This mentoring session comes on the heels of Google acquiring cybersecurity firm Madiant. This means that Google is trying to beef up Google Cloud Platform (GCP) cloud security. This is very big news when it comes to being in GCP Jumpstart mentoring because the focus is GCP. This news is a big factor in today’s mentoring session.
Recap
We recap with my last week Wednesday meeting. The mentor’s company had AWS, Azure and GCP design pre-sales engineer. He mentioned that he wanted a second GCP engineer but did not have the funding. The current GCP engineer had his Associate Cloud Engineer (ACE) and Professional Cloud Architect (PCA) certifications. Certification would factor into today’s meeting too.
Cloud Job Descriptions
First, I ask her if design pre-sales engineer is the same as the technical account manager position. She asks me if I have a GCP job description which, of course, I do. I forward it to her which she will then forward to someone internal who can verify if it’s a similar cloud position.
Resume Review
Second, is the resume recap. I am very proud that my mentor says that I have a lot of meat on my resume. This matters a lot because I have worked very hard in position myself to be a cloud expert. She has mentioned that I may want to have separate resumes for my AWS and Azure certifications from my GCP ones (incoming because I don’t have any yet).
LinkedIn Profile Integrity
Next she asks me what I have dates on my certifications. Immediately I tell her ‘It’s all about integrity. When you go to LinkedIn, there are people who leave expired certifications on their profile to turn up in search. That’s lying on your job applicant because you don’t currently have these certifications.’ She nods in agreement.
Look, the one thing that I am big on is integrity. I simply refuse to lie on my resume for anything! If I need to beef up my skills and get new certifications then so be it.
Google Cloud Security and In-Demand Certifications
Third, we talk about the Madiant acquisition news. I mention that GCP does have a professional cloud security engineer certification; however, my fear is becoming too specialized. She agrees. She says that the ACE and PCA GCP certifications are the ones that her company is requiring.
This is important because not all certifications are created equal. You want to get certifications that have a lot of demand and portability (meaning that they can used in different companies). Pertaining GCP, ACE and PCA are the most well-known GCP certifications. The cloud security engineer is not as well-known; and, you might get pigeonholed.
I do see myself getting the GCP Cloud Digital Leader (fundamentals certification) and then the ACE because it is part of the Jumpstart program. I am reviewing the PCA but that is not currently on my radar.
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