Skip to main content

What is Google Cloud?

Image
By

What is Google Cloud Platform

Google Cloud Platform (GPC) is, as it’s clear from its name, a cloud platform, or an “Infrastructure as a Service” (Iaas). This means it offers a suite of tools, services, and apps that businesses can use to enhance productivity and workflow. Those include cloud storage and backup, database management, developer tools, IoT, analytics, machine learning, and more.

In this post, we will attempt to fully answer these questions: what is Google Cloud? Is Google Cloud certification a worthwhile investment for professionals? Does the Google Cloud Platform offer the services your business needs? Let’s find out.

An introduction to Google Cloud

Android developers that frequent this site may be familiar with Firebase. It is a mobile application development platform that provides various useful tools developers can use when building their apps.

While the majority of an app’s code will run natively on the user’s device, most will also need to defer to the cloud for a variety of different functions. For example, you may need to let a user log-in using their Google account. You might want to store their user data on the cloud too (so that they can still access it after changing devices), or you might want to use voice recognition/computer vision that would be slow to process on-device. To that end, a developer will outsource these features to an online service like Google’s Firebase.

See also: An introduction to Firebase – the easiest way to build powerful, cloud-enabled Android apps

To see how this might work, check out our post on adding face-recognition via Firebase and ML Kit.

Any Firebase project is also a GCP project, and many of Firebase’s functions are simply delegated to Google Cloud. In fact, mobile developers will often be sent to the Google Cloud console, which has a different, blue and white UI. In this way, Firebase acts as a front-end for Google Cloud that is optimized for mobile developers specifically.

Firebase logo

Thus, a Google Cloud Project works in precisely the same way, but with broader applications. Companies can use Google Cloud services in just the same way to power their apps, websites, in-house software, and tools. Google provides hardware (servers) and software in an always-connected manner that businesses can rely on.

A company can leverage GCP when storing user data, integrating machine learning into their services, adding additional security measures, or backing up databases.

Google Cloud vs AWS vs Microsoft Azure

As mentioned, Google Cloud is just one of several competing cloud platforms. The next question then, is what is Google Cloud best at? When should you choose one over the other?

The two biggest competitors are Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure. These platforms similarly offer “infrastructure as a service” (IaaS), but vary in terms of pricing and the specific features offered.

Amazon Web Services is the largest and most widely used cloud platform today with a 33% market share. This is followed by Microsoft Azure, which has a market share of 16%. Google Cloud lags behind with just 8% of the market.

See also: AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud – Which certification is best for professionals??

However, while Google Cloud is not the most widely adopted and has fewer services overall, it is popular for specific tasks. In particular, Google Cloud is known for its machine learning capabilities, powered by the excellent Tensor Flow platform.

Tensor Flow Google Cloud

As machine learning and AI are major focusses for many businesses in 2020, this is an important advantage.

What is Google Cloud certification?

Google Cloud certification demonstrates that an individual has expertise using Google Cloud services. This means they will be able to help businesses to integrate these cloud services into their workflow: an in-demand skillset for many organizations.

There are a number of different Google Cloud certificates available:

  • Associate Cloud Engineer
  • Professional Cloud Architect
  • Professional Data Engineer
  • Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer
  • Professional Cloud Network Engineer
  • Professional Cloud Security Engineer
  • Professional Collaboration Engineer

Applicants must pass an exam in order to gain certification. Exams cost between $125-$200.

So, is this a worthwhile investment for IT professionals? The short answer is yes for a great many people. Though AWS and Azure are more widely used, many companies still choose Google Cloud. And with machine learning becoming increasingly integral to many services and products, the demand for Google Cloud Certification is only likely to grow. Many IT professionals would benefit from gaining certification with all three major cloud platforms.

That said, certifications like these should be considered as a way to augment a well-rounded resume. Most employers will still prioritize experience and qualifications over certifications.

Those that are considering Google Cloud certification should educate themselves with an online course that will bring them up to speed with the platform and even prepare them to sit the exams. Android Authority readers can get access to some heavily discounted courses, including the excellent GCP: Complete Google Data Engineer and Cloud Architect Guide for just $9. This course provides over 166 lectures (22 hours of content) and usually costs $199 – so hurry!



source https://www.androidauthority.com/what-is-google-cloud-1163777/
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

4 Surprising Ways Artificial Intelligence will Empower Consumers

By
Ever wonder what makes Siri search the items inside the iPhone and on the web by recognizing your voice? How does Google listening work? Artificial Intelligence and data science have already infused in this consumer-oriented generation, but we have not realized it yet. It has been quite a while that natural language processing, speech recognition, and gesture recognition system took over the market with their all new features, but what are the new things in AI that are yet to come? Few amazing transformations are: Retailing sector to become AI-ready Voice Recognition will change the game Search engines to become smarter Machine learning to bring revolutionary changes Recently we got to learn about a verbal spat between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg over the probable risk and opportunities brought by AI . Believe it or not, but we already accustomed to Artificial Intelligence and probably waiting to witness jaw-dropping inventions. Some of AI inventions we have known till yet are: Mach
10 comments
Read more

How to unhide or show folders in mx player list

By Unknown
In this blog post, I tell you about how to Show or Hide folders from MX player list. There are two methods to Show folder from MX Player list. Method 1: Unhide / show folders If you want to temporarily Show / Unhide hidden folder from MX Player list, then go to Settings and untick Recognize .nomedia ".  Method 2: Permanently unhide / show folder: Open memory by any file explorer and I recommend X-Plore, and open the folder that is Hidden and find the file " .nomedia ". If you didn't find it, you should first enable "Show files hidden files that starts with .(dot)". Delete the file and you just need to refresh MX Player list to take changes. Note: MX Player always hide those folders which file " .nomedia " exists.
1 comment
Read more

How to use arrays in Python

By
Arrays in Python give you a huge amount of flexibility for storing, organizing, and accessing data. This is crucial, not least because of Python’s popularity for use in data science. But what precisely is an array? And how do you use arrays in Python? Also read: How to use dictionaries in Python Read on, and we’ll shed some light on the matter. What is an array? An array is a way to store multiple values in a single variable. That means that you can use a single “reference” in order to access your data. A list is also an example of a variable that stores multiple values, but has some slight differences. When using lists in Python, you store a series of values each with a numbered index. For example, this is how you would create a list of fruits in Python: fruits = [“apple”, “orange”, “pear”, “nectarine”] If we then say: print(fruits[3]) We will see “nectarine” appear on the screen (the first entry is stored as “0”). Also read: How to use lists in Python This is not an
Post a Comment
Read more