This is one of the numerous posts by TechCommanders in a series for studying for the Google Cloud Professional DevOps Exam
DevOps is an ever in demand skillset that companies and government entities are now clearly in need of.
Passing the Google Cloud Professional DevOps Engineer exam will distinguish you as a leader in this constantly evolving area of development.
Before discussing my insight into the exam guide here is the official blurb from Google Cloud about what a Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer is about. Ill will follow up with my thoughts about the exam after the following.
- A Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer is responsible for efficient development operations that can balance service reliability and delivery speed.
- They are skilled at using Google Cloud Platform to build software delivery pipelines, deploy and monitor services, and manage and learn from incidents.
- The DevOps Engineer exam is not just about DevOps, it’s about how Google looks at DevOps. What this means is that Google takes a very analytical approach to deploying applications. You will need to know the Google way which incorporates Site Recovery Engineering Aspects. This I can assure will challenge you on the exam if you have not read the Google SRE Workbook for example.
Prospective Organizations that would benefit from the exam.
From an organization perspective I would also add that enterprise focused organizations would also gain value from the certification.
- IT Vendors
- Solutions Integrators
- Enterprise Development Organizations
- Consulting Organizations
Why should you take this challenging Exam?
I lay out four reasons to consider this exam over other industry DevOps and Cloud certifications.
- First reason is the exam will validate your knowledgeable in not only DevOps, but also Site Recovery Engineering, Kubernetes and Google Cloud Services.
- DevOps and Kubernetes are ever expanding areas when it comes to demand for certified professionals. Passing this exam will clearly demonstrate you have the knowledge.
- Google Cloud is an ever-expanding area as well and having a Google Cloud certification can provide value to your career. This especially true when a significant amount of your competition likely has AWS or Azure already. AWS and Azure certification holders’ numbers are much greater than Google Cloud. Distinguishing yourself is very important now adays and obtaining a Google Cloud Certification is one way to do this.
- The job market for IT professionals has been clearly documented to be shrinking and the pool of qualified professionals is expanding. Obtaining this career changing certification could very well be the difference between working or not working.
Please note that these references below I was able to use in preparation for the exam from sources both affiliated with my company TechCommanders, LLC and other sources that are not affiliated.
Reference links are provided, and I always encourage readers and students to provide additional resources that they feel are helpful.
Satish V has an extensive and very well maintained Github repository of resources specifically for the DevOps Exam.
Qwiklabs has a pre-packaged lab that you can use to prepare for the exam. There is a cost unless you can find a coupon code from Qwiklabs. Check out the Qwiklabs LinkedIn page for discounts or free coupon codes.
https://google.qwiklabs.com/quests/96
Faun Medium Post by Joe Holbrook – The post was the first to market on the DevOps exam.
The Art of SLOS by Google. This Site create by Google is a must read to understand how Google looks at how Google measures service reliability.
https://landing.google.com/sre/resources/practicesandprocesses/art-of-slos/
SRE vs. DevOps: competing standards or close friends?
https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/gcp/sre-vs-devops-competing-standards-or-close-friends
Techcommanders Course – Google Cloud DevOps
https://www.techcommanders.com/devops
TechCommanders Course – Google Cloud Kubernetes Engine – The Basics
https://www.techcommanders.com/kubernetes
Containers and GKE Resources
Containers at Google
https://cloud.google.com/containers/
Kubernetes Engine Docs
https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/docs
Kubernetes Engine Quickstart
https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/docs/quickstart
Google Container Story
Kubernetes Tutorial
https://kubernetes.io/docs/tutorials/kubernetes-basics/
Kubernetes Book
https://kubectl.docs.kubernetes.io/
Kubernetes Engine Tutorial
https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/docs/tutorials/hello-app
Kubernetes Engine Hardening
https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/docs/how-to/hardening-your-cluster
Kubernetes Comics
https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/kubernetes-comic
Enterprise Best Practices
GCP Enterprise Best Practices
https://cloud.google.com/docs/enterprise/best-practices-for-enterprise-organizations
GCLOUD References
Gcloud Reference
https://cloud.google.com/sdk/gcloud/
IaaC Resources
Cloud Deployment Manager
https://cloud.google.com/deployment-manager/
GCP IAM And Security
GCP Cloud Security Whitepaper
https://cloud.google.com/security/overview/whitepaper
Secrets Management
https://cloud.google.com/solutions/secrets-management/
IAM Service Accounts
https://cloud.google.com/iam/docs/service-accounts
Understanding Roles in GCP
https://cloud.google.com/iam/docs/understanding-roles
Networking in GCP
Load Balancing Options in GCP
https://cloud.google.com/load-balancing/docs/load-balancing-overview
Internal Load Balancing
https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/docs/how-to/internal-load-balancing
Load Balancing GKE Lab
https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/docs/how-to/exposing-apps
Cool Related Resources
GCPING
GCP ICON Library
https://cloud.google.com/icons/
Project Calico
Pricing Calculator
https://cloud.google.com/products/calculator
GCP Focused Blog Posts
GCP Professional DevOps Engineer All in One Guide!
GCP Flowcharts a DAY
https://grumpygrace.dev/posts/gcp-flowcharts/
I wish you much success on your career and of course on passing the GCP Exam!
Joe Holbrook
Techcommanders.com
Top Ten Areas to Study for the GCP Cloud Security Exam