A Professional Cloud Architect is able to leverage Google Cloud technologies to design, develop, and manage robust, secure, scalable, efficient, cost-effective, highly available, and flexible solutions that drive business objectives. The Professional Cloud Architect should be proficient in enterprise cloud strategy, solution design, workload migration approaches, deployment and orchestration, optimization, and architectural best practices. This individual is also experienced with common open-source technologies and software development methodologies for designing multitiered distributed applications across legacy, multicloud, or hybrid environments.
The Google Cloud Certified - Professional Cloud Architect exam assesses your ability to:
- Design and plan a cloud solution architecture
- Manage and provision the cloud solution infrastructure
- Design for security and compliance
- Analyze and optimize technical and business processes
- Manage implementations of cloud architecture
- Ensure solution and operations reliability
Prerequisites
Familiarity with the Google Cloud Well-Architected Framework is a key requirement for this role. The Well-Architected Framework provides guidance and best practices on how to design, build, and operate reliable, secure, efficient, and cost-optimized workloads in Google Cloud. For a Professional Cloud Architect, understanding and applying the principles of the framework is paramount to designing and managing successful cloud solutions. The framework's pillars (operational excellence, security, reliability, performance optimization, cost optimization, and sustainability) are implicitly and explicitly woven throughout the exam objectives and should be a guiding principle in architectural decisions.
Recommended experience:
- 3+ years of industry experience including 1+ years designing and managing solutions using Google Cloud
Recommended training for this certification
- Google Cloud Fundamentals: Core Infrastructure (GCF-CI)
- Networking in Google Cloud (NGCP)
- Manage Scalable Workloads in GKE Enterprise (MSWGKE)
- Introduction to Developer Efficiency on Google Cloud (IDEGC)
- Introduction to AI and Machine Learning on Google Cloud (AIMLGC)
- Getting Started with Terraform for Google Cloud (GSTGC)
- Logging, Monitoring, and Observability in Google Cloud (LMOGC)
Exams
About this certification exam:
- Length: 2 hours
- Languages: English, Japanese
- Exam format: 50-60 multiple choice and multiple select questions
- Case studies: Each exam includes 2 case studies. Case study questions make up 20-30% of the exam and assess your ability to apply your knowledge to a realistic business situation. You can view the case studies on a split screen during the exam. See the standard Exam Guide for the 4 available case studies.
1. Review the exam guide
The standard exam guide and renewal exam guide contain a complete list of topics that may be included on each exam, helping you determine if your skills align with the exam.
2. Start training
Prepare for the exam by following the appropriate learning path. Explore online training, in-person classes, hands-on labs, and other resources from Google Cloud.
3. Review sample questions
Review sample questions to familiarize yourself with the format of the exam questions and example content that may be covered on the standard Cloud Architect exam.
4. Schedule your exam
Register and select whether to take the exam remotely or at a nearby testing center.
Recertification
Candidates must recertify in order to maintain their certification status. The certification is valid for 2 years. If you are renewing your certification, you can choose to take the shorter renewal exam or the standard exam starting 60 days before your certification expiration date.