Google Cloud Certified Cloud Digital Leader - new foundational exam from GCP
Google Cloud Platform (GCP) has recently released a new exam called Cloud Digital Leader. It is currently in beta version. I will be sharing details about this new certification and my experience on taking up a beta exam in this post.
Until now, Google didn't have a foundational exam like the AWS (Cloud Practitioner) or Azure (Azure Fundamentals). Associate Cloud Engineer was their entry level exam but it wasn't a fundamental exam but rather an Associate level exam. So Google has introduced Digital Cloud Leader - an awesome name for a foundational certification!
As for any cloud foundational exam, this exam also focuses on general cloud knowledge and understanding of Google Cloud specific products and services, which enables people to better articulate the capabilities of Google Cloud and how it can benefit their organization. Further, the exam is job-role agnostic and does not require hands-on experience with Google Cloud.
Exam Pattern
The exam assess your ability on the following:
- General Cloud Knowledge
- General Google Cloud Knowledge
- Google Cloud Products and Services
The official exam guide provides a full list of individuals topics covered in the exam
About Beta exam
The beta exam registration and delivery will be the same like that of the final exam. You can register for the exam at https://www.webassessor.com. You have 2 options for taking the exam - online proctored (at a testing center) or remote proctored (at home). I took the exam at home. The final exam would cost $99.
Beta exam has got advantages like 40% discount from the retail price of final exam, failing the exam doesn't count towards the total attempts available but on the flipside, for a new exam like this, no training or practice exams may be available and exam results would not be immediate and might take 6-8 weeks but you will get the full benefits of passing the exam.
Complete guide on Google Cloud beta exam is available here
The beta exam was for 3 hours since it usually contains the complete spectrum of questions and could also provide feedback about each question but I expect the final exam to be for 2 hours.
Registration for the beta exam is now closed and general registration of this exam will be from June 2021.
Exam Preparation
I had already cleared Associate Cloud Engineer and Professional Cloud Architect exams, so I didn't actually prepare separately for this exam.
Google suggests to undertake the following courses
- Course - Business Transformation with Google Cloud (Enroll using the "Audit" option to take at no cost)
- Course - Google Cloud Product Fundamentals (Enroll using the "Audit" option to take at no cost)
- Impact Study - Google Cloud Adoption Framework
- Resource - Google Cloud Solutions
Exam Experience
The exam assess on almost all the topics mentioned in the exam guide and hence didn't call out important topics separately.
For generally available exam, the result would be announce immediately - whether pass or fail. But since I took a beta exam, the result will be announced in 6-8 weeks (when the final exam is generally available). So I am awaiting for the exam result and will update once I get the certificate.
Learning Resources
Since it's a new exam and training materials may not be widely available, I have collated the Google Cloud documentation reference for each of the individual exam topics and provided here. Hope it helps you to better prepare for the exam.
All the best for your exam preparation and success!