Professional-Cloud-DevOps-Engineer · ● Active · Professional · Google Cloud
Exam facts
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Cost | $200 USD |
| Duration | 2 hours (120 minutes) |
| Questions | 50–60 |
| Passing | ~70% correct |
| Format | Multiple choice / Multiple select, scenario-based |
| Delivery | Kryterion Webassessor (online or test centre) |
| Languages | English |
| Valid | 2 years |
| Renewal | Retake exam |
| Prerequisites | Recommended: 3+ years industry experience, 1+ year with Google Cloud |
| Released | 2021 |
| Retiring | N/A |
Vendor source — cloud.google.com/learn/certification/cloud-devops-engineer ↗ Official exam guide — Exam guide ↗
About
The Google Cloud Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer certification validates expertise in applying Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) practices to Google Cloud services. This certification demonstrates proficiency with CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure automation, cloud operations, observability, and incident management. Ideal for DevOps engineers, SRE practitioners, and platform engineers who design, implement, and manage production services on GCP using automation and reliability best practices.
Domain context — Cloud
Hyperscale public cloud (GCP). Part of the Google Cloud certification track for DevOps and infrastructure specialists.
Read full deep dive — Google Cloud →
Topics covered
Exam Domain Distribution:
- Bootstrapping and Maintaining a Google Cloud Organization (~20%) – Design resource hierarchy; organize resources (projects, folders); configure Shared VPC and networking; implement IAM roles and policies; set up multi-project monitoring and logging
- Building and Implementing CI/CD Pipelines (~30%) – Design and implement CI/CD pipelines using Cloud Build and Cloud Deploy; manage pipeline configuration and secrets; implement security controls; automate testing and deployments
- Applying Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) Practices (~25%) – Apply SRE principles to service design; establish SLIs, SLOs, and error budgets; implement runbooks; practice healthy incident response; manage on-call rotations
- Implementing Observability (~13%) – Implement monitoring with Cloud Monitoring; configure logging and log analysis; set up Cloud Trace for tracing; implement Cloud Debugger; create dashboards and alerts
- Optimizing Performance and Cost (~12%) – Collect performance metrics; use Active Assist insights; implement FinOps practices; optimize resource utilization; configure cost controls and recommenders
Key Technologies Covered:
- Cloud Build (CI/CD orchestration)
- Cloud Deploy (deployment automation)
- Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)
- Artifact Registry (container and package registry)
- Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Deployment Manager)
- Cloud Monitoring, Cloud Logging
- Cloud Trace, Cloud Debugger
- Error Reporting, Profiler
- Pub/Sub, Cloud Tasks (event-driven automation)
- Shared VPC, VPC Service Controls
- IAM, Cloud KMS, Secret Manager
- Anthos (hybrid/multi-cloud)
Common job-ready skills
- Design and implement CI/CD pipelines using Cloud Build and Cloud Deploy
- Apply SRE principles and establish SLOs/error budgets
- Automate infrastructure provisioning with IaC tools
- Implement comprehensive observability (monitoring, logging, tracing)
- Manage Google Cloud organization and multi-project infrastructure
- Implement security policies and access controls
- Optimize cloud costs and resource utilization
- Manage incidents, on-call rotations, and post-mortems
Recommended courses
Google Cloud Skills Boost (official):
- Preparing for the Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer Exam
- Manage Google Cloud with Terraform
- Cloud Operations and Service Mesh with Istio
- Implementing CI/CD with Google Cloud Build
Coursera:
Pluralsight:
- Google Cloud Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer Path (on-demand courses and hands-on labs)
Practice exams
- Official Google Cloud Practice Exam – Available on Google Cloud Certification website
- ExamTopics – Community practice questions and answers
- CertificationPractice.com – Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer Practice Tests
Books
-
Google Cloud Certified Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer Study Guide by Marian Marinescu
- Publisher: Packt Publishing
- Available on O'Reilly and major retailers ↗
-
Prepare for the Google Cloud Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer Exam by Marian Marinescu & Nischal Sharma (2024)
- Publisher: Packt Publishing
-
Google Cloud Certified Professional Cloud Architect Study Guide by Dan Sullivan (2022)
- Publisher: Sybex
- O'Reilly ↗
Job titles
- DevOps Engineer
- Site Reliability Engineer (SRE)
- Platform Engineer
- Cloud Operations Engineer
- Infrastructure Engineer
- Release Engineer
- Senior DevOps Engineer
Salary
United States (USD)
| Level | Low | Median | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry | $105,000 | $130,000 | $160,000 |
| Mid | $140,000 | $165,000 | $200,000 |
| Senior | $190,000 | $220,000 | $260,000 |
South Africa (ZAR) (× 18)
| Level | Low | Median | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry | R1,890,000 | R2,340,000 | R2,880,000 |
| Mid | R2,520,000 | R2,970,000 | R3,600,000 |
| Senior | R3,420,000 | R3,960,000 | R4,680,000 |
United Kingdom (GBP)
| Level | Low | Median | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry | £82,000 | £102,000 | £125,000 |
| Mid | £110,000 | £130,000 | £157,000 |
| Senior | £150,000 | £175,000 | £205,000 |
European Union (EUR)
| Level | Low | Median | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry | €90,000 | €112,000 | €137,000 |
| Mid | €121,000 | €143,000 | €172,000 |
| Senior | €165,000 | €193,000 | €225,000 |
Australia (AUD)
| Level | Low | Median | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry | $175,000 | $210,000 | $260,000 |
| Mid | $235,000 | $270,000 | $330,000 |
| Senior | $320,000 | $365,000 | $430,000 |
Skills validated
- Design and implement CI/CD pipelines using GCP cloud-native services
- Apply SRE principles and establish service level objectives
- Implement infrastructure as code (IaC) for Google Cloud
- Design multi-project, multi-region organizations
- Implement comprehensive observability and monitoring
- Configure automated deployment and release processes
- Manage incidents, on-call rotations, and incident response
- Optimize costs and manage resource utilization at scale
Related certs
- Google Cloud Associate Cloud Engineer
- Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect
- Google Cloud Professional Cloud Developer
- AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional
- Linux Foundation Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)