDF with a unique URL.

Adding to LinkedIn

LinkedIn has a “Licenses and Certifications” section in your profile. Add a new entry with:

  • Name: the course title (for example, “Data Engineering Zoomcamp”).
  • Issuing organization: DataTalks.Club.
  • Issue date: the date you received the certificate.
  • Credential URL: the unique URL from the certificate.

Many graduates also write a LinkedIn post about completing the course - a good place to share what you learned, link to your project, and tag DataTalks.Club.

Joined late

You can still get the certificate, as long as you can submit the project by the project deadline. See Joining Mid-Cohort.

If the project deadline is too close, work through the materials self-paced now and submit the project during the next live cohort.

Project did not pass

Most courses offer multiple submission attempts (attempt 1, attempt 2, sometimes a final last-attempt window). If you did not pass attempt 1, submit again in the next attempt.

If all attempts have closed for the cohort, submit during the next live cohort. Save your work; you do not need to start over.

Skipped peer reviews

Some courses tie your project’s final score to whether you did peer reviews. If you skipped reviews:

  • Check with the cohort lead in Slack. There is sometimes flexibility for one-off cases.
  • Plan to do peer reviews in the next attempt or next cohort.

Doing peer reviews is one of the easiest parts of the course. Build it into your weekly schedule once submissions close.

After the course

Common next steps:

  • Take another zoomcamp. See datatalks.club for the schedule of upcoming zoomcamps.
  • Polish your project and add it to your portfolio.
  • Write a LinkedIn post about what you learned.
  • Help next cohort’s students by answering questions in Slack.
  • Contribute to the public FAQ.