GCP Professional Cloud Architect Certification - Everything you need to know

There is a high probability that you came here looking for an answer to the question of how to pass the GCP Professional Cloud Architect exam? If so, I hope you can find some helpful information here. I’m not going to list all the questions you might come across here, nothing like that. I will try to bring you closer to the scope of the material, what the exam itself looks like, and what materials may be useful for you when preparing for the GCP Professional Cloud Architect exam. I took this exam myself at the end of June this year, so I want to share my experience and impressions with you

Google Cloud Platform certifications

Before we move to the topic of the article, take a quick look at the entire cross-section of GCP certification

Google like other large cloud providers, has an extensive certification offer. The most popular certificates and the most chosen ones are Cloud Engineer and Cloud Architect. From the picture, we can conclude that these exams have different levels. However, from my observations, the difficulty level is very similar. The difference is the specificity of these exams. The Cloud Engineer exam focuses more on the skills needed for daily work with GCP. This is a more technical exam. In this exam, there may be questions about very GCP-specific use-cases or even questions about specific CLI commands. As for the Cloud Architect range, this one is wider but shallower. The exam is more theoretical, not so much focused on the specific aspects of GCP. Universal knowledge of software architecture and understanding of business requirements is useful here.

In short, if you have commercial experience with the GCP cloud, the Engineer exam may be easier for you. However, if you don’t work with GCP on a daily basis, but you have experience with a different cloud, I recommend that you take the Professional Cloud Architect exam first.

Basic information about the GCP Professional Cloud Architect exam

Preparation materials for the GCP Professional Architect exam

There are a lot of courses anon the GCP cloud and strictly preparation for the exam available on the web. I started my adventure with GCP from scratch about three months before my exam. For the first two months, I combined deepening my theoretical knowledge with practical exercises. In the last month before the exam, I spent time solving sample tests. Below is a list of courses and sources that I have used. In my opinion, getting to know them is enough to get a positive result on the official test.

ACG GCP Professional Cloud Architect course - a complementary course that fully prepares you for the exam, as well as a friendly introduction to the world of GCP. Rich in extra materials, labs, and sample tests. A good proposition for someone who already has experience with cloud, but not with GCP. If you don’t have such experience, GCP 101 can also be a good starting point.

Whizalabs Practice Test - a very large database of sample questions. We get 4 Mock exams here with unique questions. These are not questions from official exams, but their form reflects the certification exam. Each question is accompanied by explanations to help you understand the issue.

Dan Sullivan Professional Cloud Architect Study Guide - preparation book for the Professional Architect Exam. Explaining aspects not only related to GCP but also to the system architecture and business knowledge. The book also includes a rich number of exam questions that are definitely worth practicing.

Official Google Practice Exam - a few sample questions that you should read as part of our preparation.

Professional Cloud Architect - exam scope

Below I have listed a few topics that constitute the scope of the material. It is certainly not a full-range list, but I recommend that you check off these topics while you study

Practical tips for the exam

Online exam

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DevOps & Serverless Enthusiast. AWS, GCP, and K8S certified. Home page: https://abartosik.dev

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