JEWEL LANGEVINE: Hello, my name is Jewel Langevine,
and today I am going to take you through my journey of becoming
Google Cloud Certified.
I'll give you an introduction to who I am,
a bit about my certification journey,
the impact it has had on my career,
and then leave you with some takeaways.
So let's get started with an introduction.
My name is Jewel, and I am a solution engineer
at Google Cloud.
I am currently a Google Cloud Certified professional data
engineer, associate cloud engineer,
and professional cloud architect.
I'm really, really happy to be here today
to share my story with you.
It's interesting to think of my journey as a three
by three by three.
Three countries, three states, and three certifications.
I was born in Guyana in South America.
I grew up in the Bahamas, and in the USA,
I have lived in Texas and New York City
before eventually moving to California for my current role.
I have always been an inquisitive person since birth.
For example, in Guyana, my father
used to buy mint candies before church every week
and I used to divvy them up amongst my family
to make sure that we all had the same amount.
Over the years, that natural instinct for data and analysis
has led me to grow into a thoughtful and analytical
technology professional, and I'm really grateful to be in a role
here at Google that allows me to own in
on and grow those skills.
Now, let's look at my certification story.
I have bucketed today's story into three major milestones
in my journey.
They are moving to New York City, growing my network,
and deciding to move forward to become certified.
I have been a user of Google Cloud tools
for about three and half years now,
and I have been working in the cloud space for about that
long as well.
My experience really started when I first
moved to New York City.
I moved there for a marketing engineering program
in the advertising technology space,
and after that program ended, I got a job as a platform analyst
at a small startup.
And I'm really grateful for that role.
That's actually where I started to get
my hands on GCP experience.
My first step into Google Cloud was
with BigQuery and the client interface,
and about a month and a half after I joined the team,
our company was actually acquired by another company
and that is where I was introduced
to how to work in multi cloud environments
since the company that acquired us was actually
working with another cloud service provider at that time.
So I learned how to integrate and how to migrate data
across cloud services, and as I continued to grow in my career,
I eventually became a consultant where
I was introduced to the world of cloud architecture
and how to use various Google Cloud tools to build
a full solution, then document that solution
with technical documentation.
All of this was really valuable to me
and it all started with my move to New York City.
I not only got hands on Google Cloud experience,
but I got broad cloud experience as well.
The takeaway that I want to note here
is don't be afraid to change.
Have the confidence to take the first step.
Now, moving on to my network.
I highly, highly recommend that you
seek out and nurture healthy opportunities
to build your network.
This is what really helped me expand my confidence
as a technology professional.
I grew my network through meetups, industry events,
and organizations such as the Houston Google Developers Group
which partnered with Women Techmakers for some
of the events I attended.
And meetups in New York City such as the TechYes!
Diversity in Tech Meetup, along with the Houston GCP user
group.
Check out your local tech community
to see what's available to you.
If there aren't any or many options,
I encourage you to create one.
Now, I just shared with you that I
did have quite a bit of hands-on experience
on the Google Cloud platform.
However, what I have come to realize over the past year
or so is that I was moreso thinking of myself as someone
who knew how to use a tool rather than someone
who was a professional in the cloud industry.
And when that thinking really turned around
was joining the Google Cloud Learning Workshop,
which is one of Google's diversity,
equity, and inclusion initiatives
to bring more perspectives into the cloud industry.
One of my favorite parts of the workshop
was meeting with other professionals
with varying years of experience and varying levels of expertise
in the cloud space.
This really helped to broaden my horizons
and deepen my understanding of the use of GCP
across the use cases.
I realized that some of the professionals in the room
had been working on technical infrastructure concepts
before the concept of cloud computing
was even widely known.
And I also realized that there were professionals in the room,
like myself, who were learning about technical infrastructure
concepts through cloud computing rather than the other way
around.
And what I noticed in conversations with my cohort
is that I was actually able to share knowledge and ideas as
if I had been working in this industry for five or ten years,
and my confidence grew dramatically
as I realized that I really did know what I was talking
about as a result of my hands-on experience
in this new industry.
When you get that boost of confidence,
you continue to grow it, and that's exactly what I did.
This is and really was a great turning point for me
as I continue to grow as a leader and a technology
professional.
Since being able to speak clearly and with confidence
is an important trait of being in a leadership role.
My takeaway for you here is to identify your goals
and surround yourself with others who have
achieved something similar--
or who have achieved something bigger than themselves--
and begin to network with them.
You might be amazed at how that can transform your mindset as
well.
So now, with all that being said and done,
as I continue to grow in my confidence,
I was also introduced to the world of certification itself.
Previously, I had seen certification as something
that someone with many more years of experience than I had
would go for, and maybe I could go for in a few years as well.
However, after my experience in the learning workshop,
I began to realize that certification could
be the right route for me.
And I also saw it as a great achievement
to really solidify my cloud expertise.
And when it comes to the action of taking the exam,
this is a wonderful story that I'm proud of as well.
I took the Associate Cloud Engineer exam in August
and did not pass.
It honestly was so disappointing,
because I was looking forward to passing it as many of us
do when we take exams.
So I did take some time to be disappointed,
and then I decided to move on.
I took a look at the areas in the exam
that I felt the most uncomfortable with
and then I also explored exam topics in general
across the Google Cloud certifications.
And throughout that review period,
after re-evaluating my skills, I realized
that the data engineering certification was potentially
the right route for me, especially since I was coming
from the world of data and I had hands-on experience with cloud
technologies in the data space.
So I took the data engineering exam and passed.
I was so excited.
It was actually three weeks after I
had failed the Associate Cloud Engineer exam
and I was happy and proud of myself.
Fast forward to February of this year when after months of study
and months of additional practice across the Google
Cloud platform tools, I was able to pass
both the professional Cloud Architect's
exam and the Associate Cloud Engineer exam on the same day.
My takeaway for you here is to stay focused
and know how you learn best and let that lead how
you study for the certification exams
if certification is one of your goals.
Becoming Google Cloud Certified had an important impact
on my career.
This impact included immediate career benefits,
long term professional gains, and new opportunities
for mentorship.
In terms of immediate career benefits
in the role that I was in at the time, becoming certified
opened doors for me to attend a really cool industry conference
on behalf of my employer at that time.
I felt like it was a really cool reward and a great opportunity
for me, and it also provided me with more
of a voice in the product engagement
that I was in at that time
Now, onto long-term professional gains.
A big one has been the opportunity to work at Google.
This has been a dream of mine and a goal of mine for a while.
At Google, I am a solution engineer
on a team called the Cloud Solution Studio, and what we do
is really, really cool.
I, along with my team, build assets
for our sales teams which demonstrate Google Cloud
solutions across use cases.
In my role, I have the opportunity
to build on my Google Cloud certifications and knowledge
to use storytelling, design thinking, and project
management skills to bring our solutions to life.
I have been at Google for over six months now
and it's been really great.
I got involved in the Black Googler Network
where I have a great buddy who has given me advice
and has also just been a great friend, including giving me
recommendations for hairdressers which
has been really useful since I'm new to the Bay Area.
I have also been pretty active in Google's outreach efforts,
including our Grow with Google initiative, giving back
to the Google Cloud Learning workshop,
and other certification outreach efforts.
And last but not least, getting certified
has opened doors to mentorship.
As part of the learning workshop,
I met someone who is actually still one of my mentors
to this day.
I reached out to her and we stayed in contact,
and now that I am here at Google,
I am able to meet with her on a regular basis
and talk about how I am growing as a professional.
I really do value her advice and her input into the growth areas
that we discuss.
Now, before we wrap up, I do want
to share some takeaways that I think would be valuable for you
no matter where you are on your journey
and where you are in your certification path, as well.
The first is to look at the growth goals
that you have set for yourself and have the confidence
to take the first step.
It can always feel daunting to do this.
In my case, it was daunting to look
at others who were certified and think, well,
I can be certified too.
Yet it required me to take the first step.
For me, that looked like being part of the learning workshop,
taking courses and studying diligently, and even taking
the first step of registering to take the exams.
I encourage you to also have the confidence
to take the first step and believe in yourself.
I would also recommend that you proactively build your network.
Seek out opportunities to learn from, partner with, and help
those who have achieved things similar to the goals you
have set for yourself.
Also consider seeking out guidance
from those who have achieved things bigger than themselves.
This will help you to better understand
what it takes to get where you need to be
and it will help with accountability
along your journey.
It can be really easy to make goals and then not follow up.
If you have put certification as a professional or even personal
goal for yourself, then go for it.
Proactively build your network and make sure
that you have a level of accountability.
And consider giving back by being a mentor to someone else,
especially after you're certified.
Last but not least, discover your unique approach.
This can take on numerous meanings.
In the certification space, I would
say to discover the way you learn best
and craft your study plan around that.
As an example from my end, I realized
that I learn best by testing myself, getting
hands-on experience, and being able to tie that experience
to the concepts.
So, knowing this, I crafted my personal study plans
around those principles.
I recommend that you take a look at your experiences
as a learner and see the ways that you have learned best,
then take that and create a personal study
plan for yourself.
Make sure you're being true to yourself.
Thank you so much for your time.
I really appreciate the opportunity
to share my story with you and hopefully
being able to inspire you to craft a story of your own
that you can be proud of.
Be sure to check out the appendix
of this deck for additional certification resources.
Have a great day, and perhaps I will see you soon.