Is the Google Professional Data Engineer Worth It?

More and more companies are investing heavily in big data, but many face a problem when trying to get started: no one knows exactly what it means to invest heavily in big data. Big data is a topic that's easy to talk about and even easier to get excited about. But many organizations find that no one is sure how to turn the crazy success stories they've heard about at other places into reality for themselves.

As the provider of some of the most powerful, secure, and versatile big data processing tools and applications, the burden of explaining them fell on Google. So they developed the Google Professional Data Engineer certification to help ensure organizations and companies could hire someone intimately familiar with all the ways big data can improve their business. 

In other words, the Google Professional Data Engineer certification exists so that an executive or manager can say, "We need big data!" and you can reply something like, "You mean we should start with an Extract-Transform-Load pipeline to bring together all our data sources to the same warehouse?"

What is the Google Professional Data Engineer Certification?

The Google Professional Data Engineer certification is an IT industry certification provided and maintained by Google. The Google Professional Data Engineer is an advanced certification awarded to IT professionals who demonstrate a general understanding of data processing and analysis topics, but also specific familiarity with the tools and utilities that Google Cloud offers.

For companies and organizations considering getting into big data, having someone on staff with their Google Professional Data Engineer is basically a safety line. Once earned, you're trained and equipped to make the right calls about data processing, storage, analysis, machine learning, and artificial intelligence utilities from Google. 

It's not an easy certification because earning it means you don't just understand what all of Google's cloud-based data processing and analysis tools and utilities do; it means you know how to incorporate them into plans, deploy them on your networks, and manage their operations after they're up and running.

Simply put, the Google Professional Data Engineer certification is an advanced, one-stop shop for proving mastery of Google's data utilities and applications. Earning it requires passing the Google Professional Data Engineer exam.

What are the Google Professional Data Engineer Exam Objectives?

There's only one exam for the Google Professional Data Engineer. You'll have two hours answer between 50 and 60 questions. The exam is available in both English and Japanese. The multiple choice or multiple response questions fall into five sections:

• Section 1: Designing data processing systems

• Section 2: Ingesting and processing data

• Section 3: Storing the data 

• Section 4: Preparing and using data for analysis

• Section 5: Maintaining and automating data workloads 

From the names of the exam sections, it’s obvious the test is a practical examination of your ability to inventory, plan, operationalize, process, and maintain all the tools and utilities for data processing and analysis in the cloud. The Google Professional Data Engineer exam isn't purely about answering questions; it's also about demonstrating your comfort with actually using and implementing the tools.

How Much Does the Google Professional Data Engineer Exam Cost?

It'll cost you $200 USD, plus tax, to attempt the two-hour Google Professional Data Engineer exam. You can take the exam in person or proctored online at any time convenient for you. Unlike certifications from professional organizations, you don't need a membership or application to attempt the exam. 

Although you should include the cost of preparation or training into the cost of earning it, as long as you can pass the exam on your first attempt, it'll only cost $200 to earn the Google Professional Data Engineer.

What Experience Do You Need for the Google Professional Data Engineer Certification Exam?

Google doesn't require any experience before you attempt the Google Professional Data Engineer exam. There are no other certifications or prerequisites you have to earn beforehand, and you don't have to take any particular courses or training before Google will let you try. 

But that doesn't mean you can earn the Google Professional Data Engineer without any experience. Google recommends three years of industry experience and a full year of specifically designing and managing Google-based cloud data processing solutions.

There's a lot to know about GCP data solutions, and earning the Google Professional Data Engineer isn't just about identifying each GCP tool by name. Part of the exam covers designing data processing systems by selecting the right storage, pipeline, and processing solutions from Google. A successful candidate would already have some experience building and operationalizing storage, pipelines, and processing infrastructures for data processing. 

Machine learning is a large portion of the Google Professional Data Engineer exam, so you'll want experience leveraging pre-built machine learning models, deploying ML pipelines, and maintaining machine learning models after deployment. Last, the certification also validates that you've had experience with ensuring the quality of the solutions you choose and deploy.

Who Should Take the Google Professional Data Engineer Certification Exam?

Cloud and network administrators, data and systems analysts, and data engineers should earn the Google Professional Data Engineer certification exam. It doesn't matter if you already use Google tools and utilities or not – if your job deals with any part of big data processing or analysis in the cloud, you should plan on earning the Google Professional Data Engineer certification.

Is Google Professional Data Engineer Certification Worth It for Cloud Administrators?

Whether or not the Google Professional Data Engineer certification is worth it for you as a cloud administrator will come down to what responsibilities you hold. It's not a good certification for cloud administrators who only do a few specific administration tasks. 

The Google Professional Data Engineer certification is worth it for cloud administrators who are constantly expected to be jacks of all trades, familiar with the many options Google Cloud has for data and are called on to implement data processing solutions.

Is Google Professional Data Engineer Certification Worth It for Data Analysts?

Yes, the Google Professional Data Engineer certification is worth it for many data analysts. Especially more experienced data analysts who are interested in expanding their familiarity with big data and machine learning fundamentals into a more advanced knowledge of actual data engineering.

If you're solely responsible for taking formatted data and turning it into a single product, the time and energy it'll take to learn how to create and manage cloud resources or instantiate serverless data processing might not be worth it. 

However, if you're at a point in your career where you'd like to be able to give advice and make decisions about how your company invests in cloud solutions, earning the Google Professional Data Engineer certification is worth it. Data analysts who want to be able to perform ML/AI tasks in the cloud while evaluating data processing system designs should seriously consider earning it.

Is Google Professional Data Engineer Certification Worth It for a Data Engineer?

Yes, definitely. The Google Professional Data Engineer certification is overwhelmingly worth it for a data engineer. At basically any point in your career as a data engineer, you would be well-served to seriously consider the cert. 

Newcomers to the career field can be prepared to compare and contrast their company's existing ML/AI solutions with what Google offers. Experienced veterans can perfect their skills in planning, implementing, and optimizing data processing applications and machine learning algorithms that operate on them.

Even the most experienced data engineers will benefit from learning the name and function of all of Google's data processing, analysis, storage, machine learning, and AI tools.

What are the Other Benefits of the Google Professional Data Engineer Certification for those in IT?

The Google Professional Data Engineer certification is a well-respected certification and at only $200, it's worth it for most people who work with machine learning, artificial intelligence, big data, and data pipelines or warehouses. 

For IT professionals looking to develop deep and specific knowledge about one specific implementation of one of those technologies, it might not be worth it. But for anyone who needs to speak knowledgeably about all the data analysis and processing tools Google has, it’s worth it.

Using Google Professional Data Engineer Certification to Learn Skills

One of the best things about a certification like the Google Professional Data Engineer certification is that it's essentially a catalog of all the tools, utilities, and applications that a data engineer could plausibly run into throughout their career. As you prepare to pass the Google Professional Data Engineer certification exam, you're learning every last part of how to take an organization's current data analysis and processing capabilities and plan, deploy, maintain, and optimize them to an end state that could be a hundred-fold improvement.

Using the Google Professional Data Engineer certification to learn the skills a data engineer should have is a solid investment, especially considering the certification exam only costs $200.

Using Google Professional Data Engineer Certification to Validate Skills

If you've read this far and you're convinced you already know everything there is that the Google Professional Data Engineer could test you on, you might start to think earning it would waste your time. Maybe you watched the videos, read the blogs about each Google tool, and use them daily anyway. 

If that applies to you, the Google Professional Data Engineer is still worth earning because it will let you prove definitively to your employer (or future employers) that you know everything they need. They don't have to take your word for it – Google has your back.

Final Thoughts on Google Professional Data Engineer Certification 

If you're currently a data engineer or want to expand your skills, Google Professional Data Engineer certification is worth the effort (and the cost.) Just make sure to spend time studying before taking the test! 

Start with Google's exam guide to understand what topics are covered. They also offer a webinar for additional training. 

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