Cosmic Thoughts

My Journey to Google Cloud Certified Associate Cloud Engineer

 2210  11 mins

Hey you, wonderful Earthling! ✨

This is the story of my journey to become a Google Cloud Certified Associate Cloud Engineer ☁️. I hope that here you will find some inspiration and ideas to start your journey or decide if you want to go on the journey yourself 🚶‍♀️

The topics covered are:

🤔 What motivated me to become Google Cloud certified?

🚶‍♀️ What was my journey using Google Cloud before taking the exam?

🗓️ The Timeline

📓 How did I prepare?

📚 What are resources that helped me?

📝 Exam Day!

📜 Getting the Certificate

🚦Certification Expiration

❓ Is this certification for you?

👩‍🚀 Closing Thoughts: Gratitude, Growth and Setting New Horizons

Let’s get started!

🤔 What motivated me to become Google Cloud certified?

My motivation came from 2 things, mainly:

  1. I wanted to show up better for my teammates. I considered that having a better knowledge of the Cloud Platform used in my team at work would help me show up better. I am what I consider a Social Engineer. I thrive working in a team, and I strive to show up in my team in the most effective way I can.
  2. Get GCP Certified 2023 program. This also appeals to the social part of me. Preparing for a Certification Exam with others and having a system of support to guide me through the journey sounded much more fun than going at it alone. The program is a no‑cost offering and includes a certification voucher to attempt the exam within the program timeline.

🚶‍♀️ What was my experience with Google Cloud before taking the exam?

I used GCP before taking the exam for about 12 months and during distinct spans.

🗓️ The Timeline

The idea of taking the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Associate Engineer exam and going on this journey sparked this past August 🍁 when I found the Get GCP Certified 2023 program that Google offers every year ✨ I was looking for resources to learn more about Google Cloud since I had recently joined an organization where all the infrastructure was on Google Cloud.

When I found out about the program and that applications were open, I read about the commitment they were expecting from people who signed up:

This program will run during BST (UK/London) hours only and might require a significant time investment of approximately 9‑10 hours per week, depending on your experience.

The FAQs also said the official kick-off date was Tuesday, September 12th, 2023.

I then looked into my plans for the following months, thinking briefly about what this would mean regarding my summer and fall this year. I took ten deep breaths and decided to apply. I thought, ok, I’m only applying, and I hope for the best (that they will accept me). After that, I’ll make a more concrete commitment.

📆 Detailed timeline

▶️ On September 8th, I received an email with the subject: “Welcome to The Get GCP Certified Program!” Yay! This meant I was IN! And now, I needed to commit to it.

▶️ On September 18th, we had our first one-day (8h) virtual, live training. The trainer introduced the different Google Cloud services, products, and concepts.

After the session on September 18th, we were asked to complete a certain amount of labs by September 25th. I finished the labs within that time. And …

▶️ On September 29th, I received an invitation to a pre-kick-off session, meaning I had qualified for the program’s second stage. Yay!

▶️ On October 2nd, we had a pre-kick-off session where we got more information about the program and the journey in more detail. The learning plan was also shared with us at this stage; it was well-detailed, with marked dates and expectations. From then on, we also got four weeks of access to the Google Cloud Skills Boost platform. The Google Cloud Skills Boost platform gives you access to the Cloud Engineer Learning Path. Each path consists of courses and challenges that, upon completion, make you entitled to a Skill Badge 🔰. Some of these Skill Badges are required to apply for the certification voucher to attempt the exam.

▶️ On October 3rd, we entered a 7-week journey of a guided learning program that included six trainer-guided Exam Guide Review Sessions. Each session covered a section from the ACE Exam Study Guide, lasted 90 minutes, and included a Q&A.

▶️ On November 2nd, I completed all the necessary Skill Badges, applied for the certification voucher to attempt the exam, and got it! I also scheduled the exam 🙌 We were ON!

▶️ On December 1st, we got eight more weeks of access to the Google Cloud Skills Boost platform.

▶️ December 11th, the day I presented and passed the exam! 🎉

▶️ January 10th was the limit to apply for a certification voucher to attempt the exam.

▶️ February 21st was the last date of the exam voucher validity. This was implicitly the deadline for attempting the exam.

📓 How did I prepare?

  1. Get a GCP overview during the one-day (8h) virtual, live training with a trainer that corresponds to the first stage of the Get GCP Certified program.
  2. I set a goal 🎯 for when I wanted to attempt the exam. Since I had plans from mid-December, I set the goal to attempt the exam in the first or second week of December.

This meant that I would have to complete the required Skill Badges during the first 4-week period that we had access to the Google Cloud Skills Boost platform. So,

  1. I completed the courses and got the required Skill Badges to ask for the certification voucher. I also attended/listened to the trainer-guided Exam Guide Review Sessions recordings. I attempted to complete the courses related to the section we would review, before the review session, but I only managed it sometimes. If I were to do this again, that’s how I would do things. I would complete the courses before the review session. This was a very intense 4-week period for me 🤯. There was lots and lots of information and knowledge to be integrated.

I scheduled the exam once I finished the required Skill Badges and got the certification voucher. During this period, I still had six weeks to prepare. At this stage,

  1. I completed the rest of the Skill Badges in the learning plan and then took a 2-week break of no GCP 🧘‍♀️ I traveled, disconnected from computers, and left my brain to do all the learning integration 🧠.

I picked up the learning again for two weeks before the exam. This was also an intense period for me, and I focused on the following:

  1. Completion of the Cloud Engineer Learning Path. The Get GCP Certified program did not include all the courses in the learning path in the Google Cloud Skills Boost platform, so I thought that completing the learning path in the platform would help me be better prepared and provide a more profound overview of the different exam sections.
  2. Completion of the Preparing for Your Associate Cloud Engineer Journey course. This course includes quizzes that can help you check for exam readiness in different sections. Each quiz corresponds to a section, and for each section, you get resources to help you review topics you feel you need more preparation for. In general, these resources correspond to the GCP documentation.

Finally,

  1. I completed the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Certification: Associate Cloud Engineer 2020 two days before the exam.
  2. I took the Google Cloud Certified - Associate Cloud Engineer (Pearson Practice Test) one day before the exam.

In summary, I believe the approach I took (without planning it all upfront) was as single diamond shaped, and as follows:

  1. Opening up: an overview of GCP (first stage of the program - 8h session).
  2. Expansion: I got deep into the knowledge for all the exam sections with the support and guidance of the Google Cloud Skills Boost platform and the Exam Guide Review Sessions.
  3. Contraction: Follow a course specific to the Google Cloud Platform: Associate Cloud Engineer exam.
  4. Closing up: Take the Google Cloud Certified - Associate Cloud Engineer (Pearson Practice Test).

📚 What are the resources that helped me?

📝 Exam Day!

When you schedule the exam, you have two options for the exam delivery methods:

  1. Take the exam remotely (online proctored exam).
  2. Take the exam at a nearby testing center.

I went with 2. and took the exam at a testing center.

My exam was at scheduled for noon. During the hours before the exam, there was no GCP for me 😌 All l I did was taking a lovely train ride to the area where the Test Center was located. I arrived about 3 hours before the exam at the nearby area and stayed in a hotel lobby, drinking tea, reading a nice uplifting book, and listening to music.

The hotel where I stayed was 10 minutes away from the Test Center, so I headed out to the Test Center about 30 minutes before the exam time.

I arrived at the Test Center and said I was there to take the GCP Associate Cloud Engineer Exam; they looked me up on a list, asked me for my ID, and took me to a room with computers dedicated to taking certification tests.

I sat down at the desk I was taken to, took ten deep breaths, and said to myself: May it be what it will be. And I clicked on Start Exam.

The exam is 2 hours long and has 50-60 multiple-choice and multiple-select questions. If you are unsure about the answers, you can mark questions you would like to return to. This is a feature that I used 🤭 You also have a timer at the top of the window to keep you aware of the time.

Most of the questions are use-case-based. You are presented with a case and should choose the options (GCP solution) most likely to apply to it. There are a few questions where the GCP solution/tool has already been selected, and you should decide on the configuration or setup that would best fit the use case described in the question.

In my experience, there is enough time to review the use cases, compare the answers, and choose the one that most likely fits the use case. I used almost every minute of the exam time and clicked on End Exam about two minutes before the time ran out.

The cool thing is that you will know if you passed or not after you end the exam (and after answering a survey about the exam).

When I read PASSED on the monitor, I was thrilled! I felt a massive load off my shoulders and my mind! I left the room, thanked the people at the Test Center and left the building with a big smile on my face. I wanted to go dancing 💃

📜 Getting the Certificate

After you pass an Exam, you will receive a digital certificate after Google validates your score. In my case, this validation took about 24 hours. I got access to my Certificate via Accredible.

🚦 Certification Expiration

The Associate Cloud Engineer certifications are valid for three years from the certification date of issue.

❓ Is this certification for you?

To answer this question …

My first suggestion is to Get informed! Look into the Cloud Engineer Learning Path, review the content, and decide if the topics there would serve you, your career, and your future.

Second, ask yourself: Why do I want to get certified? Sit down or walk for a few moments with that question in mind. Or think about it for a couple of days.

Given the answer, decide, and if all is leaning to Yes! Let’s do this!, then I suggest you:

  1. Plan how you are going to approach the journey. I took at least 12 weeks to prepare for the exam, and this was my main focus (with a 2-week break in between). What would work best for you?
  2. Plan how you will keep yourself motivated. Participating in the Get GCP Certified program was extremely helpful since there were marked objectives and goals, and I was part of a group of people (a cohort) on the same journey as I was. If you can participate in the Get GCP Certified program in the following editions, I recommend doing so! It’s free, and you will get a voucher for the exam if you comply with the requirements.

👩‍🚀 Closing Thoughts: Gratitude, Growth and Setting New Horizons

I am happy to have gone through this journey and how the pieces gradually fell into place.

On the journey, I learned a lot about Google Cloud and Networking, Security, Cloud-Native Applications, Docker, and Infrastructure as Code.

Thank you to those organizing and leading the Get GCP Certified program. Your support and encouragement made the journey much more fun and exciting.

Thank you for following up on the journey. I wish you all the best on your quest, whatever you decide!

As always, may the Force be with you! ✨