Saturday, April 6, 2019

How to Prepare for Google Cloud DevOps Engineer Exam in 2024? [The Ultimate Guide]

Hello guys, Are you aspiring to become a certified Google Cloud DevOps Engineer? Then you should go for this certification to get certified for your expertise in managing and automating Google Cloud Platform (GCP) services to streamline DevOps workflows. However, preparing for the Google Cloud DevOps Engineer exam can be challenging without proper guidance and preparation. But worry not! In this article, we will provide you with valuable tips, tricks, and resources to help you effectively prepare for the exam, avoid common mistakes, and increase your chances of success. Whether you are an experienced DevOps professional or new to GCP, this guide will equip you with the knowledge and strategies to confidently approach the Google Cloud DevOps Engineer exam. Let's dive in and uncover the key steps to excel in this certification!


DevOps – The mix of development and operations is undoubtedly getting utmost importance in the modern era of technology. Google cloud platform is a Google cloud service that provides support to organizations in speedy building and delivery of applications and software programs with their easy and reliable maintenance.



1. Why Google Cloud DevOps Exam?

GCP requires good knowledge of development and know-how to use the tools on the platform. To check the proficiency of the individual they conduct a professional Google cloud engineer exam. This exam certifies an individual that he is enough knowledgeable, skilled, and proficient to work for the specified role.

If you are a developer with knowledge still struggling to get a job, you should go for this certification as it will add weight to your resume and will glorify your career with better job opportunities.

These skills are in real-time demand and a person with good knowledge of them can earn good and grow in their career rapidly. Having this much importance, obviously, this exam is tough but further in this article, I have mentioned some very useful resources that will help you in learning and practicing these skills and pass the exam with flying colors.



Here is the blueprint of the topics covered under this certification:
  • Apply site reliability engineering principles to a service
  • Optimize service performance
  • Implement service monitoring strategies
  • Build and implement CI/CD pipelines for a service
  • Manage service incidents
You can find the full syllabus for this exam on https://cloud.google.com/certification/guides/cloud-devops-engineer

2. Format of the Exam

  • Duration of the exam: 2 hours
  • Registration fees: $200 (plus tax where applicable)
  • Language: English
  • Eligibility: Anyone can appear in the exam who has the knowledge and wants a career in this industry
  • Format of Exam: Multiple choice questions
  • Number of questions: 50
  •  Exam Delivery methods: Can be an online-proctored exam from a remote location or an onsite-proctored exam at the testing center
  • Validity of Certificate: 2 years

3. Is Professional Google Cloud DevOps Engineer Exam hard?

Nothing is hard once you decide and start preparing for it consistently. Just follow the tips and steps I have discussed in this article and you will crack this exam in one go. Although, if you don’t follow the routine you will find the exam a little tough. 

So, pick up your pen and start preparing.


How to prepare for the Google cloud DevOps Exam in 2024

Thinking about cracking this exam but finding it difficult to gather the resources required? Here is the Mantra to crack this exam in the first attempt. The key to success is always the same – learn, practice, test your knowledge and repeat. So, here are the steps to prepare for the Professional Google cloud





DevOps exam in 2024:

3.1 Learn a programming language:

DevOps require knowledge of languages. It doesn’t matter which language you pick, start with any language. Also, remember you cannot master every language so learn a few but master them. Some recommendations for languages are Python, Ruby, Node.js, Go, Rust, C, C++.

3.2 Understand different OS concepts

This is another step in your preparation. You need to understand different OS concepts like process management, threads and concurrency, sockets, POSIX basics, Networking Concepts, I/O Management, Virtualization, Memory/Storage, and File Systems.

3.3 Learn about managing servers:

Managing servers is where we monitor and maintain servers so that they operate properly. You need to get some administration knowledge in some OS and learn to live in a terminal.



 3.4 Get knowledge of Networking, Security and Protocols:

DevOps teams always require a segmented network for testing purposes and the DevOps environment needs security from code vulnerability and operational weaknesses before they become an issue. Also, there are several protocols that are followed by the engineers while performing the tasks. One must have knowledge of different protocols like HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, SSL, SSH, SMTP, etc.

3.5 Things you must know about

There are certain terms you must know about and should know how to set them up, like it is important that you know about reverse proxy, forward proxy, caching server, load balancer, firewall, Web server(Nginx, Istio, Consul)

3.6 Learn infrastructure as code:

IaC is a way of managing the infrastructure through code instead of using manual processes. You must have basic knowledge of containers, configuration management, container orchestration, infrastructure provisioning and service mesh.

3.7 Learn some CI/CD tools:

These are the tools that are used for the automation of steps in development and to provide reporting. Some of these tools are Gitlab CI, Jenkins, GitHub Actions, Circle CI, Travis CI, Bamboo, etc.

3.8 Learn how to monitor software and infrastructure:

This monitoring can be divided into three parts –
  1.  Infrastructure monitoring: For this, we have tools like Prometheus, Nagios, and Grafana, etc.
  2. Application monitoring: For this, we have tools like Jaeger, New Relic, Instana, etc.
  3. Logs management: For this, we have tools like Elastic Stack, Graylog, Splunk, etc.

4. Learn about the cloud provider:

There are multiple cloud providers but as you are preparing for GCP you must know the fundamentals and basic concepts. Here is a list of courses that I would recommend you for good preparation for the Professional Google Cloud DevOps Engineering Exam in 2024:

4.1 Google cloud platform essential training for developers :

Link: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/google-cloud-platform-gcp-essential-training-for-developers

This is a beginner-level course on LinkedIn for those who want to start from the basics. It also has quizzes to check the progress and a project at the end to check the overall growth of the individual. This is a highly recommended short course for a complete fresher.

4.2 GCP Google cloud platform concepts :

Link: https://www.udemy.com/course/gcp-google-cloud-platform-concepts/

This free course from Udemy contains 6 hours of on-demand videos that cover the basic concepts of GCP. For appearing in the exam you must be well aware of all the basic concepts as only then you will be able to grab what comes next. Those who have no knowledge of GCP but want to start DevOps as a career choice must go for this course.

4.3 Preparing for Google Cloud Certification: Cloud Engineer Professional Certificate

Link: https://www.coursera.org/professional-certificates/cloud-engineering-gcp

This free Coursera course is offered directly by the Google cloud for the preparation of this exam. This course starts covering from basics so it is a one-stop for all your requirements to become a Google cloud DevOps engineer.
 


5. Some other resources to prepare for this exam are:

5.1 Read books and do self-study

Taking the course is not enough until you do your own research and study. For this, you can read books and try contacting the DevOps engineers if you know any to know their real work experience. This will help you in experiencing the things you might have to face in the future. 

Reading has always been beneficial when it comes to gaining knowledge. Other than courses, books are the best way to prepare for this exam. If you are still looking for a reliable source, I have some book recommendations for you to crack this exam in 2024
 

5.2 Google Cloud Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer Exam - All in One Guide by Joseph Holbrook

With this book, you can get a deep insight into the industry and will make it easier for you to clear the exam. This book will make you an efficient professional with good knowledge of GCP. Also, you will get 100 practice tests with explanations to test your knowledge. 

You can get a Kindle edition of this book from 

https://www.amazon.in/Google-Cloud-Professional-DevOps-Engineer-ebook/dp/B087PL72F2



 

5.3 Google Cloud Certified Professional Cloud Developer Exam Guide by Moreno Sebastian

This book will give you best practices for using cloud-native services, it will help you in application modernization and data management. This book is for advanced study for those with good knowledge of basics and has a hand on practical work. You can buy this book from https://www.amazon.in/Google-Cloud-Certified-Professional-Developer-ebook/dp/B094YRC96C

5.4. Pro DevOps with Google Cloud Platform by Pierluigi Riti, Apress

This book will teach you DevOps principles with GCP that will teach you to develop apps and services. This book has real-life scenarios for better knowledge of the industry. You can buy this book at https://www.amazon.in/Pro-DevOps-Google-Cloud-Platform-ebook/dp/B07FL76Z13


6. Solve practice paper

No matter how much we learn, there are always areas that need improvement. So, after all the preparations start assessing your progress. Solve practice paper and mock tests as much as you can, so that you can find your mistakes and revise them.

Also with this practice, you will learn time management so that you leave no questions during the exam. Here are some recommended practice papers that you will need –
  • Link: https://www.examtopics.com/exams/google/professional-cloud-devops-engineer/view/
  • Link: https://www.udemy.com/course/google-cloud-professional-devops-engineer-practice-quizzes-g/
  • Link: https://www.testpreptraining.com/google-professional-cloud-devops-engineer-gcp-practice-exam

7. Practice practically

Until and unless you start implementing your knowledge in real-life, you will not be able to remember each and everything that is being taught. Take real-life situations from books, the internet or experienced people and try solving them. Everything you learn from courses and books, try implementing them and practice it for better preparation. Hands-on project is important and there are many courses that provide project work with them.


8. Some tips to ace the exam:

  • Starting from basics, even if you are a professional developer do a quick revision because at times while we do things practically we forget little things that are taught in the theory part. So to avoid this, revise.

  • Do step-by-step preparation that has been discussed above. Be regular and practice regularly.
  • Be consistent while you do hands-on practicals. This will pin every detail to your brain and you will need less time for the theory part.

  • To know the pattern of the professional exam, you can check out the sample test paper by Google that will familiarize you with the format of the exam and content that can be covered. You can check this exam at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdpk564uiDvdnqqyPoVjgpBp0TEtgScSFuDV7YQvRSumwUyoQ/viewform

  • Don’t prepare like you are doing it for an exam, practice like your career depends on it.
  • When you don’t understand a question while practicing, go to the depth of that question and try to extract as much knowledge as you can about the topic.

  • Maintain a topic-wise evaluation report of your progress so that at the time of revision you always have an idea of where you need to focus more.

9. Wrapping Up

So that was all about the preparation for the Professional Google Cloud DevOps engineer exam, there is no need to panic about the exam. Just be consistent and practice, everything will seem easy. Use the resources I have recommended above and you will see your knowledge will take a high kick and you will not only clear the exam in one go, also you will stand confident when you enter the industry and will excel in your career as a Google Cloud DevOps Engineer.

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