Chapter 1: GCP Cloud Architect Professional
The shift to the cloud is not a new thing, and for many years, companies have been utilizing cost-effective solutions from public cloud vendors to move away from the traditional on-premises architecture. The speed at which technology is moving now makes it increasingly difficult for companies managing their own infrastructure to get the most out of their IT systems.
While Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure currently lead the race with enterprise-scale companies, Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is one of the most popular solutions among IT professionals, and interest in it is steadily increasing. It seems that Google is playing the long game very well. In Q3 2018, ex-CEO of Google Cloud, Diane Greene, estimated that only 10% of workloads are in the public cloud, showing the massive scope for market share still available.
Given that companies are continuously moving to multi-cloud solutions to distribute their workloads or have more control over where and how their data is stored, this means that IT cloud architects and engineers need to understand more than just the current top two providers.
Furthermore, the 2020 global pandemic accelerated cloud adoption as companies shifted to home working, and collaboration tools such as Google Meet became vital in companies for maintaining stability. It also highlighted that legacy IT models proved a significant risk to businesses due to the delay in being able to scale when needed, for example.
This book, of course, will focus on Google technologies. Many of you may have experience with other public cloud vendors, such as AWS or Microsoft Azure, but we will also cater to those who are new to the public cloud. The goal of this book is to help you pass the Google Professional Cloud Architect exam. This book is suitable for both levels of experience. In this chapter, we will look at why you would take this exam, inform you about how to register for the exam, and brief you on what to expect from the exam.
We will cover the following topics in this chapter:
- Understanding the benefits of being a certified architect
- Registering for the exam
- What to expect from the exam
- Suggested hints and tips
