Although the main aims and principles of certificates are almost the same, there are prominent differences between Google Cloud and AWS certificates.
So, today we’ll compare both certifications and will help you choose the right cloud certification according to your skills, career demands, and expectations.
Google Cloud Certification: A brief overview
The growing popularity of the Google Cloud Platform and its services across a vast number of organizations allows us to highlight the fact that google cloud certificates have become a must for individuals who want to stand out with an impressive resume and build a promising career in the IT industry.
What are the Google Cloud certifications and what do they entail?
Google Cloud certifications are a series of 3 role-based certificate examinations meant to discover and showcase your knowledge, skills, and experience related to a specific IT field.
They enhance an individual’s professionalism and skills and become a kind of serious proof that you are specialized in the chosen role and are ready to build your career or take it to the next level.
Those certifications are planned for different roles and knowledge levels. They demonstrate your technical proficiency with Google Cloud products and solutions.
What are the different types of certifications offered by Google Cloud?
Google cloud offers 3 different types of certifications for different skills, knowledge, and experience levels:
Which Google Cloud certification is best for beginners?
The most suitable Google cloud certificate for beginners is the Fundamental certification. It examines a broad and general knowledge of cloud performance and services and gives you a better understanding of the basic features of Google cloud.
What is the exam format of Google Cloud certifications?
Different types of exams have different formats. Let's take a look at each separately.
format | time | number of questions | language |
|---|---|---|---|
Foundational Certification/ | |||
Multiple Choice | 90 minutes | 40-60 | English |
Associate Certification/ | |||
Multiple Choice | 120 Minutes | 40-60 | English |
Professional Certification | |||
Multiple Choice | 120 Minutes | 40-60 | English |
How much do Google Cloud certifications cost?
Note that additional fees may be charged depending on your location. You’ll be notified about any fees before being charged as this info is usually provided when making the payment.
What are the benefits of earning Google Cloud certifications?
Google Cloud certification is one of the most valuable certifications you may have during your career in the IT industry. Will see the benefits in the following:
AWS Certification: A brief overview
AWS is one of the largest public cloud platforms that provide a series of useful products and services to make your business deals look more organized.
AWS certifications are another great document that expertise your experience and skills in cloud computing and the IT industry.
What are the AWS certifications and what do they entail?
Like google cloud certifications, AWS certifications are “tools'' that help you to stand out with your skills. If you don’t have experience in any IT field but you want to start your career in this industry, then you can think of earning an AWS certification.
What are the different types of certifications offered by AWS?
There are 4 main types of AWS certificates meant for different roles and levels of knowledge. Here they are
Which AWS certification is best for beginners?
Beginners can start with the fundamentals by choosing the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner certification. It requires basic skills in service and product usage tools and focuses on cloud concepts
What is the exam format of AWS certifications?
format | time | number of questions | language |
|---|---|---|---|
Foundational Certification/ | |||
Multiple Choice | 100 minutes | 65 | English, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese Simplified Chinese, Spanish |
Associate Certification/ | |||
Multiple Choice | 130 Minutes | 65 | English, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese Simplified Chinese, Spanish |
Professional Certification | |||
Multiple Choice | 180 Minutes | 75 | English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese |
SPECIALTY Certification | |||
Multiple Choice | 180 Minutes | 65 | English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese |
How much do AWS certifications cost?
Note that additional fees may be charged depending on your location. You’ll be notified about any fees before being charged as this info is usually provided when making the payment.
What are the benefits of earning an AWS certification?
Like in the case of Google Cloud Certification, AWs certifications also come with benefits such as:
Google Cloud Certification vs AWS Certifications: How do they differ?
Both Google Cloud Certification and AWS certifications are top-rated certificates and they take the first place when it comes to the choice of a secure and well-organized cloud platform.
As a learner and job seeker, you need to make your choice according to your skills, experience, and of course demands.
Let’s first discuss the differences between Google Cloud Certifications and AWS Certifications to see what particularly you need to choose to succeed in your career paths.
Exam difficulty and prerequisites
When it comes to the comparison of the exam ease, difficulty, or challenges, we can say that both AWS and GCP are equally easy and equally difficult.
The prerequisites and principles in the learning path and for the examination are actually similar for both service providers. They require
Coverage of topics and focus areas
The main areas and topics to focus on in a Google Cloud Certification exam are:
The main areas and topics to focus on in an AWS Certification exam are
Exam difficulty and prerequisites
AWS has a larger market share than Google Cloud and therefore there are more job openings for Azure-certified individuals.
According to the statistics of cloud infrastructure services market worldwide
33% of the entire market is controlled by AWS services. Google Cloud takes 10% market share.
Cost and availability of study resources
When it comes to the costs of Certifications, Google Cloud Certificates are much cheaper than AWS certificates.
While Google certificates cost around $99-$200, depending on the type, AWS certification exams range from $100-$300.
There are several useful websites offering both Google Cloud certification and AWS certification training, test exams, and online courses.
Are there any similarities between Google Cloud and AWS Certifications?
As for similarities, we can say they are just a few and they mostly regard the organization and forms of certifications as well as the exam procedures:
Google Cloud Certification vs AWS Certifications: So which one should you go with?
Each of these service providers offers a unique set of services that can be related to a specific set of skills, meaning the choice mostly depends on your skills and experience.
AWS for Entry-Level Individuals
AWS is easier to learn if you have no prior Cloud experience. If you are a beginner and want to start your career in an entry-level position for a cloud-related job, then consider learning AWS.
Google Cloud for Specialized Individuals
If you are interested in specialized areas such as Big Data and Machine learning in the cloud, then go for Google Cloud Certifications. The competition is lower in this field and you may find more job offerings with your Google Cloud certifications.
Best online resources to get started with Google Cloud and AWS Certifications
Before you may take any Google Cloud or AWS certification exam, it’s better to get prepared for it first. So, let’s see some of the best resources available to get a better understanding of the exam procedure both technically and theoretically.
1. Online course for Google Cloud Certifications
GCP Associate Cloud Engineer - Google Cloud Certification | Udemy
This course is all about understanding how to engineer and deploy secure and robust applications on Google Cloud Platform.
It consists of 17 hours on-demand video, 13 quizzes, 26 articles and closed captions. The course costs $19.99.
2. Practice exams for Google Cloud Certifications
Preparing for Google Cloud Certification: Cloud DevOps Engineer Professional Certificate | Coursera
This practice exam will help you learn the skills needed to be successful in a cloud devops engineering role.
It includes techniques for monitoring, troubleshooting, and improving infrastructure and application performance in Google Cloud guided by principles of SRE.
1. Online course for AWS Certifications
AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials | Coursera
This course is about how to apply key AWS Services for compute, storage, database, networking, monitoring, and security.
It includes design architectural solutions, performance, and/or operational excellence, as well as addresses common business challenges.
It will help you learn how to create and operate a data lake in a secure and scalable way, ingest and organize data into the data lake, and optimize performance and costs.
2. Practice exams for AWS Certifications
[NEW] Ultimate AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner - 2023 | Udemy
This is a full practice exam with explanations included. All its 300+ slides are available on the website and PDF downloadable.
It includes 14.5 hours on-demand video, 21 quizzes, 1 practice test, 5 articles, closed captions, and audio description in existing audio.
Taking this course you’ll learn the AWS Fundamentals (EC2, ELB, ASG, RDS, ElastiCache, S3). The cost of the course is 84.99$
Tips on how to use Cloud Certifications to get ahead in your career
You already know that certifications are valuable tools to use in your career paths, so check these helpful tips to use Cloud Certifications to take one step further in your career:
Conclusion
When it comes to the value of qualifications or certifications for future job opportunities, it’s better to consider the research of future employers and recruitment agents who clearly understand the market needs and requirements in the industry.
So, choosing the right cloud certification depends on the market requirements as well as your perspectives, demands, and expectations about the future of the IT industry and your career.
