Exam Certification (Feb 2023)
Disclaimer: Non official content, errors and omissions excepted
The Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect (PCA) Certification is the exam most folks interested in working with Google Cloud technologies should take. Aimed at experienced professionals working in information technology, it tests your knowledge of products and implementation using a series of case studies.
To pass the exam a candidate is required to demonstrate their knowledge in a variety of scenarios relating to using Google Cloud.
I have taken a number of iterations of this exam over the years and in Feb 2023, I took the exam to re-certify.
Whilst getting to know Google Cloud you can often miss crucial parts of information that will help you use the platform. This is a common complaint from folks working with other Cloud Providers. Knowing how the platform is structured is incredibly useful on Google Cloud and this is essentially where the exam comes in.
Exam Topics
The exam is meant to cover the majority of the product areas in Google Cloud. Specifically the following areas will be covered to a varying degree:
- Compute
- Networking
- Storage
- Databases
- Operations
- BigData
During the exam, you are exposed to a series of scenarios that require you to select an appropriate option. Personally I am not a fan of case study based exams, in this revision of the exam, there are four different case studies.
If you intend to take the exam, then you should read the case studies carefully prior to the exam. Thinking through how the scenarios can be fulfilled using Google Cloud, will save exam time.
Exam Experience
The exam can be taken in an exam facility or remotely.
Taking the exam at a facility, is the easiest option, as the environment is set up for you in advance. All you need to do is turn up and provide identification to verify your participation.
If you choose to take a proctored exam remotely, remember to leave time for the pre-check. Realistically, you should budget an additional 30 minutes on top of the 2 hour exam.
I typically take the exam remotely as there isnt a provider close to my location. While the remote option sounds super useful, it comes with its own challenges. Below is a quick summary of the pre-exam activities.
- Kryterion Sentinel software (Windows/Mac) installation requires administrator rights
- Kryterion system check, try and do this at least a day before to be on the safe side
- No breaks allowed during the two hour exam
- Do take the practice exam to build some confidence prior to the actual exam
- (Try and) get a good nights sleep before the exam
- The exam is multiple choice, so rule out the wrong answers first!!
Exam Maths
Google Cloud do not indicate the pass mark for the exam, but I would assume its somewhere greater than 70%.
Folks have lots of different strategies relating to answering the questions. Personally I tend to have a go at each question.
If I am unsure I will mark the question to indicate I am not confident on the answer. I do this as knowing how many questions I was unsure of indicates how close I am to success. Consider the table below, which is based on a 50 question exam.
Aiming to be confident on 80% of the questions, means I can be incorrect on a maximum of 10 questions (i.e. 40/50). Seems worthwhile using the question marker during the exam!
Depending on what type of person you are the above calculation may be of some use. When taking these types of exams I find it helpful to think in terms of how many answers I can afford to NOT know.
Training Material
If you have got this far, I haven’t put you off taking the exam.
In which case, the material I used to get ready for the exam is listed below.
You can reference the list at my blog site using this link Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect.
Note: This is not an exhaustive list. Also try and prioritize the type of material that works best for you!
Exam Extras
On successfully passing the exam, are officially welcomed to the Cloud Certified Professionals. In previous years this included some pretty nice swag.
At the time of writing, completing the Professional Cloud Architect exam successfully still meant you were eligible for a very nice sweatshirt. The goodies you receive will vary overtime, and geographic region.
Exam Summary
So is the Google Cloud Certified Professional Architect still worth it in 2023?
Well, it depends. If you work with Google Cloud, you should definitely take this exam and re-certify every two years. I say this because, its the minimum level of attainment for anyone working with Google Cloud. Taking this exam will help you to understand what the cloud provides and consider best practices in relation to the cloud.
If you do not work with Google Cloud currently, but plan to in the future, this is also a great way to build a solid understanding of the platform and services.
For the remainder of folks, I would say your money could be spent more wisely. At $200+Tax, the exam is not cheap and does not guarantee you will have the requisite knowledge to work on Google Cloud or any other cloud provider.
What do you do once you have successfully passed the Professional Cloud Architect exam?
There are a number of other exams to take in this series. In no particular order:
- Professional Cloud Architect
- Professional Data Engineer
- Professional Security Engineer
- Professional Network Engineer
- Professional Cloud Developer
- Professional DevOps Engineer
- Professional Database Engineer
- Professional Collaboration Engineer
- Professional Machine Learning Engineer
Best of luck!
