A specialization (MOOC) by Google Cloud Training (hosted by Coursera) which contains 6 courses:

- Google Cloud Fundamentals: Core Infrastructure
- Essential Google Cloud Infrastructure: Foundation
- Essential Google Cloud Infrastructure: Core Services
- Elastic Google Cloud Infrastructure: Scaling and Automation
- Architecting with Google Kubernetes Engine: Foundations
- Preparing for Your Associate Cloud Engineer Journey

One of the best resources suitable for the complete beginners to learn cloud programming from scratch. Specialization contains all the necessary details not only to pass the exam, but to get a solid foundation in cloud programming.

All the courses incorporates hands-on labs using Qwiklabs platform There are two enrollment options:

1. Monthly Subscription for $49 USD per month (as of March 2022). You get full access to the course materials, including Qwiklabs labs and all the assessments.
2. Or you can audit the course which gives you the possibility to access all the videos, but assessments and Qwiklabs labs are not included.

You can view the specialization here

Another beginner-friendly course which covers all the GCP resources necessary for the GCP Associate Cloud Engineer (and I don't only mean clearing the exam). Teacher explains everything in a concise manner. There are a lof of quizzes included, alongside with very useful resources.

Also, each section of the course includes demos from the instructor on how things should be configured on the GCP platform. Demos include setting up (creating, updating, managing, deleting) resources using both console and a Google Cloud SDK (Command-Line Interface For Google Cloud Platform Products & Services)

You can view the course here

Containerization is one of the most important topics in cloud computing and in programming. Solid understanding of how docker and kubernetes work is crucial, and I believe, it's mandatory also.

Maximilian is one of the best teachers online, he always explains everything in detail. At the end of the day there are virtually no questions as he showcases all the possible scenarios and the ways how to handle each of them.

The course is absolutely beginner-friendly. You don't need to know anything regarding docker or kubernetes as every little detail is covered from scratch.

You can view the course here

Courses mentioned above are great for practicing technologies, but there is a lot of theory behind the scenes when it comes to Google Cloud Platform. At least, I believe so. For me, it's hard to catch up with all the theory by just watching videos. And I found this book very fascinating, probably, the most valuable resource while preparing for the exam.

Book contains 18 chapters and covers all the necessary services for the exam, including theory, CLI commands and console breakdown. Each chapter has its own summary and 'exam essentials' section. Also, there are mock tests with 20 questions at the end of each section. You can find detailed explanations for the questions in the appendix of the book. Author does a great job explaining why given answer is correct and also explanations about why other answers are falsy.

I would recommend this book for everyone. But, there is one downside. At the given moment, the latest edition of the book dates back to 2019, so, there are some topics which are outdated. You can read official documentation of the Google Cloud Platform alongside with this book, it will guarantee that you are up-to-date. Therefore, you can argue, that there is no need for this book if you still read documentations. But, the thing is, documentations cover resources and services in a great detail, so often going through all the documentation might be overwhelming and unnecessary.

Book contains 359 questions which give you a grasp of what to expect on the exam. You can use the resource to identify you weak spots and work on them thereafter.

Exam contains 50 questions, and you have 2 hours to clear the test. I think it's very important to read the question carefully and reread it a few times if something is not completely clear. Even one misunderstood word can make a difference. Test contains question about all the services taught in the courses and books mentioned above. I got 5-6 questions about GKE (Google Kubernetes Engine), also, a few questions about IAM (Identity and Access Management), there were questions related to Cloud Run, Cloud Storages, BigQuery, BigTable, firewall rules, storage classes, deployment management, compute engine, VPC (Virtual Private Cloud, this one is also important, got more than one question regarding this topic), cloud functions etc. This is just a short list. As I mentioned above, there will be at least one question for most services. Also, it is important to work with GCP services using command line interface (CLI). You can expect a few question about how resources are managed using CLI (creating buckets, setting global configurations, manipulating Google Compute Engine or Google Kubernetes Engine resources etc.)