You Can Pass the Associate Cloud Engineer Exam Without GCP Experience

You can absolutely pass the Associate Cloud Engineer exam without any GCP or cloud experience.

Common Misconceptions

A lot of people erroneously think they need on-the-job experience with GCP before attempting to pass the ACE exam. There are typically a few reasons they think this:

• Google says that you should have 6+ months of hands-on experience with Google Cloud

• The certification name makes people think they need to be working engineers already.

• They assume that cloud certifications test for hands-on skills that can only be gained through work experience, when the exam primarily tests your knowledge of technologies and best practices

I understand why they think that, but they're simply wrong. You do not need cloud or GCP experience to get the ACE certification (or any GCP certification, for that matter). Let me break down exactly why.

Why Experience Isn't Necessary

Think about it. Even if you have some hands-on experience, like Google recommends, all of that experience could be just doing one thing. Like creating VMs in Compute Engine. No creating IAM policies, no configuring VPC networks, no setting up monitoring and logging, no deploying applications to App Engine or GKE. None of that. So how is someone with 6+ months of experience that much more likely to pass the exam in any meaningful way?

Additionally, the ACE certification is essentially Google's blueprint as to what a cloud engineer in GCP is and does. If you want to accelerate your learning in cloud operations and implementation, studying for the certification is one of the best things you can do.

What I've Seen Time and Again

I've seen countless students pass both the Associate and Professional level Google Cloud certifications without prior experience.

What these successful students all had in common wasn't experience - it was their willingness to learn systematically and their careful selection of a course with the right high quality and relevant content.

The truth is, I didn't even know what half the GCP technologies on the exam were when I started studying for my first certification. This is common with any GCP certification. The exam scope is deliberately comprehensive, covering many services and concepts you probably have not encountered yet.

The Advantage of a Certification Goal

Having a certification goal gives you the motivation and framework to learn these concepts properly, rather than just picking them up randomly. In many ways, a lack of experience can be an advantage—you approach each concept with fresh eyes and no preconceptions.

Studying for GCP certification over 2-3 months can accelerate your knowledge of GCP far beyond what the hit-or-miss learning of job experience provides. You can absolutely succeed with the Associate Cloud Engineer exam even without extensive prior experience.

Final Thoughts

It's all about being willing to learn and having a high-quality course to help you get there.

I hope this helps clarify any potential misunderstandings about the amount of experience you need to pass the ACE exam.

Let me know if you have any concerns or questions.

Ben