Google Cloud Career Launchpad Program
Google Cloud Career Launchpad is a no-cost Cloud Learning program for higher education institutions (as well as government and nonprofit workforce development organizations) that enables new-to-industry learners with in-demand skills in gen AI, data analytics, cybersecurity, cloud engineering and more. The program includes no-cost access to a selection of entry-level Cloud Certificates and skill badge courses.
Help your students:
- Gain in-demand skills
- Practice with hands-on labs
- Earn Google Cloud Certificates and credentials
- Prepare for a cloud-first workplace
Why facilitate the Career Launchpad Program
With Google Cloud Certificates1 and credentials, faculty facilitators can help students gain the practical skills and knowledge to excel in today's technology-driven market.
Empower future cloud talent
New Google Cloud Certificates and courses help prepare your students for in-demand jobs in generative AI, cybersecurity, and data analytics.
Impact student success
Support your students' learning with access to Certificate Educator Guides and Google Cloud Skills Boost credits to incorporate additional hands-on labs in your coursework.
Explore Google Cloud Certificates and credentials
By helping students earn Google Cloud Certificates and credentials, you can inspire the next generation of professionals in cloud.
This certificate program prepares learners for
entry-level roles in cloud cybersecurity. While
there are no required prerequisites, it’s helpful
for learners to be familiar with foundational
cybersecurity concepts, skills, and tools.
Supplemental content on these concepts is included
within the certificate for learners who do not have
this prior knowledge. There are five on-demand courses in which learners
will complete hands-on labs that allow them to
practice key skills and produce work examples to
show potential employers. The first four courses
progressively build learners’ working knowledge of
networks, security models, and tools used to assess
and address threats, risks, and vulnerabilities. The
final course includes a capstone project that
focuses on applying the knowledge and skills gained
and prepares learners to establish a career in the
cloud security field. Duration: ~90 hours
This certificate program prepares aspiring cloud
data analysts for entry-level roles in the field.
While there are no required prerequisites, it’s
helpful for learners to be familiar with
foundational data analytics concepts, skills, and
tools. Supplemental content on these concepts is
included within the certificate for learners who do
not have this prior knowledge. There are five on-demand courses in which learners
will complete hands-on labs that allow them to
practice key skills and produce work examples to
show potential employers. The first four courses
progressively build learners’ working knowledge of
how to structure, store, access, and visualize data
using various cloud tools and integrations. The
final course includes a capstone project that
focuses on applying the knowledge and skills gained
to complete a full cloud data life cycle project and
prepares learners to establish a career in the cloud
data analytics field. Duration: ~90 hours
This certificate program provides individuals with
little to no background or experience in cloud
computing a detailed overview of concepts covering
cloud basics, big data, machine learning, and where
and how Google Cloud fits in. The course starts with
an overview of cloud computing and dives deeper into
two areas—cloud computing infrastructure, and big
data and machine learning. It enables learners to
develop technical proficiency in cloud computing and
launch or pivot to careers in a cloud-first
world. While there are no required prerequisites, it’s
helpful for learners to have basic IT knowledge and
be interested in learning more about cloud and
machine learning. This includes a basic
understanding of shell scripting and SQL. Duration: ~40 hours Note: This certificate program includes access to
full curriculum resources to enable in-classroom
instruction. Resources include slides and teaching
notes, educator guide and lesson plans, and
multiple-choice knowledge assessments.
This certificate program helps learners build
expertise in cloud infrastructure and prepare for
roles such as cloud engineer, solution architect,
and DevOps engineer. This certificate is exclusively
available through the Career Launchpad program.
Learners should be familiar with foundational cloud
infrastructure concepts, skills, and tools,
including a basic understanding of operating and
file systems, the IP networking stack, how web
browsers and servers communicate, databases,
programming, and Linux (no degree required). This program is designed to help prepare students
for the
Associate Cloud Engineer certification.
Higher education students who complete the entire
learning program are eligible for a 50% discount on
the certification exam (administered by a third
party). Duration: ~80 hours
This three-course pathway helps learners build
expertise in generative AI. It provides an overview
of generative AI concepts, from the fundamentals of
large language models to responsible AI principles.
The courses provide examples of how Gemini can help
make engineers of all types more efficient in their
daily activities and how to incorporate prebuilt gen
AI models into workflows. Students will earn skill
badge credentials upon completion. Duration: ~30 hours
This course pathway helps learners build cloud
literacy and learn to distinguish and evaluate the
capabilities of Google Cloud and how it can be used
to achieve business goals. This knowledge can be applied to any role where
understanding the purpose and application of Google
Cloud is needed. This program is designed to help prepare students
for the
Cloud Digital Leader certification.
Higher education students who complete the entire
learning program are eligible for a 50% discount on
the certification exam (administered by a third
party). Duration: ~9 hours
Frequently asked questions
Review the frequently asked questions and answers about
the Google Cloud Career Launchpad Program in our
help center.
1 Google Cloud Certificates offer a recommendation from ACE® of up to 10 college credits.