The knowledge I owed myself: GCP Professional Cloud Architect

In this post I will tell you how I passed the GCP Professional Cloud Architect certification, from my experience, and how I can help you on your path.

Where I started

My history with GCP starts about 7 years ago. I changed jobs, to a place where they used GCP; I already had experience with some clouds like IBM, Pivotal, etc.

But basically my experience there was creating topics, SAs, Cloud Run and GKE, in that team. Then I kept adding to my profile, moving from software development to data engineer, and I got hands-on with Dataflow, BigQuery, Cloud Storage, Firestore and other solutions. I always had the itch to learn and get certified as a GCP Cloud Architect; but every time I started studying I couldn’t focus and I set the studying aside. Until I committed to the GCP GEAR program.

The GCP GEAR program

The program gives you 6 online classes, credits for Cloud Skill, and, once you complete some required labs, the voucher to take the exam.

If you don’t want to take the exam, I suggest not asking for the voucher, because if you ask for it and don’t use it, you get banned from future GEAR programs. After asking for the voucher you have a limited time to take the exam. From when the program starts until it ends it should be about 4 months, so you keep it in mind. This is what the program said when I did it; check the current conditions on the official page.

Resources I used

I suggest also doing the Google Skills Boost path and, if you can, the Udemy course. I liked it a lot: it is super up to date and broken into small pieces, the explanations are super good, and at the end it includes some mock exams.

The prompts that helped me

To understand some concepts or tools better, I used a model, which could be Gemini, Claude, ChatGPT, etc. For example, if I had a doubt (I don’t know much about networking, but I do know about software development), I used this prompt:

Explain to me the difference between PSA and PSC, I’m not a networking expert, but I am in application development, explain it in a way I can understand.

That helped me understand some concepts better.

Anki for studying on the metro

In the last month, to study on the metro or in my free time, I started using AnkiWeb, where you can create flashcards. The good thing is that you can create them on the web, then download the app and sync it. Then you can take tests of concepts and their explanations.

The last week

The last week I spent doing Udemy mock exams (there are quite a few) and reading different opinions about the exam on Reddit, etc., to see what I was missing.

What was hardest

What was hardest for me was networking, for example the difference between PSA and PSC (I talk about it in the prompts section). The other thing that was hard was the new AI items they added to the exam.

Exam day

Choosing the place and the time

When you select the exam day, you have to choose whether it is remote or at a test center. The instructor said the best option is to go to a test center, which could be Pearson VUE. I chose the test center in Santiago, Chile, near the Manuel Montt metro station.

I took it early, because my brain works better in the morning; at night I couldn’t concentrate as much and I was very tired, unlike in the morning, when I’m more awake and can concentrate better. This is personal, everyone can choose the time that suits them.

Arriving

I arrived at the center, you introduce yourself, show your ID, they give you a locker for your things and you go into a computer lab, where one of the computers is yours for the exam. There may be more people and they may be making noise, so keep in mind if noise bothers you. In my case, I concentrate and I don’t pay attention to the noise.

During the exam

I started by answering the easiest questions, the ones with less text, to get into a rhythm and gain confidence. If you have a doubt, you can mark the question to answer it later. After getting into the rhythm I went to the use cases and, at the end, to the ones I had marked.

They give you 2 hours and after 1:30 h I had already finished. I think mentally I couldn’t have reviewed all the questions again, so I submitted it.

The result

After a couple of clicks they give you the result and it said PASS. I was super happy to have passed, and even prouder of the process. I think that if I hadn’t passed I would also be proud, because of the commitment.

Then I left the room and the person in charge gave me the paper with the result. Google doesn’t give you the percentage, only the message. Later in the afternoon, I got the email from Credly with the certificate. I think it was faster than doing it from home.

What I would do differently

Thinking about it, I should have done this certification at the beginning, because it gives you a more global overview of GCP and of each of the tools; it helps you have a big picture of everything. A lesson learned for the new challenges.

What I would have done differently: I think that with one more week of practice tests I would have felt more confident. Let go of the negative thoughts, thinking that you still have a lot to study, that you won’t make it, and replace them with positive messages: come on, you are learning new things, it doesn’t matter whether you pass or not, what matters is the process.

What comes next

One process closes and more will come. What I would like to focus on is the Agentic Architecture certifications; adopting these new technologies is essential for future products or tools.

Links

• GCP GEAR program
• Google Skills Boost path
• Udemy course: GCP Professional Cloud Architect exam prep
• AnkiWeb

If you have questions or want to tell me about your experience, leave it in the comments.