Passed GCP Associate Cloud Engineer and Professional Data Engineer

I passed the GCP Associate Cloud Engineer (ACE) and Professional Data Engineer (PDE) exams. I took them in August and September 2022 respectively, and managed to pass both on the first try.

For study materials, I used textbooks, Google Cloud's online training provided to partner companies, and Udemy practice tests. The Udemy practice tests were the most effective for the exam, but the hands-on experience with actual services through the online training also seemed to help with knowledge retention.

My study approach was: first read two books and summarize them in blog posts, then for ACE and PDE respectively: take the online training → attempt the Udemy practice tests. It took about one month for each, two months total. Since I was taking it easy, I think you could pass both in about two weeks if you focus.

The exam can be taken online or offline (at a test center), but offline is recommended. I took the ACE exam online and it took about an hour and a half of troubleshooting because the proctor couldn't remotely monitor the exam environment. I eventually gave up on my Windows PC and was able to make it work on a MacBook, but it was quite stressful.

Books

Google Cloud Platform Enterprise Design Guide
Getting Started with Data Engineering on Google Cloud

Google Cloud Partner Online Training

Udemy