{"id":3109,"date":"2022-02-22T01:58:57","date_gmt":"2022-02-22T01:58:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/?p=3109"},"modified":"2023-06-01T10:10:34","modified_gmt":"2023-06-01T10:10:34","slug":"six-steps-to-google-professional-cloud-architect-certification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/six-steps-to-google-professional-cloud-architect-certification\/","title":{"rendered":"Six steps to Google Professional Cloud Architect Certification"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Google Professional Cloud Architect (PCA) is one of the most lucrative certification in today&#8217;s times. Preparing for the certification can be an overwhelming task for working professionals as they need to juggle between work and study and many of them struggle to find the balance while on the new learning path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/google-cloud-certification-for-beginners-2021\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Read the GCP Beginners Guide, if you are new to Google Cloud<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>This article shows a simple six step formula that I followed to achieve the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) &#8211; PCA certification in February 2022. My journey with GCP learning started with completing Google Cloud Platform &#8211; Associate Cloud Engineer (ACE) in 2020. The ACE is a solid foundation course to get an understanding on how GCP products and services work. Taking the ACE course is a first step towards any other GCP certifications specific to your job roles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Irrespective of whichever certifications to go for, I have created a six-steps study formula which will help new learners to effectively follow the learning path and guarantee their success without much exhaustion or stress. I recommend planning the study in a time-boxed manner for up to 3 months for working professionals keeping 15 hours per week allocated to this learning activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What is role of Google Cloud Architect<\/strong>?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As an architect, you are required to have knowledge on at least 40 to 50 GCP products or services out of total 200+ products offered by Google. In the job role, an architect provides solutions to business use cases by fitting multiple GCP products\/services together in most effective manner. This requires in-depth knowledge of the products as well as the industry best practices. e.g. how serverless technology can be leveraged for client&#8217;s benefit using Cloud Functions or PaSS solution using App Engine.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class='bootstrap-yop yop-poll-mc'>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"basic-yop-poll-container\" style=\"background-color:#327bd6; border:0px; border-style:solid; border-color:#327bd6; border-radius:0px; padding:10px 10px;\" data-id=\"20\" data-temp=\"basic\" data-skin=\"minimal\" data-cscheme=\"black\" data-cap=\"0\" data-access=\"guest\" data-tid=\"\" data-uid=\"06e16a9415fa844a825c00859b42fb03\" data-pid=\"3109\" data-resdet=\"percentages\" data-show-results-to=\"guest\" data-show-results-moment=\"after-vote\" data-show-results-only=\"false\" data-show-message=\"true\" data-show-results-as=\"bar\" data-sort-results-by=\"as-defined\" data-sort-results-rule=\"asc\"data-is-ended=\"0\" data-gdpr=\"no\" data-gdpr-sol=\"consent\" data-css=\".basic-yop-poll-container[data-uid] .basic-vote {\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}\" data-counter=\"0\" data-load-with=\"1\" data-notification-section=\"top\"><div class=\"row\"><div class=\"col-md-12\"><div class=\"basic-inner\"><div class=\"basic-message hide\" style=\"border-left: 10px solid #008000; padding: 0px 10px;\" data-error=\"#ff0000\" data-success=\"#008000\"><p class=\"basic-message-text\" style=\"color:#000000; font-size:14px; font-weight:normal;\"><\/p><\/div><div class=\"basic-overlay hide\"><div class=\"basic-vote-options\"><\/div><div class=\"basic-preloader\"><div class=\"basic-windows8\"><div class=\"basic-wBall basic-wBall_1\"><div class=\"basic-wInnerBall\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"basic-wBall basic-wBall_2\"><div class=\"basic-wInnerBall\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"basic-wBall basic-wBall_3\"><div class=\"basic-wInnerBall\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"basic-wBall basic-wBall_4\"><div class=\"basic-wInnerBall\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"basic-wBall basic-wBall_5\"><div class=\"basic-wInnerBall\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><form class=\"basic-form\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_token\" value=\"d0b1bae540\" autocomplete=\"off\"><div class=\"basic-elements\"><div class=\"basic-element basic-question basic-question-text-vertical\" data-id=\"20\" data-uid=\"e51dfa94186444f658df72de9b22ba4d\" data-type=\"question\" data-question-type=\"text\" data-allow-multiple=\"no\" data-min=\"1\" data-max=\"1\" data-display=\"vertical\" data-colnum=\"\" data-display-others=\"no\" data-others-color=\"\" data-others=\"\"><div class=\"basic-question-title\"><h5 style=\"color:#ffffff; font-size:14px; font-weight:normal; text-align:center;\">Certifications makes your resume more marketable.<\/h5><\/div><ul class=\"basic-answers\"><li class=\"basic-answer\" style=\"padding:0px 0px;\" data-id=\"87\" data-type=\"text\" data-vn=\"189\" data-color=\"#000000\" data-make-link=\"no\" data-link=\"\"><div class=\"basic-answer-content basic-text-vertical\"><label for=\"answer[87]\" class=\"basic-answer-label\"><input type=\"radio\" id=\"answer[87]\" name=\"answer[20]\" value=\"87\"  autocomplete=\"off\"><span class=\"basic-text\" style=\"color: #ffffff; font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal;\">Agree<\/span><\/label><\/div><\/li><li class=\"basic-answer\" style=\"padding:0px 0px;\" data-id=\"88\" data-type=\"text\" data-vn=\"6\" data-color=\"#000000\" data-make-link=\"no\" data-link=\"\"><div class=\"basic-answer-content basic-text-vertical\"><label for=\"answer[88]\" class=\"basic-answer-label\"><input type=\"radio\" id=\"answer[88]\" name=\"answer[20]\" value=\"88\"  autocomplete=\"off\"><span class=\"basic-text\" style=\"color: #ffffff; font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal;\">Disagree<\/span><\/label><\/div><\/li><li class=\"basic-answer\" style=\"padding:0px 0px;\" data-id=\"89\" data-type=\"text\" data-vn=\"61\" data-color=\"#000000\" data-make-link=\"no\" data-link=\"\"><div class=\"basic-answer-content basic-text-vertical\"><label for=\"answer[89]\" class=\"basic-answer-label\"><input type=\"radio\" id=\"answer[89]\" name=\"answer[20]\" value=\"89\"  autocomplete=\"off\"><span class=\"basic-text\" style=\"color: #ffffff; font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal;\">Depends on the certification<\/span><\/label><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"basic-vote\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"button basic-vote-button\" role=\"button\" style=\"background:#ffffff; border:1px; border-style: solid; border-color:#000000; border-radius:0px; padding:5px 10px; color:#000000; font-size:14px; font-weight:normal;\">Vote<\/a><\/div><\/form><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>At high level, <a href=\"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/certificate-details\/google-professional-cloud-architect\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Google Cloud Architect certification<\/a> exam assesses our knowledge based on below topics:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Design and plan a cloud solution architecture<\/li><li>Manage and provision the cloud solution infrastructure<\/li><li>Design for security and compliance<\/li><li>Analyze and optimize technical and business processes<\/li><li>Manage implementations of cloud architecture<\/li><li>Ensure solution and operations reliability<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Here is the Six steps Journey to GCP Cloud Architect certification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Join the GCP Learning Groups<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I was lucky to get into cohort-based online learning groups in my office itself. It is a collaborative style group learning experience where the faculty shares the curriculum at the start of the program and all participants follow the same weekly assignments. Such a group study program follows a well planned structure, encourages collaboration, support from peers, topic discussions help to get new perspectives and offers networking opportunities as well. A \u2018Leaderboard\u2019 shows the progress of the participants over the course duration which also creates a competitive environment and keeps up the motivation of all learners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other than office networks, we can also find many learning groups in social media via, facebook, Linkedin groups etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We also have self-paced online learning modules but I found it hard to keep up with the self commitment over a longer period of time with self-study. So I prefer the group based program simply as it drives our google cloud digital leader exam questions learning in a more effective manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Qwiklabs for hands-on practice<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When we read documents or watch the videos, we &#8216;know&#8217; the subject. But when we Do, we &#8216;understand&#8217; how things actually work in GCP. \u2018Qwiklabs\u2019 is an excellent way to get hands-on experience on our new skills in a real Google cloud environment. It gives access to &#8216;Cloud Shell&#8217; and &#8216;Cloud admin Console&#8217; to interact with GCP products. The curriculum for PCA certification has few recommended hands-on labs for practice which are as listed below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cloudskillsboost.google\/quests\/120\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Create and Manage Cloud Resources<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cloudskillsboost.google\/quests\/118\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Perform Foundational Infrastructure Tasks in Google Cloud<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cloudskillsboost.google\/quests\/119\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Set Up and Configure a Cloud Environment in Google Cloud<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cloudskillsboost.google\/quests\/121\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Deploy and Manage Cloud Environments with Google Cloud<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cloudskillsboost.google\/quests\/159\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Automating Infrastructure on Google Cloud with Terraform<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cloudskillsboost.google\/quests\/157\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Optimize Costs for Google Kubernetes Engine<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. Video courses<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>I followed the Pluralsight videos for \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pluralsight.com\/paths\/cloud-architecture-with-google-cloud\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">\u2018GCP architect certification path<\/a>\u2019\u2019 which covered all the topics from fundamentals to advanced and also on preparation for the actual exam.<\/li><li>The Udemy course by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.udemy.com\/course\/google-cloud-professional-cloud-architect-certification\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Ranga Karanam<\/a> is a much detailed course and recommended one.<\/li><li>Few youTube Channels are very helpful as well.&nbsp;<ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/AwesomeGCP\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">AwesomeGCP<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCL8vwy2jhEtQrC-Rx6qzCZg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Learn GCP with Mahesh<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4. GCP Documentation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The GCP documentation is very essential to refer while working on case studies and before taking the actual gcp architect certification examination. This is the best way to revise our understanding of the advanced concepts, best practices\/recommendations from Google. I usually found a few learning gaps while practicing Q&amp;A for the exam, so referring to the documentation was the way to close the gaps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">5. Case Studies<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We need to be prepared with four case study solutions prior to the PCA certification examination. We can expect at least 10 questions on any two case studies in the exam. The current sample case studies are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/services.google.com\/fh\/files\/blogs\/master_case_study_ehr_healthcare.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">EHR Healthcare<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/services.google.com\/fh\/files\/blogs\/master_case_study_helicopter_racing_league.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Helicopter Racing League<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/services.google.com\/fh\/files\/blogs\/master_case_study_mountkirk_games.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Mountkirk Games<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/services.google.com\/fh\/files\/blogs\/master_case_study_terramearth.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">TerramEarth<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The idea here is to \u2018Think Through\u2019 the solution yourself. So I recommend allowing you sufficient time to design the solution. I implemented a solution of each of these case studies and created an architecture diagram of the solution mapping the relevant GCP services applicable to each scenario. Completing this task allowed me to understand and translate the company overview, solution concept, business requirements, technical requirements and executive statement into an architectural solution aligning GCP services integration to a hybrid cloud environment and interaction with end users of the solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">6. Practice Tests<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Practicing Q&amp;A is an important step to get your brain into an examination mode. All the google cloud digital leader practice exam questions are scenario based. Some common <strong>sample<\/strong> <strong>questions examples are<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>What would be best Object Lifecycle policy for a company to reduce cost while storing the data in Google Cloud Storage?<\/li><li>How to find out idle Virtual Machines in the cluster?<\/li><li>How to use a Layer 4 (TCP) Load Balancer and Google Compute Engine VMs in a Managed Instances Group (MIG),<\/li><li>Use cases for Cloud Big Table, Cloud Dataflow, Cloud DataProc, Cloud Datastore, Cloud Datalab, Cloud SQL, Dataflow<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In MCQ style exam, often all the options look correct at first but we need to think and eliminate other options to choose the best answer. We need to choose the correct answers based on Google recommended best practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are official practice questions from <a href=\"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/certificate-details\/google-professional-cloud-architect\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">GCP Professional Cloud Architect<\/a> that I completed to assess my readiness for the exam. Please be aware that there are a lot of practice questions online from resources like Udemy, ExamTopics. Some of these questions contain incorrect answers that might confuse some people preparing for the certification exam. Always validate the answers with the knowledge gained through your study.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/marketplace\/rnp_search_result?keyword=Google#practice_exam\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Check out GCP Architect and Other Practice Tests Available on ReviewNPrep.<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>TIP<\/strong>: For the questions that you are not sure about, you can mark the question and you can review them at the end. There are usually two answers that are clearly wrong and it leaves you with 2 options to select. Reading the question again for key words will usually help you to choose the right answer.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Using Additional Training<\/strong> References &amp; Resources<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/cloud.google.com\/certification\/guides\/professional-cloud-architect\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Professional Cloud Architect &#8211; Certification Exam Guide<\/a><\/li><li>About the exam: Exam Duration: 2 hours to complete 50 multiple choice questions.&nbsp;<\/li><li>Checkout 200+ practice exam questions here &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/marketplace\/details\/google-cloud-certified-professional-cloud-architect\/88\/EXAM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Google Professional Cloud Architect Certification &#8211; Practice Exam<\/a><\/li><li>Google Cloud Skills Boost : <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cloudskillsboost.google\/paths\/12\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Cloud Architect Learning Path<\/a><\/li><li>Follow Twitter handle #Qwiklbs to get free monthly access to practice quests &amp; labs.<\/li><li>Book: Official Google Cloud Certified Professional Cloud Architect &#8211; Study Guide &#8211; Dan Sullivan. Note this book is 2 year old publication. Some of the topics are not updated in the book. So please check the user reviews before purchasing.<\/li><li>Book: Professional Cloud Architect Google Cloud Certification Guide: Build a solid foundation in Google Cloud Platform to achieve the most lucrative IT certification, 2nd Edition [Dec 2021 update] <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Professional-Cloud-Architect-Google-Certification\/dp\/1801812292\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Professional-Cloud-Architect-Google-Certification\/dp\/1801812292\/<\/a><\/li><li>Google Cloud Free Tier: GCP Free Tier &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/cloud.google.com\/free\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Free Extended Trials and Always Free<\/a> | Google Cloud<\/li><li>Google Cloud Documentation: Documentation | <a href=\"https:\/\/cloud.google.com\/solutions#industry-solutions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Google Cloud Industry solutions<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/cloud.google.com\/architecture\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Cloud Architecture Centre<\/a><\/li><li>Google PCA Practice Exam: <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/forms\/d\/e\/1FAIpQLSdvf8Xq6m0kvyIoysdr8WZYCG32WHENStftiHTSdtW4ad2-0w\/viewform\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Professional Cloud Architect<\/a><\/li><li>Google Cloud Developer Cheat Sheet: <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/priyankavergadia\/google-cloud-4-words\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">https:\/\/github.com\/priyankavergadia\/google-cloud-4-words<\/a><\/li><li>#GCPSketchnote : <a href=\"https:\/\/thecloudgirl.dev\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">https:\/\/thecloudgirl.dev\/<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Hope all the steps and resources help you in Google certification journey. All the best !!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Written exclusively for ReviewNPrep.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2013 By Manoj P. (Connect with me on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/manojepatil\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Further Reading:<\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/gcp-associate-cloud-engineer-preparation-guide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">GCP Cloud Engineer Certification Preparation Guide<\/a><\/p><p><a href=\"http:\/\/GCP Professional Data Engineer Certification\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">GCP Professional Data Engineer Preparation Guide<\/a><\/p><cite>Blogs<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This article shows a simple six step formula that can be followed to achieve the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) &#8211; PCA certification.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3301,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[271,12,21],"tags":[57,267,273,272],"class_list":["post-3109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gcp-cloud-architect","category-google-cloud-certification","category-google-cloud-certification-exam","tag-gcp","tag-gcp-architect","tag-gcp-certification","tag-gcp-cloud-architect"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3109"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3109"}],"version-history":[{"count":45,"href":"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4306,"href":"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3109\/revisions\/4306"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reviewnprep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}