Certification

PostgreSQL Architect

This certification is designed for engineers who make architectural decisions around PostgreSQL in real production systems and are responsible for how data structures, query patterns, and operational choices affect long-term system health.

It validates practical competence in relational data modeling, schema design, indexing strategy, transactional consistency, query planning awareness, concurrency behavior, migration discipline, scaling considerations, and operational reliability. The focus is not on isolated SQL trivia, but on making sound PostgreSQL decisions in systems that must remain correct, performant, and maintainable over time.

Candidates are expected to demonstrate that they can design clean and resilient database structures, evaluate tradeoffs in query and index design, protect data integrity, reason about workload behavior, and troubleshoot problems that emerge under realistic production constraints. This includes understanding how PostgreSQL architecture choices influence application performance, delivery safety, and long-term maintainability.

The certification is suitable for engineers who already work with PostgreSQL professionally and want to validate that they can design and evolve production database systems with strong technical judgment and architecture-level responsibility.

Get Certified

What this certification proves

Clear scope for candidates. Clear meaning for reviewers.

Passing result

What a pass confirms

This certificate confirms that the candidate demonstrated practical PostgreSQL architecture competence in designing relational data systems, making sound performance and integrity decisions, and supporting production-ready database platforms.

Scope

What the exam validates

Scope includes relational schema architecture, SQL and query design, indexing strategy, transactions and consistency, concurrency behavior, performance analysis, migration planning, scalability considerations, troubleshooting, and production-focused PostgreSQL decision-making.

For reviewers

What someone can verify later

The public certificate page shows the holder name, score, issue date, certificate ID, and current verification status without relying on screenshots.

Share flow

Share one record, not a bundle of files

Use the certificate page as the primary proof. PDF stays available as a convenient copy, but the live page is the canonical record.

Official certificate page

What the verifier will see

Candidate name
Score and pass outcome
Date and certificate ID
Current verification status

Preparation topics

Topics covered by the exam question set.

Use this topic map as a preparation checklist. Questions in this certification are built from these concrete topic areas.

SQL Fundamentals

SELECT Queries
Filtering
Aggregation
Joins
Subqueries
CTEs
DISTINCT ON
LATERAL
RETURNING
UPSERT
MERGE
NULL Semantics

Schema & Constraints

Primary Keys
Foreign Keys
Unique Constraints
Check Constraints
Cascades
DEFERRABLE Constraints
Generated Columns
Identity Columns
Default Values
Exclusion Constraints
Table Ownership
Default Privileges

Indexing

B-Tree Indexes
Partial Indexes
Expression Indexes
Covering Indexes
Multicolumn Indexes
Index Ordering
GIN Indexes
GiST Indexes
BRIN Indexes
Trigram Search
Index Predicates
Concurrent Builds

Planner & Execution

EXPLAIN
Cost Estimates
Row Estimates
Generic Plans
Custom Plans
Extended Statistics
Sargability
Index-Only Scans
Gather Merge
Parallel Plans
JIT Thresholds
Plan Matching

Transactions & Isolation

MVCC
Read Committed
Repeatable Read
Serializable
Snapshot Visibility
Write Skew
Retry Logic
Savepoints
Statement Snapshots
Exact Counts

Locks & Concurrency

Row Locks
Table Locks
Lock Timeouts
Deadlocks
Advisory Locks
SKIP LOCKED
Queue Claiming
EPQ Rechecks
Blocking Sessions
Transaction Pooling

Maintenance & Storage

VACUUM
Autovacuum
ANALYZE
HOT Updates
Fillfactor
TOAST
Bloat
Checkpoints
Full-Page Writes
Visibility Map
Freeze Risk
Vacuum FULL

Replication & Recovery

WAL Archiving
PITR
Base Backups
pg_basebackup
Replication Slots
Hot Standby
Synchronous Replication
Quorum Sync
Timeline History
Failover Fencing
pg_rewind
Replica Identity

Logical Decoding

Logical Slots
Exported Snapshots
Two-Phase Decoding
Slot Invalidation
Slot Retention
Standby Decoding
Database Boundary
Crash Replay
Failover Slots

Security & Access

Roles
Role Inheritance
GRANT
REVOKE
Schema USAGE
Sequence Privileges
pg_hba.conf
SCRAM
Peer Auth
SECURITY DEFINER
search_path
RLS Policies

Full-Text Search

tsvector
tsquery
GIN FTS
Phrase Search
Web Search
Ranking
Cover Density
Dictionaries
Generated Vectors
Search Configs
Prefix Search

Extensions & FDW

postgres_fdw
User Mappings
Remote Estimates
Foreign Tables
Foreign Columns
Extension Scope
Trusted Extensions
Update Scripts
MODULE_PATHNAME
Direct Modify

PL/pgSQL & Triggers

Functions
Procedures
CALL
OUT Parameters
Exception Blocks
Subtransactions
Transaction Control
Event Triggers
DDL Hooks
Transition Tables
Rule System

Partitioning & Tablespaces

Partition Pruning
Tuple Routing
Attach Partition
Detach Partition
Default Partition
Range Bounds
Unique Limits
Tablespaces
Temp Tablespaces
Restore Mapping

Data Types

timestamptz
Time Sources
JSONB
Arrays
Range Types
Multiranges
Domains
Composite Types
Collations
ICU
CITEXT
Large Objects

Monitoring & Operations

pg_stat_activity
pg_blocking_pids
Wait Events
Replication Lag
Bloat Signals
Query Age
WAL Lag
Archive Safety
Backup Consistency
Restore Commands

Client Protocols

libpq
Pipeline Mode
Pipeline Sync
Single-Row Mode
Error Recovery
Result Streaming

How the certification works

From voucher purchase to public certificate.

Once the candidate decides to pursue this certification, the path is simple: buy a voucher, exchange it for this certification, complete the exam, and receive the official certificate after a successful result.

Step 01

Buy a voucher for account balance

The candidate tops up voucher balance first. DevCerts does not sell this certification as a direct one-off checkout item.

Step 02

Choose this certification and exchange the voucher

When the candidate is ready, one voucher is consumed and DevCerts opens exam access for this certification.

Step 03

Pass and receive the official certificate page

After a successful valid result is received from Askium, DevCerts issues the certificate, publishes the public verification page, and keeps PDF available as a secondary copy.

Current certificate policy

What this certification page promises today

A certificate is issued only after a successful valid result.
The public verification page is the canonical certificate artifact.
The issued certificate is active and non-expiring in the current MVP.