This advice will help you prepare for the Google Cloud Certified Associate Cloud Engineer exam

The most efficient way to study for this exam

Spanish version here!

Today I received an email indicating that the Google Cloud certificates have been redesigned! This image shows the new design for the Associate Cloud Engineer (ACE for short) certificate.

The Google Cloud Certified Associate Cloud Engineer certificate

There was a time when this exam was compared to the foundational ones from other cloud providers (hello Cloud Practitioner 👋). But, according to the testimonials from the survivors, the ACE exam will bring you to your knees until you beg for mercy. In my opinion, the Cloud Digital Leader is the one you should compare to. But let’s talk about it in another post. We are here to talk about the Associate Cloud Engineer exam.

What does an Associate Cloud Engineer do?

I’m glad you ask. According to the description in Google Cloud’s website, the Associate Cloud Engineers deploy applications, monitor operations, and manage enterprise solutions. They use Google Cloud Console and the command-line interface to perform common platform-based tasks to maintain one or more deployed solutions that leverage Google-managed or self-managed services on Google Cloud.

What’s in the exam?

The extended official list you can find it in this link. But here’s a bird’s-eye view of the things you are expected to know how to do using Google Cloud products:

1. Setting up a cloud solution environment
   1.1 Setting up cloud projects and accounts
   1.2 Managing billing configuration
   1.3 Installing and configuring the command line interface
2. Planning and configuring a cloud solution
   2.1 Estimating Google Cloud product use using the Pricing Calculator
   2.2 Planning and configuring compute resources
   2.3 Planning and configuring data storage options
   2.4 Planning and configuring network resources
3. Deploying and implementing a cloud solution
   3.1 Deploying and implementing Compute Engine resources
   3.2 Deploying and implementing Google Kubernetes Engine resources
   3.3 Deploying and implementing Cloud Run and Cloud Functions
   3.4 Deploying and implementing data solutions
   3.5 Deploying and implementing networking resources
   3.6 Deploying a solution using Cloud Marketplace
   3.7 Implementing resources via infrastructure as code
4. Ensuring successful operation of a cloud solution
   4.1 Managing Compute Engine resources
   4.2 Managing Google Kubernetes Engine resources
   4.3 Managing Cloud Run resources
   4.4 Managing storage and database solutions
   4.5 Managing networking resources
   4.6 Monitoring and logging
5. Configuring access and security
   5.1 Managing Identity and Access Management (IAM)
   5.2 Managing service accounts
   5.3 Viewing audit logs

What advice would you give to anyone who’s preparing for this exam?

Here’s the thing. You can study each service covered in the exam, top to bottom, back to front, and practice, practice, practice. That would do the trick. But, if you want to be more efficient, my advice is to go to this link first, answer the questions the best you can and let the results kick your butt.

Credits to the author. Image modified by thecodemancer_

That’s right!

Let me explain. By doing so, the crucial concepts you need to invest more time will be reveal. IAM?, GKE? VPCs? At this point, go ahead and elaborate a plan prioritizing those concepts and stick to it.

Do you have any other advice? Tell me in the comments.

Thanks for reading! Do you want more?

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