While Google Cloud’s revenue base is lower than that of Microsoft and Amazon, its growth rate is higher, according to a recent April 2020 analysis by cloudwars.co. This has put Google Cloud certifications in the spotlight lately, with employers showing increasing interest in certified GC professionals. In addition, with the accelerated adoption rate of DevOps practices across several industry verticals, the GC Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer certification can be considered one of the most attractive certifications at the moment. This guide provides information and resources on the certification and some tips for the exam.
This certification is for professionals who are skilled at using GC to build software delivery pipelines, deploy and monitor services, and manage and learn from incidents. You as a DevOps engineer should be responsible for efficient development operations that can balance reliability and delivery speed.
The recommended experience level for achieving this certification is, according to Google, three or more years of industry experience including at least one year managing solutions on GC.
This certification provides value and confidence to both employers and employees by validating and demonstrating an individual's ability to:
In today's competitive cloud marketplace, a professional cloud certification is a key differentiator.
To earn this certification, you need to pass a single exam:
This exam is designed to determine only whether or not an individual meets a minimum passing standard. For that reason, you do not receive a score or any feedback after taking the exam (other than whether you passed or failed it).
Although it is a professional-level certification, there are no prerequisites for taking the Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer exam.
It is, however, a comprehensive and technical exam that will require you to have experience and/or have done extensive studies on DevOps and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) with GC.
The following skills are within the scope of the exam:
Check out the Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer exam guide for more details on the topics and the latest updates on the list.
Below are some resources to help you prepare for the exam:
In a 2020 Tech Salary Report by tech career website Dice, both Cloud Engineer and DevOps Engineer were amongst the top paying occupations, and also saw the biggest increases in salary and job postings between 2018 and 2019. The average salary for a DevOps Engineer was at US$117,478 in 2019, an increase of 5.2% from the previous year.
In addition, according to survey responses from the Global Knowledge 2019 IT Skills and Salary Report, 30% of Google Cloud certified professionals took on more responsibility or leadership roles at work.
The employment outlook and negotiation potential for a DevOps Engineer seems very promising as companies struggle to hire individuals with that kind of competence. In a Mashable infographic listing the top ten hardest hires for tech companies based on data from recruitment website Indeed, DevOps Engineer is listed at the top as the most difficult role for companies to fill. So it's reasonable to expect that within the next couple of years there will be further boosts in salary and career prospects for DevOps professionals. Paired with Google Cloud's growth, the Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer certification has great potential for future-proofing your career.
This certification is one of GC's professional certifications, which are described by Google as certifications that "span key technical job functions and assess advanced skills in design, implementation, and management".
Since there are no prerequisites for taking the certification exam, and since it is not itself a prerequisite for any others, this certification is not part of a larger certification path. It could be the one certification to aim for if you are a DevOps engineer working with GC.
The adoption of Google Cloud is growing and with it the demand for experienced GC professionals. The role of DevOps Engineer has also been in high demand, with great salary growth prospects given the difficulty companies are facing in finding such competency. This all makes the GC Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer certification a very attractive one, especially considering the relatively low barrier to getting certified, with a single exam and no prerequisite. For professionals experienced with Google Cloud and skilled in building software delivery pipelines, deploying and monitoring services, and site reliability engineering practices, this could be a great certification to obtain and showcase your knowledge.
Finally, if you decide to take the exam, here are some tips for passing it: