Google Cloud Certification Where To Start From

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) has recently evolved into a serious contender for one of the best cloud providers globally. Due to the platform’s quick rise to the top, there has been a skill shortage of certified Google Cloud engineers. If you’ve been wondering about a Google Cloud certification – where to start is a fairly common question which we’ll be answering via this article.

How to Get into Google Cloud the Right Way

The ‘right way’ is an interesting way to put it. At ML Academy, our students have found success through our KCE process. The KCE process stands for Knowledge, Certification and Expertise. The diagram given below makes the process self-explanatory.

Google Cloud certifications are broken down into two main categories based on experience – Associate and Professional. 

If you’re a complete beginner, an Associate exam would be your best choice to getting started with GCP. It’s also best for people tasked with the maintenance of the Cloud itself – be it a task as simple as spinning up a Virtual Machine on or maintaining projects on the cloud. Simply put – if you’re looking into how to get into Google Cloud – the single certificate under this path – the Associate Cloud Engineer exam would be it.

If you’re an experienced Cloud professional with past experience on a different cloud provider – a Professional certification would make more sense. These certifications are broken down into particular roles which test a user’s ability to perform advanced operations on GCP. These certifications also expect you to have practical, hands-on knowledge about the role you’re about to enter. An example would be the Google Data Engineer Exam.

Before we move on to discussing the Google Cloud certification path – are these certifications even worth it? 

Is the Google Cloud Certification Training Worth It?

Whether you’re a Machine Learning or Data Engineer – the infrastructure provided by Google Cloud can help engineers build robust systems. Owing to the platform’s swift rise to covering more and more services, employers understand the need to shift to GCP. But again – what purpose does it serve for an individual to get certified? Let’s talk numbers.

According to the IT Skills and Salary Report, 93% IT decision-makers agree that hiring individuals certified in a skill bring along more value. Now that you’re aware of your certifications value from an employer’s perspective – what value does it add to your own skillset or value? Here’s it:

  • Verify your skills in the domain of Cloud infrastructure and GCP by taking an exam created by the makers of the platform itself
  • Allow employers to verify your certified skill by means of a digital badge assigned to you by Google
  • Join an exclusive community of certified individuals in the Google Cloud certified directory
  • Jump up the corporate ladder by taking on more responsibility and leadership roles for the GCP domain
  • Sign up for exclusive merchandise and swag by Google

If you’re on board and feel like giving the exam a go – we’ve also compiled a study guide for you to know about Google Cloud certifications and where to start. Let’s take a look.

Google Fundamentals Study Guide: A to Z

Google Cloud certification exams are fairly tough and that’s what makes them worthwhile. That doesn’t mean these exams can’t be passed with the right resources and study material in your hands. Here’s our short study guide on taking a Google Cloud certification path. Remember the KCE process explained above and just follow this journey:

1. Pick your Google Cloud Certification Path

First thing’s first – pick a path for yourself. Are you an associate cloud engineer or do you wish to take on the professional certificate paths? Once decided, take a look at Google’s own pre-requisites for the exams. For associates, you don’t need much experience in the industry. However, professional certificates require at least 3+ years of industry experience and 1+ years of managing solutions on GCP.

2. Courses and Training Resources

You can even jump the prerequisites if you’re capable enough to upskill yourself via courses. Google also does an excellent job of putting up Google Cloud certification training where you can get both theoretical as well as hands-on practice. Also be on the lookout for Google-related events where they give out credits for students to use Qwiklabs for free. Google also has a YouTube channel where they publish great 1-minute videos for people to learn more about Cloud. 

Apart from Google, we at ML Academy also publish content to help empower students learn about the Cloud realm. We also recommend the following sources to prepare for the cloud certifications:

  • A Cloud Guru
  • Coursera – Google has several courses on the platform to cover the various skills
  • CloudAcademy

There are several courses on these platforms which you’ll have to take based on the certification path you take. 

3. Documentation, Case Studies, and Exam Guides

For the certification you’ve chosen, make sure to go through the exam guide published by Google. It can help you identify what parts you’ve covered already and which sections you can cover better. Identifying these knowledge gaps is fairly important. For example – the Data Engineer exam guide has over four sections of designing, building, and operationalizing solutions on GCP.

Apart from the exam guides – make sure to go through the official documentation provided by Google to cover previously identified gaps. These are fairly extensive so we don’t recommend jumping in a rabbit hole. Rather, identify what segments you can cover better and give those a thorough read.

A few exams also cater to lengthy case studies. For e.g., the Data Engineer exam features a case study. You can review the exam guide as well as recommended resources by Google to cover the case studies. Apart from them, you can also work on data models published on external sources such as Kaggle to build your expertise.

4. Mock Exams and Practice

Once you’ve done ample study based on the courses and videos we’ve recommended, go for mock exams. ACloudGuru and Google Cloud training both publish mock exams for you to test your knowledge before an exam. 

Google Cloud Certification: Where to From Here

This is the part you go and register yourself for the Google Cloud certification. Most of these exams are 2-hours long and the result is a simple “Pass” or “Fail”. If, unfortunately, you couldn’t pass the exam the first time, you can re-take it within the next 14 days. If you couldn’t pass the second time, you’d have to wait for 60 days to retake the exam. 

That’s it for our “Google Cloud Certification: Where to Start” guide. We hope you pass the exam and get to flaunt the digital badge of the certification presented by Google to you. Goodluck!