1

Cloud Digital
Leader Study
Guide
 2

Introduction
The Google Cloud Digital Leader training and exam are intended for tech-adjacent individuals
who want to demonstrate an overall knowledge of cloud technology concepts and Google Cloud.

The exam validates a candidate’s ability to complete the following course objectives:

• Recall fundamental cloud terminology

• Identify Google Cloud products and solutions that support digital transformation
• Explain how cloud technology and data can be leveraged to innovate within organizations
• Explain infrastructure and application modernization with Google Cloud
• Describe contributing factors to the success of cloud operations and security
 3

Learn more about the exam

A Cloud Digital Leader can distinguish and evaluate the various capabilities of Google Cloud core
products and services and how they can be used to achieve desired business goals. A Cloud Digital
Leader is well-versed in fundamental cloud concepts and can demonstrate a broad application of
cloud computing knowledge in a variety of applications.

The Cloud Digital Leader exam is job-role independent. The exam assesses the knowledge and skills
of any individuals who want (or are required to) understand the purpose and application of Google
Cloud products.

The Cloud Digital Leader exam assesses knowledge in four areas:

• General cloud knowledge (approximately 10% of the exam)

• Innovating with data and Google Cloud (approximately 30% of the exam)
• Modernizing infrastructure and applications with Google Cloud (approximately 30% of the exam)
• Understanding Google Cloud security and operations (approximately 30% of the exam)

Sign up for the Cloud Digital Leader Learning Path via Google Cloud Skills Boost, Coursera
or Pluralsight.

Prepare for the exam with sample questions.

Learn more about how and where to take the exam on the Cloud Digital Leader website.
 4

Outline of learning path content

*For learners who have taken Google Cloud’s instructor-led training the terminology differs
slightly, each course listed here refers to one module, and each module refers to a lesson.

Course 1
Introduction to Digital Transformation with Google Cloud

Module 1: Why cloud technology is revolutionizing business

Module 2: Digital transformation with Google Cloud

Module 3: Scaling the innovation mindset

Course 2
Innovating with Data and Google Cloud

Module 1: The value of data

Module 2: Data consolidation and analytics

Module 3: Innovation with machine learning

 5

Course 3
Infrastructure and Application Modernization with
Google Cloud

Module 1: Modernizing IT infrastructure with Google Cloud

Module 2: Modernizing applications with Google Cloud

Module 3: The value of APIs

Course 4
Understanding Google Cloud Security and Operations

Module 1: Financial governance in the cloud

Module 2: Security in the cloud

Module 3: Monitoring cloud IT services and operations

 6

Course 1: Introduction to Digital

Transformation with Google Cloud
Module 1: Why cloud technology is revolutionizing business
This module covers innovations throughout history that led to paradigm shifts, and looks at how cloud
technology is enabling a new wave of digital transformation. It breaks down the trends in compute
power and data processing capabilities. It also demonstrates how cloud computing uses industrial-
scale compute power and vast amounts of data to create exponential value for businesses.

Module 2: Digital transformation with Google Cloud

This module explores the business and technical considerations that organizations need to consider as
they adopt the cloud. It addresses traditional IT infrastructure challenges and looks at how businesses
should think about modernization. It explores the nature and history of company-wide applications. It
explains the importance of data and touches on critical security considerations that must be built into
an organization’s cloud adoption journey. Finally, it gives an overview of Google Cloud Solutions for
digital transformation.

Module 3: Scaling the innovation mindset

This module discusses culture change. It explores six focus areas that are essential to transforming
culture. It covers three rules that help organizations scale the innovation mindset and applies them to
real-world examples from the banking industry. It also covers some questions to help reframe the way
you approach your work and to demonstrate how you can adopt an innovative mindset.
 7

Key terms: Additional reading:

Cloud, cloud technology, compute What is cloud computing?

power, computing, data, innovation
What is digital transformation?
Cloud computing 101:
Focus areas for the exam: Frequently asked questions

• The difference between cloud technology What is Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)?

and traditional or on-premises technology Google Cloud products list page
• How customer expectations have changed Google’s Guide to Innovation
as a result of cloud technology Google Cloud Adoption Framework
• The business and technical considerations Impact Study
that organizations need to think about Managing Change in the Cloud
when adopting cloud technology
Cloud Customer Case Studies
Google Cloud whitepapers
Cloud locations
Google Cloud infrastructure
(interactive web tool)
 8

Course 2: Innovating with

Data and Google Cloud
Module 1: The value of data
This module answers key questions about the nature of data and its role in a business’ digital
transformation. It discusses how data can be leveraged in an organization, breaks down the
different types of data, and covers some important data considerations for every business using
data in the cloud.

Module 2: Data consolidation and analytics

This module compares traditional data management methods with the benefits of migrating data to
the Cloud. It defines key terms related to data management and covers some use cases and applicable
Google Cloud solutions. It also explores business intelligence solutions that enable businesses to gain
insight into their data.

Module 3: Innovation with machine learning

This module defines machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI). It covers some important
data quality considerations that influence the efficacy of ML models. It also highlights several real-
world use cases in which customers have leveraged ML to radically transform their business.
 9

Key terms: Additional reading:

Data, data management, structured data, What is a data lake?

unstructured data, databases, data warehouses, What is a data warehouse?
data lakes, artificial intelligence (AI), machine
What is streaming analytics?
learning (ML), data coverage, data cleanliness/
consistency, data completeness What is business intelligence?
Build a modern, unified data analytics
Focus areas for the exam: platform with Google Cloud

• How cloud technology enables data to Principles and best practices for data
be applied in new ways governance in the cloud

• The benefits of storing and managing What is machine learning?

data in the cloud Google Cloud’s AI Adoption Framework
• Appropriate use cases for data solutions Google Cloud Responsible AI
• How Google Cloud data products
create business insights
• The importance of data quality in ML
 10

Course 3: Infrastructure and

Application Modernization
with Google Cloud
Module 1: Modernizing IT infrastructure with Google Cloud
This module covers the challenges of an outdated IT infrastructure and outlines how businesses can
modernize IT using cloud technology. The course begins by exploring the different compute options
available in the cloud and the benefits of each. Different Google Cloud solutions are presented,
including Compute Engine, Bare Metal and Google Kubernetes Engine, along with examples of
customers who have successfully used them.

On premises Hybrid cloud Multi cloud

Virtual Machines Containers

App App App

App App App
OS OS OS

VM VM VM Container orchestration

Hypervisor Operating system

Infastructure Infastructure
 11

Module 2: Modernizing applications with Google Cloud

This module explores application modernization and common patterns of moving applications to
the cloud such as the greenfield strategy. Multiple examples demonstrate how cloud technologies
such as App Engine enables businesses to develop, deploy, and update applications with speed,
security, and agility.

Module 3: The value of APIs

This module covers Application
Programming Interfaces (APIs) and
how they unlock value from legacy
systems, enabling businesses to
create new value by making more
services to connect to customers.
It also explores how Apigee and
API management systems address
application development gaps.

Users

Days

Apigee

Speed of Mission
Pace of change

Scale
innovation critical

CRM, ERP SOA Database Data Data

Years etc Warehouse Lake
 12

Key terms: Additional reading:

Infrastructure modernization, hybrid cloud, Google Cloud overview

multi-cloud, virtual machines, containers, Google Cloud geography and regions
serverless commuting, applications, APIs
Best practices for enterprise organizations
Google Cloud setup checklist
Focus areas for the exam:
What are containers?
• The benefits of modernizing infrastructure
What is hybrid cloud?
with cloud technology
What is a virtual machine?
• The difference between different
architectures and compute options What is object storage?

• Google Cloud solutions for infrastructure Migrate workloads to the public cloud:
modernization and application modernization an essential guide & checklist

• The benefits of cloud-native applications Where should I run my stuff? Choosing a

and change patterns Google Cloud compute option

• How APIs modernize legacy systems CIO’s Guide to Application Migration

and create new business value CIO’s Guide to Application Modernization
• The benefits of Apigee Google Cloud Networking overview blog
 13

Course 4: Understanding Google

Cloud Security and Operations
Module 1: Financial governance in the cloud
This module covers the fundamentals of cloud cost management and outlines how businesses can
choose to maintain some (or none) of their own infrastructure by purchasing IT services from a cloud
provider on an ongoing basis. It also explores the best practices for managing Google Cloud costs.

Module 2: Security in the cloud

This module examines the shared
responsibility model, which refers to how Operations
a business that accesses, stores or uses
data is responsible for protecting and Network
securing that data alongside the cloud
provider. It also looks at the top cyber
Identity
security threats and the defense-in-depth
security built into Google Cloud.
Storage

Software

Hardware
 14

Company

Team A Team B Team C Team D

Product 1 Product 2 Product 3

Project 2 Project 3

Module 3: Monitoring cloud IT services and operations

This module discusses how IT teams and business leaders need to rethink IT resource management in
the cloud. This includes adjusting expectations to balance service availability and reliability with agile
application development, as well as creating a team structure to better serve customers. Finally, the
module covers how Google Cloud resource monitoring tools such as Cloud Identity, Cloud Debugger
and Cloud Logging can help them to maintain visibility, accountability, control, and intelligence over
their cloud environment.
 15

Key terms: Additional reading:

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), visibility, accountability, Google Cloud security

control, intelligence, privacy, availability, security, foundations guide
control, shared responsibility model, resource hierarchy, Google security
SLO, SLA, SLI, DevOps, SRE, downtime, monitoring,
A guide to financial governance
logging, phishing attack, physical damage, malware
in the cloud
and viruses, unsecured third party systems, expert
knowledge, data at rest, data in transit, encryption Google Infrastructure Security
at rest, encryption in transit, zero trust model, least Design Overview
privileged model Increasing business value with better
IT operations: A guide to site reliability
Focus areas for the exam: engineering (SRE)

• How cloud technology impacts TCO Exploring container security: the

shared responsibility model in GKE
• Cost management strategies
Resource hierarchy
• Fundamental cloud security terms and top
cybersecurity threats AirAsia: adopting a modern identity
solution with Google Cloud
• Security with Google Cloud
Voyage to the modern workplace
• How IT operations need to change in
the cloud, including service availability Encryption at rest in Google Cloud
expectations, DevOps and SRE Encryption in transit in Google Cloud
• Cloud resource monitoring and application
performance management
 16

Glossary
Course 1
The cloud – A metaphor for the network of data centers that store and compute information available
through the Internet. It includes the complex web of software, computers, networks and security
systems involved.

Cloud technology/computing – The technology and processes needed to store, manage, and
access data that is transferred over the Cloud (as opposed to data that remains on your computer’s
hard drive).

Digital transformation – When an organization takes advantage of new technologies to redesign

and redefine relationships with their customers, employees, and partners. Digital transformation uses
modern digital technologies—including all types of public, private, and hybrid cloud platforms—to
create or modify business processes, culture, and customer experiences to meet changing business
and market dynamics.

Computing – A machine’s ability to process, store, retrieve, compare and analyze information, and
to automate tasks often done by computer programs (otherwise known as software or applications).

Compute power – The speed at which a computer is able to process data.

Data – Any information that is useful to an organization. Can be numbers on a spreadsheet, text in
an email, audio or video recordings, images, or even ideas in employees’ heads. Includes internal and
external information.

Think 10x – Also ‘generating big ideas’. Finding solutions that make improvements by 10 times, rather
than 10 percent.

Launch and iterate – Also ‘continuous learning’. A mindset and a practice where, instead of starting
off with a perfect solution, you figure it out through experimentation.
 17

Course 2
Data point – A piece of information (e.g. a customer purchase or return).

Dataset – Aggregated data points of one category (e.g. customer transactions).

Structured data – Highly organized, quantitative data (e.g. names or credit card numbers).
Easily stored and managed in databases.

Unstructured data – Data that has no organization and tends to be qualitative (e.g. word processing
documents or images). Can be stored as objects, which consist of the data in its native format along
with metadata such as unique identifiers.

Object storage – A data storage architecture for large stores of unstructured data, designating each
piece of data as an object (e.g. audio or multimedia files).

Database – An organized collection of data generally stored in tables and accessed electronically
from a computer system. Built and optimized to enable the efficient ingestion of large amounts of
data from many different sources.

Data integrity – Also known as transaction integrity, this refers to the accuracy and consistency of
data stored in a database.

Metadata – Information about objects (e.g. about images or audio).

Data warehouse – The central hub for all business data, it assembles data from multiple sources,
including databases. When combined with connector tools, it can transform unstructured data into
semi-structured data that can be used for analysis. Data warehouses are built to rapidly analyse and
report massive and multi-dimensional datasets on an ongoing basis, in real-time.
 18

Data lake – A data lake is a repository designed to store, process, and secure large amounts of
structured, semistructured, and unstructured data. It can store data in its native format and process
any variety of it, ignoring size limits and serves many purposes, such as exploratory data analysis.

Artificial intelligence (AI) – A broad field or term that describes any kind of machine capable
of a task that normally requires human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition,
decision-making, or translation between languages.

Machine learning (ML) – A branch within the field of AI. Computers that can “learn” from data and
make predictions or decisions without being explicitly programmed to do so, using algorithms or
models to analyze data. These algorithms use historical data as input to predict new output values.

Course 3
Virtual machines (VM) – A VM is a virtualized instance of a server that re-creates the functionality
of a dedicated physical server. It uses a partitioned space inside a physical server which makes it
easy to optimize and reallocate resources and allow multiple systems to run on the same hardware.

Hypervisor – The software layer that sits on top of physical hardware. Multiple VMs are built on top
of the hypervisor and are enabled by it.

Container – Follows the same principle as a VM, providing an isolated environment to run
software services and optimize resources from one piece of hardware. Containers are more
efficient than VMs because they do not recreate a full representation of the hardware, but only
recreate or virtualize the operating system.

Kubernetes – An open source cluster management system that provides automated

container orchestration.

Serverless computing – A cloud computing execution model in which the cloud provider
allocates machine resources on demand, taking care of the servers on behalf of their customers.
Businesses provide code for the function they want to run and the cloud provider handles all
infrastructure management. Resources such as compute power are automatically provisioned
behind the scenes as needed.
 19

Private cloud – When an organization has virtualized servers in its own data centers to create its own
private on-premises environment.

Hybrid cloud – When an organization uses some combination of on-premises or private cloud
infrastructure and public cloud services.

Multi-cloud – When an organization is using multiple public cloud providers as part of its architecture.

Application (or app) – A computer program or software that is designed to carry out a specific digital
task, typically used or run by an end-user. In this digital age, customers expect applications to be
intuitive, well-functioning, and efficient.

Application programming interface (API) – A piece of software that interfaces with or connects
different applications and enables information to flow between systems. In contrast to a user interface,
which connects a computer to a person, an API connects computers or pieces of software to each
other. One purpose of APIs is to hide the internal details of how a system works, exposing only
those parts a developer wants to allow a user or program to interface with. In this way APIs can help
organizations to adapt to modern business needs by allowing access to older legacy systems.

Course 4
Total cost of ownership (TCO) – A comprehensive assessment of all layers within the infrastructure
and other associated costs across the business over time. Includes acquiring hardware and software,
management and support, communications, and user expenses, and the cost of service downtime,
training and other productivity losses.

Privacy – The data an organization or an individual

has access to, and who they can share that data with.

Security – The policies, procedures and controls put

in place to keep data and infrastructure safe.

Availability – The duration for which the cloud service

provider guarantees that client’s data and services are
up and running or accessible.
 20

Shared responsibility model – A model in which the responsibility to secure data is shared
between a business and the cloud provider. The cloud service provider is the data processor, while
the organization is the data controller.

Defense-in-depth – The cloud service provider manages the security of its infrastructure and its
data centers, and customers gain the benefits of their infrastructure’s multiple built in security layers.

Resource hierarchy – How an IT team can organize a business’s Google Cloud environment and
how that service structure maps to the organization’s actual structure. It determines what resources
users can access.

DevOps – Developer operations. A philosophy that seeks to create a more collaborative and
accountable culture within developer and operations teams. Five objectives of DevOps include
reducing silos, accepting failure as normal, implementing gradual change, leveraging tooling and
automation and measuring everything.

SRE – Site reliability engineering. A discipline that applies aspects of software engineering to
operations. The goals of SRE are to create ultra-scalable and highly reliable software systems. Best
practices central to SRE align with DevOps objectives.

Monitoring – Gathering predefined sets of metrics or logs. Monitoring is the foundation for site
reliability engineering because it provides visibility into the performance, uptime, and overall health
of cloud powered applications.

Log file – A text file where applications (including the operating system) write events. Log files
make it easier for developers, DevOps and system administrators to get insights and identify the
root cause of issues within applications and the infrastructure.

Logging – A process that allows IT teams to analyze selected logs and accelerate
application troubleshooting.
 21

List of Google Products/Solutions

For more information about Google Cloud products

For more information about Google Cloud Solutions

Blog: 21 Google Cloud tools, each explained in under 2 minutes

Cloud SQL – Google Cloud’s database service (relational database management service)

Cloud Spanner – A fully managed Google Cloud database service designed for global scale

BigQuery – Google Cloud’s leading data warehouse solution

Cloud Storage – Google Cloud’s object storage service for structured, semi-structured and structured
data. One of several products used in data lake solutions

Looker – Google Cloud business intelligence solution

Vertex AI – A unified platform for training, hosting and managing ML models

TensorFlow – An end-to-end open source platform for machine learning, with a comprehensive,
flexible ecosystem of tools, libraries and community resources, originally created by Google

Compute Engine – Virtual machines running in Google’s data center

VMware Engine – An engine for migrating and running VMware workloads natively on Google Cloud

Bare Metal – Infrastructure to run specialized workloads on Google Cloud

 22

Google Kubernetes Engine – An open-source container orchestration system for automating

computer application deployment, scaling, and management

App Engine – A platform for building scalable web applications and mobile back-ends

Cloud Run – A fully managed environment for running containerized apps

Cloud Functions – An event-driven compute platform for cloud services and apps

Apigee API Management – A platform for developing and managing APIs

Cost Management – Tools for monitoring, controlling, and optimizing business costs

Cloud Identity – A unified platform for IT administrators to manage user devices and apps

Cloud Console – A web-based interface for managing and monitoring cloud apps

Cloud Monitoring – A tool monitoring infrastructure and application health with rich metrics

Cloud Logging – An audit, platform, and application logs management tool

Cloud Debugger – A real-time application state inspection and in-production debugging tool

Cloud Trace – A tracing system collecting latency data from applications

Cloud Profiler – Continuous CPU and heap profiling to improve performance and reduce costs