One of my 2018 resolutions was to become a Google Cloud Certifed Professional Cloud Architect. I managed to meet that goal only at the tail end of the year. During the last week of December, when most of my customers went on vacation, I was heads-down preparing for the exam.

I am quite familiar with the vendor certification processes and formats. Having cleared multiple certifications from Microsoft and Amazon, I was curious to see how Google structured the exam. The training and certification team at Google did a great job with the exam pattern, technology domains, and real-world enterprise scenarios. I thoroughly enjoyed the testing experience.

If you have an aspiration to become a Google Cloud certified architect, here are some tips for you. These are based on the experiences of preparing for the exam and the observations from the actual test.

1. Understand the Concepts of the Hybrid Cloud

There is a lot of emphasis on connecting on-premises infrastructure to the Google Cloud Platform. You need to thoroughly understand the choices and tradeoffs of extending an enterprise data center to GCP.



Google, like its competitors, has multiple channels to connect on-prem resources to the cloud. Each channel has unique attributes that address specific enterprise scenarios. You got to know the pros and cons of using one service against the other while implementing a hybrid strategy. Focus on the hybrid networking services offered by Google.

Cloud VPN, which securely connects on-prem resources to GCP VPC via the public internet. It is the cheapest option available to customers to open a secure tunnel between their data center and cloud.

Cloud Interconnect offers a dedicated, thick 10 Gbps pipe directly to a location where Google Cloud has a point of presence. This delivers unmatched connectivity but is expensive.

Direct Peering is a cheaper option to Cloud Interconnect that delivers better performance than a VPN. While it doesn’t have an SLA, Direct Peering lets customers connect directly to Google by cutting the egress fees significantly.

2. Know How to Move Data to Google Cloud