Cloud Journey II, Google Next

The previous year I aimed to get the AWS Certified Security - Specialty by July. Health issues interrupted that plan and I had to push the exam to November. A year later, I've earned four more Google Cloud certifications.

I still dedicate roughly six weeks of prep to each exam, but I've noticed that the accumulated knowledge from previous exams makes each new one a bit more manageable.

AWS Certified Security – Specialty

November 2021

Compared to other AWS exams, this one has the fewest available resources. I was fortunate to connect with Jon Bonso who pointed me to a curated list of white papers and articles on TutorialsDojo. I didn't get to finish their practice exam — schedule got the better of me — but the material I did get through was clearly high quality.

Google Cloud Certified - Professional Google Workspace Administrator

May 2022

This exam, originally known as the Professional Collaboration Engineer, was relatively straightforward. It centered mainly around managing and configuring the Google Admin Console.

I used Google Cloud Skills Boost, which has a wide range of on-demand courses and labs, to prepare.

Google Cloud Certified - Professional Data Engineer

August 2022

I was already familiar with most of the services being tested here. Aside from a few unexpected questions about Apache Kafka, this was one of the simpler exams I've taken.

Like the previous one, I worked through the Google Cloud Skills Boost track for this certification.

Google Cloud Certified - Professional Cloud Database Engineer

November 2022

This was a relatively new exam when I took it, with significant overlap with the Professional Data Engineer. The main difference is the focus — this one is all about migrating and configuring databases in Google Cloud.

Google Cloud Certified - Professional Cloud Network Engineer

December 2022

This was by far the hardest exam I've taken. I had a voucher expiring soon, limited time to prepare, and had just come back from AWS re:Invent. Not ideal conditions.

The exam heavily focused on hybrid connectivity — which I only barely managed to cover. To make things worse, Google doesn't give you a score, so I walked out with no idea how I did. Half-expected to fail.

Next Steps

I still haven't passed the two AWS professional exams. My immediate goal is to take the AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional by the middle of next year.