Google Cloud Certifications Path
In the previous article, we covered the most in-demand Azure certifications available on the market today. In this article, we will focus on the certifications provided by Google Cloud, the world's third-most popular cloud service provider.
It is important to note that there are no prerequisites for taking any GCP certification exam. Additionally, Google does not disclose the official passing scores for associate and professional level certification exams.
Associate
The associate-level certification emphasizes the essential skills required for deploying, monitoring, and maintaining projects on the Google Cloud Platform.
Associate Cloud Engineer
Purpose
The GCP Associate Cloud Engineer Certification is an excellent starting point for IT professionals new to the cloud and can serve as an entry point for those planning to pursue professional-level certifications.
An Associate Cloud Engineer is capable of deploying applications, monitoring operations, and managing enterprise solutions such as Cloud Storage, Compute Engine, and Kubernetes Engine.
Knowledge
The certification requires candidates to have a strong understanding of how to use the Google Cloud Console and the command line interface to perform common platform-based tasks. This includes maintaining or deploying solutions that involve both Google-managed and self-managed services on the Google Cloud Platform.
You can find the official exam guide for the GCP Associate Cloud Engineer Certification here. It provides comprehensive information about the exam and offers recommended steps to aid in your preparation for the test.
Exam Details: The exam consists of 50 questions and has a time limit of 120 minutes.
Cost: $125
Professional
At the professional level, GCP provides eight role-based certification exams evaluating advanced skills in design, implementation, and management.
1. Professional Cloud Architect
Purpose
A Professional Cloud Architect empowers teams and organizations to utilize cloud technologies with a comprehensive understanding of cloud architecture and the Google Cloud Platform. This certification is ideal for individuals intending to design, develop, and oversee resilient, secure, highly available, and dynamic solutions to achieve business objectives.
Knowledge
Anticipate the exam to be challenging given its professional level. It focuses more on executing the duties of a cloud architect rather than solely on the Google platform itself.
The majority of exam questions are scenario-based, resembling real-world problems. You're required to identify the most effective approach and solution. Additionally, Google assumes a background in software development when you sit for the exam.
Read more about the GCP Professional Cloud Architect Certification through this official guide here.
Exam Details: The exam consists of 50 questions and has a time limit of 120 minutes.
Cost: $200
2. Professional Cloud Developer
Purpose
This exam is designed for software developers proficient in at least one general-purpose programming language and capable of generating meaningful metrics and logs to troubleshoot and resolve code issues.
A Google Professional Cloud Developer demonstrates the skills to create, design, test, and deploy cloud-native applications that are highly scalable, available, and reliable, utilizing recommended practices and tools from Google.
Knowledge
In this certification exam, you should be proficient at building and designing high-performing applications, working with APIs, using Stackdriver to generate metrics and logs, and integrating Google Cloud services into your application.
The exam does not directly evaluate your coding skills. Instead, it focuses on your ability to leverage GCP services and recommended practices to develop, test, deploy, and manage scalable and highly available applications.
Check out the official GCP Cloud Developer Certification guide here.
Exam Details: The exam consists of 50 questions, with 120 minutes to complete and can only be taken in accredited test centers.
Cost: $200
3. Professional Data Engineer
Purpose
Business decisions today are largely driven by data. With data being widespread, the ability to build systems for collecting, transforming, and publishing it is highly desired.
As the cloud continues to expand, if you're an IT professional aiming to advance your skills in the realm of data, pursuing the GCP Professional Data Engineer certification would be fitting. Proficiency in cloud technologies is increasingly essential for various roles centered around data.
Knowledge
The exam addresses subjects related to the design, monitoring, and construction of secure data processing systems, with a focus on security and compliance, scalability and efficiency, reliability and accuracy, and flexibility and portability.
For this exam, it's crucial to have substantial hands-on experience with GCP storage systems such as Cloud BigTable, Cloud Spanner, Cloud SQL, BigQuery, Cloud Storage, Cloud Datastore, and Cloud Memorystore. Additionally, familiarity with utilizing pre-built ML model services like Vision API, Speech API, and Dialogflow is advantageous.
To read the official GCP Professional Data Engineer Certification documentation, check out this link.
Exam Details: ?The exam consists of 50 questions and has a time limit of 120 minutes.
Cost: $200?
4. Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer
Purpose
A Cloud DevOps Engineer is responsible for optimizing development operations. These experts excel in utilizing GCP to construct software delivery pipelines, deploy and oversee services, and handle and derive insights from incidents.
This position demands extensive expertise and experience across various aspects of cloud technology to operate effectively and efficiently. Their primary responsibility is to maintain efficient development operations while preserving delivery speed and automating the development workflow.
Knowledge
A high-level knowledge and understanding of the services will not be sufficient to pass the exam, as it explores deeply into the implementation of GCP services. The exam is a complex mix of topics, including DevOps, Site Recovery, and Google Services like Stackdriver, Cloud Build, Kubernetes Engine, and Container Registry.
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We strongly recommend taking the GCP Professional Cloud Developer exam first, as there is some overlap between the two certification exams. This exam can provide you with a deep understanding of building software delivery pipelines, as well as deploying and monitoring infrastructure.
For the official GCP Professional DevOps Engineer Certification exam details, check out the official guide here.?
Exam Details: The exam consists of 50 questions and has a time limit of 120 minutes.
Cost: $200?
5. Professional Cloud Security Engineer
Purpose
Security management has proven to be the most challenging yet highly rewarding responsibility for IT professionals. Properly and efficiently implementing security practices is essential for organizations, especially given the increasing prevalence of online security attacks.
As a Professional Cloud Security Engineer, you will assist businesses and organizations in designing and implementing secure GCP infrastructure by leveraging your knowledge of security best practices and industry security standards.
Knowledge
This professional-level certification exam encompasses a broad array of security topics and technologies. It will assess your ability to manage identity and access management (IAM), utilize Google technologies for data protection, configure network security defenses, collect and analyze logs, manage incident responses, and understand regulatory concerns.
To learn more about the GCP Professional Security Engineer Certification, visit the official guide here.?
Exam Details: The exam consists of 50 questions, has a time limit of 120 minutes, and can only be taken in accredited test centers.
Cost: $200?
6. Professional Cloud Network Engineer
Purpose
As cloud technologies advance, it’s essential for cloud professionals to understand how to implement and manage cloud-based networks. This requires a different approach compared to managing traditional on-premise networks.
The role of a Professional Cloud Network Engineer involves implementing and managing network architectures within the Google Cloud Platform. This requires a deep understanding of VPCs, hybrid connectivity, network services, and security for established network architectures.
Knowledge
The certification exam evaluates a candidate’s ability to demonstrate essential job skills, such as designing, planning, and prototyping a GCP network, implementing a Virtual Private Cloud, configuring network services, establishing hybrid connectivity, and ensuring network security.
It is recommended that you familiarize yourself with various use cases and approaches and practice implementing them using the command line interface or the Google Platform Console whenever possible.
Check the official GCP Professional Cloud Network Engineer Certification guide here for more details.
Exam Details: The exam consists of 50 questions and has a time limit of 120 minutes.
Cost: $200?
7. Professional Collaboration Engineer
Purpose
A Data Collaboration Engineer seeks opportunities to educate an organization’s end users and actively promotes the use of G Suite and the Google Toolset to enhance operational efficiency.
While there is some overlap with other certification exams regarding user management and IT security, this exam isn't essential if your main focus is on architecting software solutions, networking, or data engineering. Additionally, most of the G Suite options are intuitive and uncomplicated, so you shouldn't find the exam too challenging.
Knowledge
Google Cloud offers a diverse range of G Suite solutions, including Mail, Calendar, Slides, Drive, Hangouts, and more. Additionally, you can provision or manage devices such as Chromebooks, mobile phones, teleconference equipment, and others that are commonly accessed using Google as the Identity Provider.
Candidates will undergo assessment based on their capacity to strategize and execute G Suite authorization and access, oversee resources and team drive life cycles, handle email management, configure endpoint access, and monitor organizational operations.
For more information about the GCP Professional Data Engineer Certification, read this Google documentation here.
Exam Details: The exam consists of 50 questions with a time limit of 120 minutes.
Cost: $200
8. Professional Machine Learning Engineer
Purpose
Machine learning empowers organizations to analyze extensive datasets, recognize patterns, and enhance their understanding of the data to facilitate better business decisions. To engage in machine learning, it's essential to leverage computers for tasks that require agility, precision, and cost-effectiveness.
Keep in mind that the number of available machine learning positions in the market is limited. Currently, there is ample room with relatively low competition for GCP Professional Machine Learning Engineers. This presents an excellent opportunity to join as an early adopter.
Knowledge
Machine Learning has become vital for businesses aiming to tackle challenges through data science. This exam demands a strong grasp of subjects like ML models, interaction with data pipelines, interpreting metrics, infrastructure management, data engineering, and security.
The exam will assess your capability to define precise machine-learning issues and deploy solutions using the TensorFlow deep-learning framework and GCP services. Unlike other GCP certification exams, a practice exam for this one is not yet available, as it is relatively new.
Learn more about the GCP Machine Learning Engineer Certification by reading this guide.?
Exam Details: The exam consists of 50 questions and has a time limit of 120 minutes.
Cost: $200?
In the next part of our Introduction to Cloud Computing blog tutorial, we will answer another frequently asked question: AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud – Which One Should I Learn?
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* This newsletter was sourced from this Tutorials Dojo article.