Google Professional Cloud Architect

 October 4, 2023

As it happens every couple of years, my Google Cloud Certifications were up for renewal at the end of August. I started to look for possible exam dates at the beginning of June since it is possible to renew Google Cloud exams only from the 60th day before the expiration to the 30th day after the expiration date. Since the system informed me that I was outside the 60-day window, I assumed I had to wait until 60 days before the expiration to book the exam. So I waited. The day arrived and passed, and still, I was not able to book my exams. After a few tickets opened to both Google and Kryterion, they informed me that they unblocked my Google Professional Cloud Architect exam, while for the Google Associate Cloud Engineer, more time to unblock it was needed. I, therefore, took the Google Professional Cloud Architect exam. Once that one was renewed, I noticed that Google silently and retroactively increased the validity of Google Associate Cloud Engineer certifications from 2 to 3 years, so I will be able to renew that one next year.

The Google Professional Cloud Architect itself exam was uneventful. Probably part of the reason was my decision (wiser than last time around) to do the exam in an Exam Center.

As for the previous times, the exam is heavily based on fictional case studies. This time, though, the case studies are different from the previous times. Some case studies are completely new, while others have changed. I like this case study approach, at least in theory. The reality is that all questions that I got asked about the case studies had a clear, correct answer, even ignoring the referenced case study. It felt more like a cosmetic choice than a real case-study-driven exam.

Overall, I found the exam questions very reasonable, and very few questions were tricky questions.

As for the Google certifications experience, I find it very rough every time. I’m not sure if the reason is my personal expectations on how a certification process should work or if the Google certification is really rough. Due to those reasons, my goal is to continue renewing my Google Cloud certifications, but I do not envision taking new ones.

Disclaimer: I have not personally paid for this exam since my current employer has covered the certification expenses.