How to Ace Your Google Cloud DevOps Certification: Insider Tips and Strategies
Tags: googlecloud, devops, certification
Published: 2024-02-09 16:00:19

Stepping into the world of cloud technology and DevOps, I embarked on a transformative journey towards achieving the Google Cloud Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer Certification. It was a path paved with curiosity, challenges, and countless moments of learning.

In this blog, I will share the strategy and resources of my preparation process, as I delve deep into the world of Google Cloud and hone my skills in DevOps practices. From the initial spark of interest to the triumphant moment of certification, every step of this adventure was filled with invaluable insights and experiences.


### Navigating the Exam Structure: What to Expect:
The exam price is $200 and You can expect 50 questions to be answered within 2 hours.

The Exam Guide Covers:
- Bootstrap a Google Cloud organization for DevOps
- Building and implementing CI/CD pipelines for a service
- Apply site reliability engineering practices to a service
- Implementing Service Monitoring Strategies
- Optimize service performance

You can check the Exam guide [here](https://cloud.google.com/learn/certification/guides/cloud-devops-engineer).

### Mastering Google Cloud Tools for DevOps: Key Concepts and Best Practices

This particular exam focuses mainly on the following topics.

- Google Kubernetes Engine
- SRE Best practices (Very IMP)
- Binary Authorization
- Monitoring and Logging
- Incident Management
- Artifact registry, Source Repositories
- Deployment and testing strategies

### Resources I followed

1. The DevOps and SRE path by Google. 
This may be a little time taking but it is worth watching. You can find it [here](https://www.cloudskillsboost.google/paths/20)

2. The Google SRE Book
This is a valuable resource to understand SRE principles deeply. Worth reading. Find it [here.](https://sre.google/sre-book/table-of-contents/)

3. The Last Minutes Notes.
This is Ammett William's Prepsheet, good to read while revising the concepts. Here is the [link](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cCCTwulZuSBa4XmEh9bGzEwotaaOz9Wt/view)

4. Google SRE DevOps [Playlist](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIivdWyY5sqJrKl7D2u-gmis8h9K66qoj)
You won't regret watching this playlist right from Google.

5. This is a Bonus Resource.
I have created an extensive guide, covering all the concepts. In this document, I have covered all the best practices an SRE follows. You can read it [here.](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-GosSkOg4fzaRVw-NGeC_jGP1u6PkRKZ/view?usp=sharing)


Important Tips:

1. Practice with [sample questions](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdpk564uiDvdnqqyPoVjgpBp0TEtgScSFuDV7YQvRSumwUyoQ/viewform): Spend some time reviewing sample questions or taking practice exams to familiarize yourself with the format and types of questions you may encounter.
2. Also practice the questions from a website called examtopics.com. This website includes previous questions that already came in the exam.
3. Focus on understanding key concepts rather than memorizing details.
4. Manage your time effectively during the exam.
5. Stay calm, read questions carefully, and trust in your preparation.

I trust that this guidance aids you in your exam readiness and eventual success. Thank you for taking the time to read through it. Wishing you the best of luck in your performance on the exam!

Thanks for Reading.
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