GCP Cloud Digital Leader
June 8, 2024
I was recently offered the opportunity to attend an instructor-led Google Cloud Platform training at my work and signed up for the GCP Cloud Digital Leader session. I chose this topic because I had already been studying for the GCP Machine Learning Engineer Exam, and I thought it would give me a good overview of most GCP Services and would give me an idea of what to expect on my next exam.
The instructor-led training followed the same material as the Google Cloud Skills Boost Digital Cloud Leader path but was scheduled over 2 eight-hour sessions. I have some experience using GCP (mostly BigQuery) but have been using mostly AWS for the past three years, so I viewed this as a refresher. In retrospect, I would have preferred to take the Google Cloud Skills Boost training on my own time so that I could skip sections I was more familiar with. If you are new to Cloud technologies or GCP specifically, I would recommend covering all the material.
After completing my two-day training, I studied the material on a Friday night and on Saturday then took the certification exam on a Sunday. This was sufficient for me to pass the exam and I found the material to be straightforward. The exam consists of 50-60 multiple choice questions, and you have 90 minutes to complete the exam. This exam costs $100 and you can either take it at a testing center or via at home proctor (this was the option I chose). I finished in around 25 minutes. As a Foundational certification, the exam questions do not go in depth are mostly focused around knowing which GCP solutions are best for given use cases.
My recommendation to prepare for this exam is to complete the Google Cloud Skills Boost course and refer to this study guide by WALKRinthecloud, which was very helpful for my cram session. The list of GCP services and their uses was especially helpful.
After you pass your exam, be sure to log into the Google Certification Portal – you will find a Google Cloud Certification Exam Discount for 50% off your next exam or renewal (non-transferrable). If you are looking to continue your GCP journey, this is a good exam to start with to familiarize yourself with a broad range of GCP services and to get comfortable with the exam process. If you are comfortable with Cloud Technologies and familiar with these types of certifications, I would recommend skipping this one and focusing on one of the professional level certifications.
This is a foundational level exam, and as such I was able to study for the certification in a few days. The materials I used are linked below:
- Study Guide: this study guide by Sarah Walker-Leptich (WALKRinthecloud)
- Google Cloud Skills Boost Course: Cloud Digital Leader Learning Path
- Google Official Practice Exam: Cloud Digital Leader Sample Questions
