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Google Cloud Certifications - A Beginner's Guide

economize-team — Wed, 23 Mar 2022 16:29:45 +0000

What is a GCP Certification?

The Google Cloud Platform (GCP) certification is an official certification given by Google to individuals, that verifies that a candidate possesses the necessary technical abilities, knowledge, and technological know-how in cloud computing. It will also greatly assist in obtaining higher employment positions in reputable companies. Although the process of studying and obtaining GCP certification demands complete dedication on the part of the participants, following successful completion and course completion, it becomes significantly easier to always find get a well-deserving position considering the bright up and coming future of cloud computing.

There are a variety of different certification paths that span the GCP environment according to the position you choose. Each certification is valid for 2 years from the competition date, and must be renewed after expiration due to the ever changing nature of the industry.

Certification exams can be taken worldwide through independent testing centers or remotely online as long as you satisfy the examination criteria. From foundational level to in-depth professions like machine learning engineer and cloud security engineer, certification examinations cover all levels and areas of knowledge. There's a certification for everyone, whether you're new to GCP or have been doing it for years. The maximum cost for any certification is $200, and is definitely worth it when compared to the competitive benefits provided.

Types of Google Cloud Certifications

GCP Certification Paths are learning methods designed by Google to enable students and future cloud enthusiasts in becoming professionally certified. It allows them to display sound demonstration and working knowledge of the GCP environment according to their specified role.

Each certification's material, costs, benefits, and training differ from each other as they all specialize in different aspects of GCP.

Foundational Certificate - Cloud Digital Leader

The Cloud Digital Leader certification is a generalized title that demonstrates basic knowledge and evaluation of use cases for the most popular GCP services.

The exam covers a variety of material such as multidisciplinary cloud knowledge with architecture, governance, and cost details. Google Cloud knowledge, with respect to hierarchy, cost, and compliance topics, and overviews of Google products and services, such as VMs, containers, serverless compute, data management, machine learning, and more are all important topics one should know about before the exam.

This certification is best for GCP novices and individuals who want to expand their cloud computing knowledge. It requires no practical experience and costs $99.

Associate Certificate - Cloud Engineer

The Associate Google Cloud Certification is an Engineer level certification that students and professionals with little or no knowledge of the subject may obtain.

If your job entails managing a Google cloud environment on a daily basis, the GCP Associate Cloud Engineer certification is a good fit. This exam is meant to demonstrate your ability to construct and administer GCP infrastructures in a cost-effective and secure manner. Knowing how to use the command line is vital.

Setting up your GCP environment, billing, and accounts, choosing and configuring a set of GCP services, including cost planning and security settings, deploying and managing a cloud solution, including container monitoring and logging, and managing running cloud services will all be covered in the exam.

This certification is best for administrators who will be possessing 6 months of hands-on experience with GCP. It costs $125 and is a demonstration of your ability to work with services in the GCP environment.

Professional Certificate - Cloud Architect, Data Engineer, Cloud Developer, Network Engineer, Security Engineer, Collaboration Engineer, and Machine Learning Engineer

The Professional Cloud Certification is a second-level certification that aids in the development and assessment of participants' advanced architectural design knowledge and abilities. Over the certification process of learning, various implementation skills depending on work function are increased, and the final test assists in determining the amount of advances and skills that have been obtained by professionals and students during the course duration.

The amount of professional experience needed for these certifications range from 2-3 years, and at least one year deploying and managing solutions from GCP. All of the certifications cost $200, and are made for professionals seeking to specialize in their domain using GCP.

GCP Certifications: Free Training, Resources, and Guides

Each certification has its own unique "Learning path", and thus requires specific materials for preparation. There are still quite a number of free resources on the internet, most of which are supplemented by Google.

For any certification, hands-on GCP experience is key. There are a few options when it comes to using GCP for free, as Google always encourages users to familiarize themselves with the platform. The '90 Day Free trial', 'Always Free Program' and 'Free Cloud Credits' are a few programs that enable you to use limited GCP services completely free.

Here are a few resources that will help you jumpstart your GCP Certification -

Qwiklabs Google Cloud Essentials
GCP course materials at A Cloud Guru
Ivam Luz's GCP Documentation Guide
Awesome GCP Certifications Repository

You can also earn a free skill badge from Google by completing lab training exercises. These skill badges can be displayed on your profile and resume.

Conclusion

As companies continue to expand while using Google Cloud's services, the industry demand for certified cloud professionals will keep growing. Completing a certification from Google could give you the professional edge you need to exceed in your career. With a GCP certification, you have a verified ability to manage, deploy, configure, optimize, and effectively utilize all the required services for your cloud workloads.

If your organization relies on GCP and utilizes a significant amount of cloud workload, Economize might be the right option for you.
Economize provides the most competitive cost streamlining for all your varied cloud computing needs. Reduce and optimize your cloud service usage to obtain the most efficient GCP environment possible. Learn how a multitude of different services and tools can enable you to gain valuable insights into your cost expenditure.

How to get free Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Credits

economize-team — Mon, 14 Mar 2022 12:23:42 +0000

What are Google Cloud Credits?

To help new users get started with Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Google offers an incentive called Google Cloud Credits. Users may redeem these credits to access GCP services for free, for example building a website, or creating an application or service in the Google Cloud environment. There is a certain time and usage limit with these credits, but Google also offers "always free" services that can be used limitlessly.

Google aims to give free credits to teachers and students, for the purpose of education and a wider adoption of GCP. Free Cloud Credits are also granted to startups as well as for research purposes. This is Google's way of giving back, by encouraging and promoting new thinkers and industries from their own cloud platform.

Google Cloud's Free Tier

Free tier is the most basic way of using GCP. You are given an extended trial and access to free resources that you may use to gain an understanding of Google Cloud. This is meant to give new users a basic understanding of GCP by allowing users to try it themselves.

90 Day $300 Trial

The Google Cloud 90 day trial is meant for new customers. The trial ends when 90 days have been completed since activation, or when $300 in Google Credits are exhausted. If you are using Always Free resources during the trial, they will not be charged against your credits. When the trial is complete, you can choose to pay and continue with your data, otherwise Google will delete your resources.

There are certain limitations when using the 90 day trial

There can't be more than 8 cores (or virtual CPUs) active at once.
GPUs cannot be added to VM instances.
You are unable to seek an increase in your quota.
Windows Server images cannot be used to build VM instances.
Google also has a list of eligibility requirements, you may check out their GCP documentation.

Google Cloud Always Free

The Always Free program is the next logical stage after utilizing the 90 day trial. You are granted free access to a limited amount of GCP services. There is no time limit or credit usage when utilizing an Always Free service, and the data that you process will be attached to your account indefinitely.

With limitations, you may use these services in the Always Free program.

Compute Engine
Cloud Storage
Cloud Functions
Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)
Big Query
To gain specific information about Always Free services usage, you may visit GCP's documentation.

Google Cloud Credits for Education
Google offers Cloud Credits to Students, Researchers, Faculty, and Leaders to empower them with digital tools and ensure the development of the next generation cloud computing experts.

Cloud Credits for Students

For students, Google has made a very interactive skill development ladder. Their aim is to familiarize students with the cloud environment, develop data driven strategies and implement them with collaborative processes.

The Google Cloud journey for students has the following stages.

Learn with Qwiklabs (200 Free Credits)
Earn skill badges
Gain a certification
Explore careers
To get started, students can explore resources here.

Cloud Credits for Faculty

Teachers also have a lot of options when it comes to tutoring students in GCP. They can apply for teaching or training credits, which will give them either $100 or access to a 40 hour curriculum. They can also apply for 3000 Quiklabs credits, and ensure their students gain certifications that will help in their careers. Interested faculty members can explore this page.

Cloud Credits for Researchers

Google Cloud aims to accelerate breakthroughs by researchers, giving them speed, data storage, and the processing power of GCP. Researches can apply and get 200 credits, even up to $1000 worth of credits for Ph.D. candidates! They have the option to join online research communities or apply for becoming one of Google's Research Innovators. Interested researchers can apply for credits here.

Google Cloud Credits for Startups

Google encourages new startups to build their infrastructure on GCP. This provides them with long term customers, and gives the new organization a chance to have a successful and sustainable business model in the long run. With initial costs reduced, startups have access to financial, business, and technology support.

Google conducts events and sessions through Google Accelerator. Startups can enrich their employees by participation in such events and workshops to ensure they get the best out of GCP.

Startups initially get a minimum of $2000 in Google Credits, and may get up to $100,000 if they choose to, at a heavy price of equity. Interested startups can explore the plans right for them and apply here.

Conclusion

Google wants to distribute free credits to teachers and students in the hopes of increasing GCP adoption. Free Google Cloud Credits are available to startups as well as for researchers. This is Google's approach of giving back to the community by fostering and promoting new thinking and industries using their cloud platform.

If your organization relies on GCP and utilizes a significant amount of cloud workload, Economize might be the right option for you.

Economize provides the most competitive cost streamlining for all your varied cloud computing needs. Reduce and optimize your cloud service usage to obtain the most efficient GCP environment possible. Learn how a multitude of different services and tools can enable you to gain valuable insights into your cost expenditure.