garden.izzy.sh

GCP Resources

3 min read

1. The “Must-Have” Starting Points

If you are completely new, start with these two to get access to the platform and understand the ecosystem.

  • Google Cloud Skills Boost (formerly Qwiklabs):
    • What it is: The official learning platform from Google. It provides temporary credentials to a real GCP environment so you can break things without getting a bill.
    • Why it’s great: It offers “Quests” and learning paths. Completing them earns you badges for your LinkedIn profile.
  • GCP Free Tier:
    • What it is: Google gives new users $300 in free credits for 90 days, plus a list of “Always Free” products (like small compute instances).
    • Why it’s great: You cannot learn cloud without actually building in the cloud. Set up your own account to practice what you learn in courses.

2. Best Structured Video Courses

  • Coursera (Google Cloud Professional Certificates):
    • Best for: Beginners and those wanting a university-style structure.
    • Details: These are produced by Google. They are excellent for theory but can sometimes be a bit dry. The “Google Cloud Digital Leader” or “Associate Cloud Engineer” paths are common starting points.
  • Udemy (Ranga Karanam / in28Minutes):
    • Best for: Certification preparation (Associate Cloud Engineer & Professional Architect).
    • Details: Ranga Karanam is widely regarded as one of the best GCP instructors on Udemy. His courses are hands-on, affordable, and updated frequently.
  • A Cloud Guru (Pluralsight):
    • Best for: comprehensive, Netflix-style learning.
    • Details: The industry standard for cloud learning. They have a sandbox feature (similar to Skills Boost) and very engaging instructors. It is a subscription model.

3. Best Visual & Quick Reference Resources

GCP has a lot of services, and remembering them all is difficult. These resources help visualize the stack.

  • The Cloud Girl (Priyanka Vergadia):
    • Resource: Visualizing Google Cloud (Book & Website)
    • Why it’s unique: She creates incredible “sketchnotes” and diagrams that explain complex GCP services (like Kubernetes or BigQuery) using simple visuals. This is arguably the best resource for visual learners.
  • GCP Developer Cheat Sheet:
    • Resource: googlecloudcheatsheet.withgoogle.com
    • Why it’s unique: An interactive page that describes every GCP product in 4 words or less. It links directly to the documentation and code samples.

4. Best for Certification Prep (Practice Exams)

If your goal is to pass a certification exam (ACE or PCA), video courses are not enough; you need practice questions.

  • Tutorials Dojo (Jon Bonso):
    • Widely considered the gold standard for cloud practice exams. The explanations for why an answer is right or wrong are incredibly detailed.
  • Whizlabs:
    • Another strong contender for practice tests with a large volume of questions.

5. Documentation & Reading

  • Official Google Cloud Documentation:
    • Unlike some tech stacks, GCP documentation is actually very readable. The “Concepts” section of any service (e.g., “Compute Engine Concepts”) is usually the best way to deep-dive.
  • Google Cloud Architecture Center:
    • Best for learning how to combine services to build solutions. Look for their “Reference Architectures.”

Suggested Learning Path

  1. Create a Free Tier account.
  2. Visuals: Buy/Look at “Visualizing Google Cloud” to understand the landscape.
  3. Course: Take Ranga Karanam’s “GCP Associate Cloud Engineer” course on Udemy.
  4. Practice: Do the labs in the course, then supplement with Google Cloud Skills Boost quests.
  5. Test: Use Tutorials Dojo to prep for the exam.

Graph View

Backlinks