Exam dbt-Analytics-Engineering Topic 1 Question 28 Discussion
Actual exam question for dbt Labs's dbt-Analytics-Engineering exam
Question #: 28
Topic #: 1
Question #: 28
Topic #: 1
Given this dbt_project.yml:
name: "jaffle_shop"
version: "1.0.0"
config-version: 2
profile: "snowflake"
model-paths: ["models"]
macro-paths: ["macros"]
snapshot-paths: ["snapshots"]
target-path: "target"
clean-targets:
- "logs"
- "target"
- "dbt_modules"
- "dbt_packages"
models:
jaffle_shop:
orders:
materialized: table
When executing a dbt run your models build as views instead of tables:
19:36:14 Found 1 model, 0 tests, 0 snapshots, 0 analyses, 179 macros, 0 operations, 0 seed files, 0 sources, 0 exposures, 0 metrics
19:36:16 Concurrency: 1 threads (target='default')
19:36:17 Finished running 1 view model in 3.35s.
19:36:17 Completed successfully
19:36:17 Done. PASS=1 WARN=0 ERROR=0 SKIP=0 TOTAL=1
Which could be a root cause of why the model was not materialized as a table?
The target-path is incorrectly configured.
name: "jaffle_shop"
version: "1.0.0"
config-version: 2
profile: "snowflake"
model-paths: ["models"]
macro-paths: ["macros"]
snapshot-paths: ["snapshots"]
target-path: "target"
clean-targets:
- "logs"
- "target"
- "dbt_modules"
- "dbt_packages"
models:
jaffle_shop:
orders:
materialized: table
When executing a dbt run your models build as views instead of tables:
19:36:14 Found 1 model, 0 tests, 0 snapshots, 0 analyses, 179 macros, 0 operations, 0 seed files, 0 sources, 0 exposures, 0 metrics
19:36:16 Concurrency: 1 threads (target='default')
19:36:17 Finished running 1 view model in 3.35s.
19:36:17 Completed successfully
19:36:17 Done. PASS=1 WARN=0 ERROR=0 SKIP=0 TOTAL=1
Which could be a root cause of why the model was not materialized as a table?
The target-path is incorrectly configured.
Suggested Answer: A Vote an answer
The behavior described-dbt running the orders model as a view despite being explicitly configured as a table
-indicates that dbt is not correctly detecting or applying the model-level configuration during compilation.
dbt relies heavily on the target-path directory to write compiled SQL, manifest files, and run artifacts. If the target-path is misconfigured, pointing to a location that dbt does not handle correctly or that overlaps with another folder used internally, dbt may fail to load the correct configuration from the merged project settings.
When dbt cannot locate the compiled configuration for a model, it defaults to its standard materialization type, which is view. This explains why the logs show:
"Finished running 1 view model"
even though the dbt_project.yml clearly declares:
materialized: table.
Additionally, the logs indicate no warnings or parsing errors, meaning dbt ran successfully but with incorrect settings-another indicator of configuration metadata being overridden or misplaced due to an incorrect target- path.
By resolving the target-path issue, dbt will successfully load the model configuration and materialize the orders model as a table as intended.
-indicates that dbt is not correctly detecting or applying the model-level configuration during compilation.
dbt relies heavily on the target-path directory to write compiled SQL, manifest files, and run artifacts. If the target-path is misconfigured, pointing to a location that dbt does not handle correctly or that overlaps with another folder used internally, dbt may fail to load the correct configuration from the merged project settings.
When dbt cannot locate the compiled configuration for a model, it defaults to its standard materialization type, which is view. This explains why the logs show:
"Finished running 1 view model"
even though the dbt_project.yml clearly declares:
materialized: table.
Additionally, the logs indicate no warnings or parsing errors, meaning dbt ran successfully but with incorrect settings-another indicator of configuration metadata being overridden or misplaced due to an incorrect target- path.
By resolving the target-path issue, dbt will successfully load the model configuration and materialize the orders model as a table as intended.
by Corey at Jan 12, 2026, 11:09 PM
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