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IT cloud strategists report that 50% of organizations use more than one cloud provider.1 A multi-cloud strategy is growing in popularity, allowing IT departments to use different cloud services based on the need.
In the Global Knowledge 2019 IT Skills and Salary Report, we’ve found that cloud professionals are often certified in more than one cloud area. Among certified cloud professionals in the United States and Canada, 17% are certified in both AWS and Google Cloud. This illustrates how willing professionals are to try out and use multiple cloud providers to select the best services from each and avoid dependency on a single vendor.
A breakout year for Google Cloud certifications
While AWS and Microsoft Azure are established as major players in the cloud certification space, Google Cloud has made its big splash in the past two years with three cloud credentials:
- Google Cloud Certified Professional Cloud Architect
- Google Cloud Certified Professional Data Engineer
- Google Cloud Certified Associate Cloud Engineer
We spotlighted all three as new and emerging certifications in our 2018 IT Skills and Salary Report. But this year, Google Cloud made a big splash, especially on our lists of highest-paying certifications by region.
GCP Cloud Architect is the top-paying IT certification in North America and Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). GCP Data Engineer ranks fifth globally. Google Cloud salaries are 34% higher than the average for North America. There are a few reasons for this:
1. Google Cloud-certified professionals tend to work for the largest companies, which equates to higher salaries. Nearly 80% work at companies of 5,000 or more employees. Compare that to AWS-certified professionals, where only 49% work for companies of 5,000-plus.
2. Twenty-nine percent of Google Cloud-certified professionals are senior-level or executives, which is higher than the overall average. Generally, more career experience equates to higher earnings.
3. Google Cloud-certified individuals are often certified in several categories, which makes sense given the recency of the GCP certifications. Google Cloud professionals are most likely to be cross-certified in AWS, Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA and ITIL®. And the more certifications an individual has, the higher their average salary.
4. Cloud professionals are paid well. Aside from executives, cloud computing is the highest-paying functional area both in North America ($138,320) and worldwide ($115,889).
Cloud professionals have obviously tested out Google Cloud training in the past year, and more have it in their sights going forward. Eight percent of North American IT professionals plan to pursue a Google Cloud credential this year, including 19% of those who are already AWS-certified.
Top job functions and industries
The five most popular job roles of Google Cloud-certified professionals are:
- Cloud architect – 23%
- Cloud engineer – 10%
- Sales engineer – 9%
- Program manager – 4%
- DevOps engineer – 3%
The most popular industries of Google Cloud-certified professionals are:
- IT software – 32%
- IT-related services – 24%
- IT consulting – 15%
The big money is in cloud computing skills
Cloud computing certifications comprise four of the 10 highest-paying North American certifications. There certainly is a strong demand for cloud skills, and Google Cloud has filled some of those gaps with their three main credentials.
Only five percent of North American respondents currently hold a Google Cloud certification, but as more organizations switch to multi-cloud solutions, that number is likely to rise.
Prepare for a GCP certification
We have two certification prep guides that provide deep dives into Google Cloud content and will have you fully equipped to pass your certification exam.
- How to Become a Google Certified Professional Cloud Architect
- How to Become a Google Certified Professional Data Engineer
Related resources
- Google Cloud Platform Training Courses
- Google Cloud Platform Certifications
- Google Cloud Platform Certification Tracks
1 2017: State of Enterprise Multi-Cloud, Cloudify