Cloud Digital Leader
Certification exam guide
A Cloud Digital Leader can articulate the capabilities of Google Cloud core products and services and how they benefit organizations. The Cloud Digital Leader can also describe common business use cases and how cloud solutions support an enterprise. The Cloud Digital Leader exam is job-role agnostic and does not require hands-on experience with Google Cloud.
Exam guide
Section 1: Introduction to Digital Transformation with Google Cloud (approximately 10% of the exam)
1.1 Explain why cloud technology is
revolutionizing business a. Define key terms such as cloud,
cloud technology, data, and digital transformation 1.2 Explain why it is critical for businesses to adopt
new technology a. Compare and contrast cloud technology
and traditional or on-premises technology b. Describe how customer expectations
have changed because of cloud technology c. Identify the business and technical
considerations that organizations need to think about
when adopting cloud technology, including:
infrastructure; application and business platform
modernization; the importance of data; security in the
cloud
Section 2: Innovating with Data and Google Cloud (approximately 30% of the exam)
2.1 Describe the role of data in digital transformation
and the importance of a data-driven culture a. Explain how cloud technology enables
data to be applied in new ways 2.2 Identify common Google Cloud solutions for data
management a. Recognize examples of structured and
unstructured data 2.3. Identify common Google Cloud solutions for smart
analytics a. Articulate the business benefits of
storing data in the cloud b. Apply appropriate business use cases
for databases, data warehouses, and data lakes c. Explain the benefits of Google Cloud
data products, including: Looker, BigQuery, Cloud
Spanner, Cloud SQL, Cloud Storage 2.4. Identify Google Cloud’s solutions for machine
learning and AI a. Define artificial intelligence (AI)
and machine learning (ML) b. Outline the importance of data quality
in ML prediction accuracy c. Describe Google Cloud’s
differentiators with regard to AI and machine
learning d. Recognize the ways customers can use
Google Cloud’s AI and ML solutions to create business
value
Section 3: Infrastructure & Application Modernization (approximately 30% of the exam)
3.1 Learn what modernizing IT infrastructure with
Google Cloud means a. Explain why legacy infrastructure
struggles to deliver modern services to customers
b. Explain the benefits of modernizing
infrastructure with cloud technology c. Differentiate between hybrid and
multicloud infrastructures d. Differentiate between virtual
machines, containers, and serverless computing within
business use cases e. Identify the Google Cloud solutions
that help businesses modernize their infrastructure 3.2 Understand modernizing applications with
Google Cloud a. Describe the business drivers for
modernizing applications b. Describe the benefits of using
cloud-native applications d. Apply the appropriate change pattern
to different business use cases a. Explain the benefits of Google
Kubernetes Engine, Anthos, and App Engine for
application development 3.3 Understand the value of APIs a. Explain how application programming
interfaces (APIs) can modernize legacy systems b. Describe how APIs can create new
business value c. Explain the benefits of Apigee
Section 4: Understanding Google Cloud Security and Operations (approximately 30% of the exam)
4.1 Describe financial governance in the cloud and
Google Cloud's recommended best practices for effective
cloud cost management a. Explain how adopting cloud technology
affects the total cost of ownership (TCO) b. Identify the cost management strategy
needed in a given business scenario 4.2 Describe a cloud security approach and Google Cloud
security benefits a. Define fundamental cloud security
terms, including privacy, availability, security, and
control b. Explain what is meant by a shared
responsibility model c. Describe the security benefits of
using Google Cloud d. Identify today's top cybersecurity
challenges and threats to data privacy e. Demonstrate how organizations can
control and manage access to cloud resources 4.3 Explain how IT operations need to adapt to thrive
in the cloud a. Differentiate service availability
requirements in the cloud versus in on-premises
environments b. Describe the operational challenges
that DevOps solves c. Apply the goals of site reliability
engineering (SRE) to different business use cases
4.4 Identify Google Cloud solutions for cloud resource
monitoring and application performance management
a. Explain the potential impact of
unexpected or prolonged downtime b. Define monitoring, logging, and
observability within the context of cloud
operations c. Identify the Google Cloud resource
monitoring and maintenance tools.