Read the map before the first node
Every exam domain is on the map from day one, including the parts you have not opened. A locked node always says which node opens it.
Google Cloud certifications
Study GCP in the order it actually depends on
Each certification is a map. IAM before networking, networking before load balancing, load balancing before the failover question the exam actually asks. Clear a node, the next one opens.
A free account opens the whole Professional Cloud Developer track. No card.
How it works
The same three things are true whether this is your first cloud project or your fourth renewal.
Practice at the node, not at the end
A node ends in exam-style questions and one scenario you answer in writing. You find out whether it landed before you move on.
Google changes things. Tracks follow.
When a service or an exam guide changes, the affected nodes are marked as updated. You read what changed and mark it reviewed. Nothing resets.
Reading it is not the same as knowing it
Every node ends in work you do. The gym is where you go back over the parts that did not stick.
On a node
A lab you run, then a quiz that explains itself
Forty-six labs across the Cloud Developer track — a goal, the prerequisites, numbered steps and the exact gcloud to paste, against a project you can bill rather than a sandbox. Then the questions, written the way the exam writes them, each carrying the reason the near-miss answer is a near miss.
N01 · Resource Hierarchy & IAM
Lab 1 — Least privilege from scratch
1. Set the project and confirm your active identity.
gcloud config set project $PROJECT gcloud auth list
Quiz · 8 questions
Q4
A Cloud Build pipeline deploys a Cloud Run service that must run as api@project.iam.gserviceaccount.com. The build's own service account needs to be able to attach that identity to the new revision, and nothing beyond that. What do you grant it on api@?
Aroles/iam.serviceAccountUserCorrect
Broles/iam.serviceAccountTokenCreator
Croles/iam.serviceAccountAdmin
Droles/editor on the project
Correct
serviceAccountUser is the permission to attach a service account to a resource, which is exactly what “deploy this revision running as api@” needs. serviceAccountTokenCreator is the tempting near-miss and is much stronger: it lets the build impersonate api@ anywhere it has access, from anywhere.
In the gym
Drill one section at a time
A preset is a run an author built over part of the track: one branch, one exam domain, one set of services. One question at a time, with the answer straight after. Nothing you do here moves the tree — it is practice, and you leave when you are done.
Gym
Practise, then leave
Cloud Run, end to end
Deploying revisions, splitting traffic, wiring triggers, and the settings that decide whether a request is served or queued.
Storage & databases — pick the right one
Cloud SQL, AlloyDB, Firestore, Bigtable and Spanner, asked the way the exam asks: a workload, and one right home for it.
Identity, secrets and the supply chain
Service accounts, Workload Identity Federation, Secret Manager and Binary Authorization — least privilege where it is actually enforced.
Yours alone
One run is built from your own mistakes
Miss a question anywhere — a node quiz, any preset — and it lands in Practice wrong answers. Get it right three times and it leaves; miss it again and it comes back. It is the only run on the page nobody wrote: it is yours, and it shrinks as you fix things.
Practice wrong answers
Yours aloneQuestions you have missed, anywhere in the track. Get one right 3 times here and it leaves; miss it again and it comes back.
3 of 18
Which response should a client never retry automatically?
A503 Service Unavailable
B429 Too Many Requests
C403 Permission DeniedCorrect
D500 Internal Server Error
Missed — redo the matching action
403 is a deterministic authorization decision — the identical request will be refused identically no matter how long you wait, so retrying only burns quota and hides the real fix. 429, 500 and 503 all describe a transient condition on the server side.
Certification tracks
One track per exam, built from its official guide. Open any map and read it before you decide.
Professional Cloud Developer
Cloud Run, GKE, data services, IAM, CI/CD, observability and the AI development loop, as the April 2026 exam guide tests them.
Professional Data Engineer
Pipelines, storage selection, BigQuery, governance and day-2 operations, as the v4.2 exam guide tests them.
More tracks in writing
Cloud Architect, DevOps Engineer, Machine Learning Engineer, Security Engineer and Network Engineer are being written now. Pro includes them the day they ship.
What it costs
One certification is free in full. Everything else is $29 once, down from $59 while the tracks are still being written.
Free
$0
The Professional Cloud Developer track, all of it.
Pro
$59$29once, yours for life
Every track, every question bank. One payment, no renewal.
Certification tracks
Cloud Developer
All five, plus new ones as they ship
Full skill map for every track
✓
✓
Exam-style practice questions
Cloud Developer only
Every track
Written scenario answers, reviewed
—
✓
Timed mock exams
—
✓
Interview drills on GCP design questions
—
✓
Updated nodes marked when Google changes a service
✓
✓
Free
$0
The Professional Cloud Developer track, all of it.
- Certification tracksCloud Developer
- Full skill map for every track✓
- Exam-style practice questionsCloud Developer only
- Written scenario answers, reviewed—
- Timed mock exams—
- Interview drills on GCP design questions—
- Updated nodes marked when Google changes a service✓
Pro
$59$29once, yours for life
Every track, every question bank. One payment, no renewal.
- Certification tracksAll five, plus new ones as they ship
- Full skill map for every track✓
- Exam-style practice questionsEvery track
- Written scenario answers, reviewed✓
- Timed mock exams✓
- Interview drills on GCP design questions✓
- Updated nodes marked when Google changes a service✓
Start with ten questions
Ten questions from the Cloud Developer track, one from each branch, with the reason each near-miss answer is a near miss. No account until you want one.
Start the free test?
Ten questions from the Professional Cloud Developer track, one from each branch, with the reason each near-miss answer is a near miss.
About ten minutes. Nothing is saved, no account is needed, and you can leave part-way through.