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Google Cloud · GCP-PCD · Advanced

Professional Cloud Developer

Validates the ability to design, build, deploy, and manage secure, scalable, and highly available cloud-native applications on Google Cloud Platform. 55+ AI-generated practice questions with explanations. Free trial, pass guarantee.

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55 Questions
120min Time Limit
70% Pass Score
$200 USD Exam Fee

Overview

About the exam

The Professional Cloud Developer certification validates the ability to design, build, test, and deploy cloud-native applications on Google Cloud. It covers application architecture, CI/CD integration, containerization with Cloud Run and GKE, and leveraging Google Cloud services for storage, messaging, and AI.

The April 2026 update restructures the exam with streamlined content and reduced repetition, focusing more heavily on modern development patterns including serverless architectures and generative AI integration.

Exam Domains

What's on the exam

The exam features 50-60 multiple-choice and multiple-select questions over 2 hours. Questions present development scenarios requiring you to choose the right architecture, service, or approach. Expect questions about Cloud Run, GKE, Cloud Functions, Pub/Sub, Firestore, and application security best practices.

Designing highly scalable, available, and reliable cloud-native applications 36%

Designing high-performing applications and APIs, designing secure applications, storing and accessing data. Covers compute platforms (Compute Engine, GKE, Cloud Run), load balancing, caching, API design (REST, gRPC), event-driven architecture (Eventarc, Pub/Sub), data replication, traffic splitting, and service orchestration (Workflows, Cloud Tasks, Cloud Scheduler).

Building and testing applications 23%

Setting up development environments, building, and testing. Covers Google Cloud CLI emulators, Cloud SDK, Cloud Code, Gemini Cloud Assist, Cloud Shell, Cloud Workstations, Cloud Build, Artifact Registry, Binary Authorization, unit testing, and integration testing.

Deploying applications 20%

Deploying applications to Cloud Run and GKE. Covers deploying from source code, triggers (Eventarc, Pub/Sub), event receivers, API exposure (Apigee), Cloud Endpoints backward compatibility, containerized deployments, resource requirements, Kubernetes health checks, and Horizontal Pod Autoscaler.

Integrating applications with Google Cloud services 21%

Integrating with data/storage services, consuming Google Cloud APIs, troubleshooting and observability. Covers Cloud SQL, Firestore, Cloud Storage, Pub/Sub, Cloud Client Libraries, REST API, gRPC, API Explorer, service accounts, Google Cloud Observability (metrics, logs, traces), Error Reporting, and Gemini Cloud Assist.

Format

What to expect

multiple choice
80%
multiple response
20%

Watch out

Where candidates struggle

This exam assumes strong software development fundamentals. Candidates who are primarily infrastructure-focused may struggle with questions about application design patterns, API management, and CI/CD pipelines.

  1. 01
    Serverless Selection — Not knowing when Cloud Run, Cloud Functions, or App Engine is the best fit
  2. 02
    Database Selection — Choosing the wrong database for the workload — Firestore vs Cloud SQL vs Spanner vs Bigtable
  3. 03
    Event-Driven Architecture — Misunderstanding Pub/Sub, Eventarc, and Cloud Tasks for asynchronous processing
  4. 04
    Container Best Practices — Overlooking container security, image scanning, and Artifact Registry patterns

Details

Exam logistics

Delivered via Pearson VUE online or at testing centers. Available in English and Japanese. A new version launched April 24, 2026 with restructured content.

Delivery Online-proctored (Pearson VUE) or onsite-proctored at testing centers
Retake policy 14-day wait after a failed attempt. No limit on retakes.
Validity 2 years
Career outcomes Cloud developer, software engineer, full-stack developer, and application architect roles building on Google Cloud.
Renewal Certification validity subject to renewal within the eligibility period.
Study time ~100 hours
Official guide View on vendor site

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