DISCLAIMER: Note this is not an official Google Guide how to get certified and I am explaining my own study path.
I am receiving multiple questions on how to start GCP certification. I am not able to answer all of the queries, so I decided to put together info on the resources and methodologies I use. Enjoy!
GCP certification seems to be on a massive demand these days! The Cloud Architect certificate was reported to be the best-paid certificate in the cloud industry: Link. Sounds convincing?
This week I have received news that I finally achieved 10/10 GCP certificates. Being the first individual in the world holding all of them. Having in mind the Certified Fellow certificate is available for invited only, the chase for getting them all might be perceived unfair but what can I say – I am super happy to work for AtoS and that I have been trusted to take it.
Frist things first – decide on your path.
I decided to divide the GCP certification into logical paths that will allow you to best prepare for either getting the certifications that best suits your role or simply getting them all :).
I would say that there are 2 main paths; GCP and G Suite.
G Suite path
The G Suite path has not much to do with GCP except the aspects related to Identity as a Service. I really enjoyed taking this path as it helped me to understand the G Suite package and it helps me with my day-to-day work! It, however, will not help you much to work with GCP itself. I suggest you either take this path in parallel or just leave it for the end of your journey.
GCP path
Note: I will create tips on passing each of the exam in separate posts. This is to show you how set your plan on passing them all
I strongly suggest starting your journey with Cloud Architect as it gives you all the fundamentals you need to pass other exams. You will learn about all of the most important services and when to use each of them. Then you should look at the Cloud Engineer exam. It will be a quick one – just make sure you are comfortable with gcloud and gsutil commands and you should be good to go.
Next, you can choose one of the 3 paths:
- Data Engineer exam is very much targeted on Data Engineers and Scientists so you might need more time to prepare for it if you come from the infrastructure world.
- Network and Security exams have much in common. E.g. firewalls, vpn etc. You can put them in one bucket and take them in a row.
- Developer and DevOps exams do focus on Apps development and management they focus very much on GKE, App Engine, SRE topics.
Hybrid Multi-Cloud Fellow exam is an invitation-only and would require you to have knowledge from most all of the GCP exams. It is tests both your architectural and engineers skills.
In the next part of the article, we will look at all available resources to prepare for the exams.
Check my tips for passing exams here:
Want to start straight away- check out our book!
Google Cloud Certified Fellow #5 