How to pass the Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect Exam!
First questions first, why would you want to get the GCP Professional Cloud Architect certificate? According to Forbes IT 2019:
Google Cloud Certified Professional Cloud Architect is the highest paying certification of 2019, paying an average salary of $139,529
You read that right $140,000 on AVERAGE. If that is not reason enough, also many companies are specifically putting the professional cloud architect certificate into their ever increasing list of hiring points. You will stand head and shoulders above all other competitors and negotiate a higher salary.
Now here comes the hard bit. How do you get this certificate? I am not going to lie getting this certificate is not easy but here I will outline some tips and courses to prepare you for the exam.
- Industry experience is extremely helpful. Just pointing this out there no amount of studying can replace real working experience. Having worked a few years in sys-admin or operations teams will help greatly in passing the exam. However, with no industry experience it is still possible to pass it’s just really hard.
- Enrol in a course. Following a course is a good way to know what to study for and the instructors will point out areas to look out for in the exam it is extremely useful for passing the exam. There are a few options out there now for the professional cloud architect course, I will touch more on this later.
- Have a study group. It’s always better to study in a group that way if you don’t know anything you can always ask for help and the group can keep you accountable to keep going as everyone has the same goal.
- Actually use Google Cloud Platform (GCP) products. If you don’t have the chance to use GCP at work. Easily create a free GCP account and spin up several services to have a look yourself. If you do enrol in a course, most courses will walk you through the use of the GCP products related to the Architect’s exam.
Which course should you take?
Google recommends the Coursera specialisation:
However, this option is extremely expensive as Coursera will get you to commit to a monthly subscription plan. And if you don’t spend every waking hour studying for the course (as most working professionals won’t be able to do) you will probably have to purchase the subscription for a few months.
Furthermore, there are 6 courses in the specialisation and will take approximately 30–50 hours to complete. As a warning the courses are pretty boring and a lot of it is a Google sales pitch because it is from Google. The most annoying though is that even after sitting through all of it most of the exam material isn’t even covered.
So if you are dead set on doing the Coursera course it does give you a good foundation into learning GCP and is a good start to passing the exam. After sitting through the Coursera specialisation you will definitely need to study another course.
To help you further prepare for your Google Cloud Certification journey sign up for a free trial which includes awesome free content:
https://mailchi.mp/getgcpcertified.com/freetrial
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