How to become a Google Certified Associate Cloud Engineer — the 3 reasons for my success

I would like to share my experiences and the steps I took to become a Google Certified Associate Cloud Engineer for all of you aspiring to become one as well.

Before I get started, if you feel that this exam is a Himalayan task and is too tough, do not feel so. It is doable with the ample amount of preparation. I started on my GCP journey in the beginning of the 5th semester of my undergraduate degree and was able to attain the certification by the end of that semester. While I took roughly 5 months, some of you might take lesser or more time depending on your commitments. So I will just give a gist of my journey and you can choose what suits you best.

THE 3 TIPS

1. The Architecting with Google Cloud Platform Specialization on Coursera : This specialization laid the foundation to my journey. It is a wonderful list of courses taught by specialists from Google and Qwiklabs. The courses contain numerous quizzes and hands on practice through labs that strengthen our concepts. I started the course with no prior knowledge on cloud. Getting confident with the course material helped me understand about the GCP really well. If you are looking for a place to get started, then voila, you have found the right place.
2. Qwiklabs : Completing the Qwiklabs Quests helped me apply the concepts that I learnt in theory. I think this bridge between theory and practicals gives a lot of exposure. I also participated in a couple of Cloud Hero Challenges. Although I was not able to secure a descent rank in those contests, I did learn a lot.
3. The Official Exam Study Guide : This was the final touch to my preparation. I spent about 10 whole days of my vacation getting thorough with the Official Google Cloud Certified Associate Cloud Engineer Study Guide. I think this was the most crucial part of my preparation strategy. I would recommend all of you to refer to this book after you are done with the course. Make an attempt at all the exercise questions and understand the solutions.

THE EXAM

• The exam consisted of 50 multiple choice questions. There was a wide variety of questions. For instance, in some questions, I was given a situation and asked to provide a solution to the problem using GCP. Some others involved choosing the right product. There isn’t a fixed type of questions that can be asked.
• It wasn’t very easy to attempt an the choices given were very close to each other. Rereading the questions helped me get to the solution. I solved the problems by eliminating the choices that I though were wrong

This is my certificate : https://www.credential.net/06960314-69d3-47e3-b489-9a858ff18245?key=a3f9828846024c97de9c487b94e66e940ee7cec7f9779cd8f3d5978057c370e9

With that said, you can apply for the exam through the official site. You can choose a convenient date, time slot and test center. All other details regarding the syllabus and exam can be found here in the official website : https://cloud.google.com/certification/cloud-engineer . Good luck and have a fun time learning.