7 Free Google Cloud Training Resources

5 min readDec 17, 2020

If you’re looking to break into the cloud computing space, or just continue growing your skills and knowledge, there are an abundance of resources out there to help you get started, including free Google Cloud training. If you know where to look, open-source learning is a great way to get familiar with different cloud service providers.

With the combined knowledge from our previous blog posts on free training resources for AWS and Azure, you’ll be well on your way to expanding your cloud expertise and finding your own niche. No matter where you are in the learning process, there are training resources for every experience level and learning type — get started learning now with these 7 free Google Cloud Platform training resources:

1. Google Cloud Free Program

For free, hands-on training there’s no better place to start than with Google Cloud Platform itself. Within the Google Cloud free program you’ll have two options — sign up for a free trial or free tier. As a new Google Cloud customer, you can get started with a 90-day free trial. If you’re already a Google Cloud customer and are looking for a free option, you can sign up for Google Cloud’s free tier. GCP’s free program option is a no-brainer thanks to its offerings.

Access to all GCP products. You’ll have everything you need to experiment with building and running apps, sites, and services. Firebase and the Google Maps API are included with your free trial.
$300 credit is yours to spend for the next 90-days, an expansion from their previous 60-day period and a sizable offer in comparison to Azure’s $200 for 30 days, so take advantage.
No autocharges after the trial period ends — a rarity for most free trials, and a guarantee that this training resource is 100% free.
An always-free option. GCP’s free tier takes the cake with this an always-free tier that gives you enough power to run a small app despite limitations on product and usage. Free tier customers can use select Google Cloud products free of charge, with specified monthly usage limits, making this a perfect option for learning purposes.

For help with navigating the platform as you use it, check out GCP’s documentation for a full overview, comparisons, tutorials, and more.

2. Coursera

On the Google Cloud training page, you’ll find plenty of classes tailored to your interests or role so you can get technical skills and learn best practices for using the platform. As another free Google Cloud training option, Google has also teamed up with Coursera, an online learning platform founded by Stanford professors, to offer courses online so you can “skill up from anywhere.”

Coursera includes a number of free courses including topics in Machine Learning, Architecting, Data Engineering, Developing Applications, and the list goes on.

3. Qwiklabs

In conjunction with Coursera, Google Cloud offers hands-on training with specialized labs available via Qwiklabs, a learning lab environment for developers. Choose a “quest” from their catalog and get started with 50+ hands-on labs from beginner to expert level. Here you’ll learn new skills in a GCP environment and earn cloud badges along the way. Get started with GCP Essentials and work your way into more advanced, niche topics like Managing Cloud Infrastructure with Terraform, Machine Learning APIs, IoT in Google Cloud, and so on.

4. Plural Sight

Pluralsight is a technology skills platform that offers a full breadth of Google Cloud courses, learning paths, and skills assessments. You’ll find several Google Cloud resources to help level up your skills. If you’re looking to dive deeper into Google Cloud, this is a great option — get started learning with a free trial and make sure to keep an eye out for training discounts offered by Google.

5. GitHub

GitHub provides users a number of materials that can help further your Google Cloud training. The great thing about this platform is collaboration among the users, this community brings together people from all different backgrounds so they are able to provide knowledge about their own specialties and experiences. Here’s a great list of Google Cloud training resources that can help you.

6. YouTube

You can never go wrong with YouTube. With an endless amount of free videos, YouTube offers an abundance of Google Cloud training options for those of you who prefer to watch the movie instead of reading the book (you know who you are). Some of the most popular YouTube channels for free Google Cloud Platform training include:

Google Cloud Platform (640k subscribers) — “helping you build what’s next with secure infrastructure, developer tools, APIs, data analytics and machine learning.”
Simplilearn (764k subscribers) — one of the world’s leading certification training providers, with online training that includes Machine Learning, Google Cloud Platform, AWS, DevOps, and Big Data, among others. The course on Introduction To Google Cloud Platform Fundamentals Certification is a popular one with upwards of 155k views. Another popular video is the Google Cloud Platform Certification Path which walks you through all of the available Google Cloud certifications.
Edureka (2.29M subscribers) is a full-service, online learning platform with curated content in Big Data and Hadoop, DevOps, Blockchain, AI, Data Science, AWS, Google Cloud, and more. Their YouTube channel is a “gateway to high-quality videos, webinars, sample classes and lectures from industry practitioners and influencers.” If you’re jumping into GCP with no prior knowledge or experience, the What is Google Cloud Platform tutorial will help get you started.

7. Blogs & Forums

Blogs are a great way to keep your mind flowing with new insights, ideas, and the latest on all things cloud computing. Google Cloud and Qwiklabs have blogs of their own, perfect for supplemented reading with their trainings. For a more well-rounded blog with content on other service providers, check out Cloud Academy.

We also cover Google Cloud on the ParkMyCloud blog — check out this guide to Google Cloud machine types, an explanation of sustained use discounts, and an introduction to resource-based pricing. And be sure to subscribe to relevant discussion forums such as r/googlecloud on Reddit and the GCP Slack.

Take Advantage of These Free Google Cloud Training Resources

It is clear that cloud computing is here to stay and as cloud technology continues to grow and advance, free training resources only continue to emerge so it’s important to stay up to date on new resources. We picked the 7 above for their reliability, variety, quality, and range of information. With the current working remote culture, this is the perfect time to take advantage of free google cloud training online. Whether you’re new to Google Cloud or consider yourself an expert, these resources will expand your knowledge and keep you up to date with what’s latest in the platform.

More Free Training Resources:

Originally published at www.parkmycloud.com on December 11, 2020