Google Cloud certifications allow professionals to validate their Google Cloud Platform (GCP) expertise. They cover wide-ranging Google Cloud technologies, including development, architecture, engineering, networking, and security. Google Cloud certifications are some of the top-paying IT certifications in the US.
Google Cloud Digital Leader certification exam is a foundational certification for GCP. A certified Cloud Digital Leader exhibits broad knowledge about core Google Cloud products and services. In this article, we will provide a step-by-step process to prepare you for the Google Cloud Digital Leader certification exam.
Let’s begin!
Prerequisites for GCP Certified Cloud Digital Leader Certification Exam?
There are no prerequisites to take up this course. But it is recommended to have the basic knowledge to collaborate with technical experts.
- Candidates should have an understanding of cloud concepts and their impact on an organization.
- Google recommends having an idea of networking, security, and storage concept will be beneficial for taking this exam.
Salary for GCP Certified Cloud Digital Leader
Some of the highest-paid cloud employees are Google Cloud Digital Leaders, with annual salaries that range from $130,000 to $200,000.
The typical pay for a cloud digital leader is competitive overall, and those in the position may anticipate earning a respectable wage. However, it is significant to note that salaries can differ significantly between organisations, therefore it is crucial to examine the salary range for each firm before applying for a position.
Understand The Certification Content and Exam Format
Familiarize yourself with the topics given in Google’s study guide for the Cloud Digital Leader certification exam. The 90-minute exam tests your ability to use Google Cloud products and apply appropriate cloud solutions for real-world technical scenarios.
The Cloud Digital Leader certification exam contains multiple-choice and multiple-select questions about:
- General cloud knowledge (15-25% of the exam)
- General Google Cloud knowledge (25-35% of the exam)
- Google Cloud products, services, tools, features, and use cases (45-55% of the exam)
Let’s discuss each section in detail.
General Cloud Knowledge
Learning cloud computing fundamentals is a prerequisite for using any cloud-based technology. Cloud Digital Leader certification exam evaluates your basic cloud knowledge to ensure your readiness for advanced cloud computing. To prepare this section, the candidate should learn about the following cloud concepts:
- Types, benefits, and characteristics of cloud computing.
- Different cloud architecture terminologies and managed service models like IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS, along with Shared Responsibility Model.
- Common financial concepts of cloud procurement like TCO, CapEx, and OpEx and deploying cloud resources with the allocated budget.
General Google Cloud Knowledge
Mastering GCP requires years of hands-on experience, but it starts with learning GCP fundamentals. This section evaluates the candidate’s knowledge about global GCP infrastructure, resource hierarchy, GCP cost, and cloud support options. Focus on learning the following GCP concepts:
- Understand Google Cloud’s geographical strategy including regions, zones, edge networks, latency, and how regional, zonal, and multiregional resources are managed within global Google Cloud infrastructure.
- Understand different aspects of Google Cloud resource hierarchy which includes organizations, folders, projects, and resources.
- Optimize Google Cloud costs by learning about billing models and discounts.
- Learn about common compliance requirements, different support options like billing support, technical support, role-based support, and enterprise support, and a variety of SLA applications for GCP.
Google Cloud Products & Services
GCP offers a broad range of products and services around VMs, serverless computing, data management, AI/ML, Cloud tools and SDKs, API management, migration, networking, security, identity, and support. Half of the Cloud Digital Leader certification exam revolves around this section. The candidates require bare-minimum hands-on experience in various Google Cloud product offerings to understand their general functionalities and benefits at least. Experience the following GCP products and services first-hand to ace the exam:
- Learn about the core Google Cloud VM-based compute services, container-based compute options like container registry and Google Kubernetes Engine and serverless compute products like App Engine, Cloud Functions, Cloud Run, and Anthos.
- Understand the benefits of using Google Cloud relational and non-relational data management products like Cloud SQL, Cloud Spanner, Cloud Bigtable, BigQuery, Firestore, Datastore, and Memorystore.
- Distinguish various Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning products and services like Vision API, AI Platform, AutoML, Conversational AI, Tensorflow, ML Compute, and TPUs.
- Learn about Google Cloud workload migration services for Google Compute and Anthos.
- Determine best connectivity offerings like Google Cloud hybrid connectivity and on-premise networking that includes SD-WAN and private Google access.
- Learn about Cloud Identity, IAM, and Google Cloud Directory Sync.
Develop Your Google Cloud Knowledge With Different Instructor-Led Trainings and Learning Paths
The Cloud Digital Leader certification exam is a tough cookie to crack. We recommend exam preparation through industry-guided tutorials, videos, and practice exams. Look for credible and GCP-certified mentors who have decades of hands-on experience to guide you in the right direction.
As a candidate, you have numerous options to prepare for the Cloud Digital Leader certification exam. Do your homework and prepare a potential list of training courses and boot camps. Many free learning resources claim to help you pass the certification exam. Some of them might be good, but our experience after interacting with many cloud practitioners suggests otherwise.
Spending some money on high-quality, exam preparation is always better. Instead of failing, again and again, a small investment in personal skill-building can take you further in your professional career.
Carefully Choosing a Reliable Learning Resource
No matter which learning resource you choose to prepare for your Cloud Digital Leader certification exam, select high-quality and carefully curated content that takes care of your cognitive learning capabilities. Before you start training, weigh the pros and cons of all learning resources. We would like to offer some tips to streamline the selection process.
- Pick a credible platform that has expertise in preparing quality content for certification exams.
- Scrutinize course instructors and make sure they are certified themselves.
- Audit the certification course to make sure it covers each exam topic.
- Skim through sample exams and additional resources to get an overall idea about the quality of the content.
- Make sure that the platform offers hands-on practice labs (free courses usually don’t).
- Read the content reviews and try to reach out to people who have already covered the content.
- If everything checks out, start learning but don’t consume everything in one go.
- Divide the content into small chunks over weeks or months.
Finally, don’t consume content from multiple courses simultaneously to avoid any confusion. Training courses are not going to teach you everything which is why self-study is vital. Read various GCP case studies and white papers to increase your understanding of the Google Cloud.
Join a Community
Tech communities provide a vibrant environment with a mix of aspiring practitioners and industry experts. If you have any confusion or need some motivation, you can post your queries on numerous online community platforms to learn from experienced peers. Some of your queries might have been answered already.
Practice with Sample Exams
Like any other exam, practicing for the Cloud Digital Leader certification exam is vital. Mock exams are a good place to familiarize yourself with exam format and weightage. Plus, good practice exam scores can boost your confidence manifold.
Paid training courses usually come with high-quality mock exams. Try to maximize your mock exam scores before attempting the actual exam. If you want, you can try some sample practice questions for the Cloud Digital Leader exam from Google right away.
Finally, Schedule an Exam
Once you are confident enough to pass the Cloud Digital Leader certification exam, register yourself and schedule the exam. Candidates have the option to take a remote-based online-proctored exam or they can choose to give the exam onsite at a testing center (if applicable).
If you want to learn how to give an online-proctored Google exam, watch this video.
Some Timeless Exam Day Tips
Since Cloud Digital Leader is a foundational certification, we are assuming that this might be your first professional certification exam attempt. You may feel nervous, anxious, and have some butterflies in your stomach—which is fine. Follow some basic exam day tactics to calm your nerves.
- Just relax. All the hours you have spent preparing for this exam will pay off today.
- Read questions and answers slowly and carefully. Some questions can be tricky, poorly worded, complicated, or too simple. Comprehend their meaning completely before marking your answer.
- Pace yourself to use all the allotted time. There are no additional marks for completing your exam early.
- If you don’t know an answer, take a wild guess (mind any penalties) and move on. Certification exams are quite difficult and no one can know everything.
- If possible, only revisit those answers that are surely incorrect. Second-guessing every answer can be dangerous.
- Most importantly, don’t show up late. Have a 15-minute gap of peace and calm before the start of the exam.
FAQs
Is Google Cloud Digital Leader exam hard?
Its not that hard though! This exam does not necessitate much practical experience, and theoretical knowledge is adequate to pass. The Cloud Digital Leader exam is role-agnostic and does not require prior Google Cloud knowledge.
Is GCP cloud Digital Leader certification worth it?
Obtaining the Google Cloud Digital Leader Certification will help you advance in your profession. It not only improves your job marketability, but it also provides you with the skills and expertise needed to lead digital transformations and drive cloud initiatives within organisations.
How much does GCP digital leader certification cost?
The GCP digital leader certification cost is $125USD.
What is pass percentage for cloud Digital Leader exam?
The pass percentage of cloud digital leader exam is 70%.
What’s Next?
If you are looking for all the information and articles related to this exam, then please read this article on GCP Digital Leader Certification exam.
Congratulations! If you have followed this step-by-step process, you have passed the Cloud Digital Leader certification exam (hopefully). Celebrate your achievements but this is just the first step in becoming a Google Cloud expert.
Google Cloud technologies are always evolving which is why it is important to recertify every two years (if needed) or attain advanced certification. After completing this foundational certification, you can try your luck at the associate level certification for Google Cloud Platform.
Associate level certification builds upon your foundational Google Cloud knowledge and expands it to implement, deploy, and monitor cloud solutions. This level offers an Associate Cloud Engineer certification exam and gives you hands-on experience with many Google Cloud products.
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