Google Cloud Certified Cloud Digital Leader — Learning Resources
Google Cloud has introduced a new foundational exam called Cloud Digital Leader. It’s currently in beta version and exam would be generally available from June 2021.
Since this is a new exam and training resources may not be widely available, I am sharing Google Cloud documentation reference for each of the exam topics (for most of them), which can help you to prepare for this exam.
1. General Cloud Knowledge
1.1 Define basic cloud technologies. Considerations include:
- Differentiate between traditional infrastructure, public cloud, and private cloud
- Define cloud infrastructure ownership, Shared Responsibility Model
- Essential characteristics of cloud computing
1.2 Differentiate cloud service models. Considerations include:
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) , Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS)
- Describe the tradeoffs between level of management versus flexibility when comparing cloud services, Define the tradeoffs between costs versus responsibility
- Appropriate implementation and alignment with given budget and resources
1.3 Identify common cloud procurement financial concepts. Considerations include:
- Operating expenses (OpEx), capital expenditures (CapEx), and total cost of operations (TCO)
- Recognize the relationship between OpEx and CapEx related to networking and compute infrastructure
- Summarize the key cost differentiators between cloud and on-premises environments
2. General Google Cloud Knowledge
2.1 Recognize how Google Cloud meets common compliance requirements. Considerations include:
2.2 Recognize the main elements of Google Cloud resource hierarchy. Considerations include:
- Describe the relationship between organization, folders, projects, and resources 2.3 Describe controlling and optimizing Google Cloud costs. Considerations include:
- Google Cloud billing models and applicability to different service classes
- Define a consumption-based use model
- Application of discounts (e.g., flat-rate , committed use discounts [CUD] , sustained use discounts [SUD] )
2.4 Describe Google Cloud’s geographical segmentation strategy. Considerations include:
2.5 Define Google Cloud Support options. Considerations include:
- Distinguish between billing support, technical support, role-based support, and enterprise support
- Recognize a variety of Service Level Agreement (SLA) applications
3.General Google Cloud Knowledge
3.1 Describe the benefits of Google Cloud virtual machine (VM)-based compute options. Considerations include:
- Google Compute Engine , Google Cloud VMware Engine , and Bare Metal
- Custom versus standard sizing
- Free, premium, and custom service options
- Attached storage/disk options
- Preemptible VMs
3.2 Identify and evaluate container-based compute options. Considerations include:
- Define the function of a container registry
- Distinguish between VMs, containers, and Google Kubernetes Engine
3.3 Identify and evaluate serverless compute options. Considerations include:
- Define the function and use of App Engine, Google Cloud Functions, and Cloud Run
- Define rationale for versioning with serverless compute options
- Cost and performance tradeoffs of scale to zero
3.4 Identify and evaluate multiple data management offerings. Considerations include:
- Describe the differences and benefits of Google Cloud’s relational and non-relational database offerings (e.g., Cloud SQL, Cloud Spanner, Cloud Bigtable, BigQuery)
- Describe Google Cloud’s database offerings and how they compare to commercial offerings
3.5 Distinguish between ML/AI offerings. Considerations include:
- Describe the differences and benefits of Google Cloud’s hardware accelerators (e.g., Vision API, AI Platform , TPUs )
- Identify when to train your own model, use a Google Cloud pre-trained model, or build on an existing model
3.6 Differentiate between data movement and data pipelines. Considerations include:
- Describe Google Cloud’s data pipeline offerings (e.g., Pub/Sub, Dataflow, Cloud Data Fusion, BigQuery, Looker)
- Define data ingestion options
3.7 Apply use cases to a high-level Google Cloud architecture. Considerations include:
- Define Google Cloud’s offerings around the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
- Describe Google Cloud’s platform visibility and alerting offerings
3.8 Describe solutions for migrating workloads to Google Cloud. Considerations include:
- Identify data migration options
- Differentiate when to use Migrate for Compute Engine versus Migrate for Anthos
- Distinguish between lift and shift versus application modernization
3.9 Describe networking to on-premises locations. Considerations include:
- Define Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN)
- Determine the best connectivity option based on networking and security requirements
- Private Google Access
3.10 Define identity and access features. Considerations include:
Additional Learning Resources
- Google Cloud Essentials — YouTube Playlist
- Overview on key GCP services
- GCP Products — to have a quick understanding of various offerings
- GCP Developer Cheatsheet — one pager of all GCP service offerings
- Compare AWS & Azure to GCP services — if you are already familiar with AWS or Azure
All the best for your exam preparation and success!
