Google Cloud Certifications

As a result, SAP Cloud Platform managed open-source services like PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis and RabbitMQ are no longer provided. For a communication on this with FAQ, see (for example)

• Evolution of SAP Cloud Platform – Retirement of SAP ‘managed’ backing services

As announced at SAPPHIRE NOW earlier this year, customers are invited to embrace the infrastructure providers, usually tagged in SAP communications as “hyperscalers”

• Embracing the Hyperscalers, Your Fast Lane to Becoming an Intelligent Enterprise in the Cloud
• SAP Partners with Ecosystem to Guide Customers to the Cloud

Microsoft already responded favourably to project “Embrace”

• SAP Partners with Microsoft for First-in-Market Cloud Migration Offerings

And launched the first expert certification

• Microsoft Certified: Azure for SAP Workloads Specialty

SAP on Google Cloud

Google is another SAP partner actively promoting services for SAP

• SAP on Google Cloud (solutions)
• SAP on Google Cloud (blogs)

Although not included in any certification (yet), the SAP on GCP Documentation provides a quickly growing library of guides for planning, deploying, and operating SAP solutions.

Google Cloud Certification Program

To promote its platform, Google has a number of programs to make it easier to get certified

• inthecloud.withgoogle.com

For the argument why you might want to take up a certification (should you need any convincing, or want to get some funding from your boss), see

• Google Cloud Certified Program | Boost your career

There are certifications at the associate and professional level. The most popular, and from an SAP multi-cloud perspective most relevant, are

• Associate Cloud Engineer (ACE)
• Professional Cloud Architect (PCA)

On the certification page, you find all the information you need about the exam (number of questions, time allocated), how to prepare, how to register, etc.

Note that is no hierarchy in the exams (e.g. associate before professional) as there are no prerequisites, although the overview page recommends 6 months+ hands-on experience with GCP for ACE and 3+ years of industry experience including 1+ years designing and managing solutions using GCP for PCA.

Exam Guide

The exam guide for each exam lists exactly the topics you need to know. This is an extensive and comprehensive list that you can take quite literally. You can expect questions about each of the points mentioned.

The practice exam gives a very accurate indication of the type of questions you can expect.

Documentation

One way to prepare (and free of charge) is to research all the requirements of the exam guide in the docs. For this, see the Google Cloud documentation. It is well-written, clear, and concise, and being familiar with its contents is a good things for any cloud professional, exams or not.

Online Courses

Coursera

Google training courses are also very helpful and available online/on-demand from Coursera. Currently, the first month access is free, so if you carve out some time to prepare, this should give you a good head start.

Not to be missed are the courses to prepare for the exam

• Preparing for the Google Cloud Associate Cloud Engineer Exam
• Preparing for the Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect Exam

Pluralsight

Google courses are also available on the Pluralsight. You can get a free 10-day trial when you sign up but your company may also have a corporate subscription (like at SAP).

Linux Academy

Alternative online courses are also available. I can recommend the Google Cloud Certified Associate Cloud Engineer course from the Linux Academy. Again, with a free 7-day trial.

Hands-on Labs

Probably the most important resource for learning are the hands-on labs integrated into the courses provided by Google.

There are close to 400 hands-on labs and 60+ challenges where you can test your knowledge.

The labs provide free access to the Google Cloud Platform for the duration of the lab (30-120 minutes) and although you typically finish the exercises in a fraction of the time, if you pay close attention to what you are doing and why, you should be able to answer (almost) any exam question without problems.

You can signup for free and although most labs require credits, you get these for free as well when you accept the challenges posted by Qwiklabs on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

• www.qwiklabs.com

 

Study Guides

There are also “official” study guides promoted by Google. Although these guides are well-written and informative, they do not provide any essential material not covered in the courses our documentation. In fact, just reading the study guide may not be enough to prepare. Make sure to study also the Google documentation for the listed exam topics.

• Official Google Cloud Certified Associate Cloud Engineer Study Guide (April 2019)
• Official Google Cloud Certified Professional Cloud Architect Study Guide (October 2019)

Free sample chapter provided. You can also get the book on Amazon or the publisher Wiley.

 

Free Tier

As most of you will know, but just in case, you can get a $300 free credit and some products are always free (up to monthly limits).

• cloud.google.com/free

This should be enough for any exam training.

Directory

Once you get your certification(s), you can choose to be listed in the Google Cloud Credential Holder Directory.

• googlecloudcertified.credential.net

 

Wait, There is More

For all GCP products, see

• Google Cloud Developer’s Cheat Sheet