In this course, we'll cover how to prepare to take the Associate Cloud Engineer Certification exam. This course by itself will not prepare you to take the ACE certification exam. It will, however, introduce you to many important concepts and useful tools you can use to devise your own custom study plan for preparing to take the exam. In this module, we'll discuss GCP certification and why it can be a good career move, how to put together a study plan for preparing to take the ACE exam, how to determine whether you're ready to take the test, and where and how to register. We'll then give you some testing tips for taking the certification exam. Let's first familiarize ourselves with GCP certification and why we here at Google believe it's a great way to help advance your career. Becoming Google Cloud certified is a great way to show the world that you can design, develop, manage and administer application, infrastructure, and data solutions on Google Cloud technology. The Google Cloud Certification designation shows that you both have the technical knowledge required and that you've also demonstrated the necessary skills to leverage Google Cloud technology in a way that can transform businesses and meaningfully affect the people and customers they serve. Let's look more closely at how becoming a Google Certified Associate Cloud Engineer can help you level up your career. As this quote illustrates, it's not enough to just recall information. You need to be able to use it to solve real-world problems. For that reason, Google Cloud Certification specifically test your ability to understand GCP technology and apply what you know to meet business needs. Google has many different certifications including the Associate Cloud Engineer Certification. Most of Google's certifications are created as a support various Cloud technical job roles. This certification, however, has a slightly different focus. It focuses on demonstrating knowledge and skills that are helpful for all job roles. That means that ACE is a powerful certification on its own. It's also a very effective starting point towards attaining other types of certification. Business computing in the Cloud is still in its early stages and is expected to grow tremendously over the next few years. The demand for IT professionals who understand Cloud computing will certainly continue to keep pace. In fact, a lack of skill Cloud engineers in the job marketplace is already being cited as a major challenge. The demand for Cloud engineers is already strong and is expected to keep growing. Associate-level Cloud engineering ACE certification is a job and a task-based certification based on Google Cloud Platform technology. This means it measures the test-takers' ability both to recall technical information and apply it. ACE certification test knowledge of Google Cloud Platform's fundamental concepts. This means it's a good starting point for those new to Cloud or new to GCP and can also be used as a first step towards any of the professional level certifications.