Tag Archives: Google Cloud training

Google Developer Group Spotlight: A conversation with Cloud Architect, Ilias Papachristos

Posted by Jennifer Kohl, Global Program Manager, Google Developer Communities

The Google Developer Groups Spotlight series interviews inspiring leaders of community meetup groups around the world. Our goal is to learn more about what developers are working on, how they’ve grown their skills with the Google Developer Group community, and what tips they might have for us all.

We recently spoke with Ilias Papachristos, Google Developer Group Cloud Thessaloniki Lead in Greece. Check out our conversation with Ilias on Cloud architecture, reading official documentation, and suggested resources to help developers grow professionally.

Tell us a little about yourself?

I’m a family man, ex-army helicopter pilot, Kendo sensei, beta tester at Coursera, Lead of the Google Developer Group Cloud Thessaloniki community, Google Cloud Professional Architect, and a Cloud Board Moderator on the Google Developers Community Leads Platform (CLP).

I love outdoor activities, reading books, listening to music, and cooking for my family and friends!

Can you explain your work in Cloud technologies?

Over my career, I have used Compute Engine for an e-shop, AutoML Tables for an HR company, and have architected the migration of a company in Mumbai. Now I’m consulting for a company on two of their projects: one that uses Cloud Run and another that uses Kubernetes.

Both of them have Cloud SQL and the Kubernetes project will use the AI Platform. We might even end up using Dataflow with BigQuery for the streaming and Scheduler or Manager, but I’m still working out the details.

I love the chance to share knowledge with the developer community. Many days, I open my PC, read the official Google Cloud blog, and share interesting articles on the CLP Cloud Board and GDG Cloud Thessaloniki’s social media accounts. Then, I check Google Cloud’s Medium publication for extra articles. Read, comment, share, repeat!

How did the Google Developer Group community help your Cloud career?

My overall knowledge of Google Cloud has to do with my involvement with Google Developer Groups. It is not just one thing. It’s about everything! At the first European GDG Leads Summit, I met so many people who were sharing their knowledge and offering their help. For a newbie like me it was and still is something that I keep in my heart as a treasure

I’ve also received so many informative lessons on public speaking from Google Developer Group and Google Developer Student Club Leads. They always motivate me to continue talking about the things I love!

What has been the most inspiring part of being a part of your local Google Developer Group?

Collaboration with the rest of the DevFest Hellas Team! For this event, I was a part of a small group of 12 organizers, all of whom never had hosted a large meetup before. With the help of Google Developer Groups, we had so much fun while creating a successful DevFest learning program for 360 people.

What are some technical resources you have found the most helpful for your professional development?

Besides all of the amazing tricks and tips you can learn from the Google Cloud training team and courses on the official YouTube channel, I had the chance to hear a talk by Wietse Venema on Cloud Run. I also have learned so much about AI from Dale Markovitz’s videos on Applied AI. And of course, I can’t leave out Priyanka Vergadia’s posts, articles, and comic-videos!

Official documentation has also been a super important part of my career. Here are five links that I am using right now as an Architect:

  1. Google Cloud Samples
  2. Cloud Architecture Center
  3. Solve with Google Cloud
  4. Google Cloud Solutions
  5. 13 sample architectures to kickstart your Google Cloud journey

How did you become a Google Developer Group Lead?

I am a member of the Digital Analytics community in Thessaloniki, Greece. Their organizer asked me to write articles to start motivating young people. I translated one of the blogs into English and published it on Medium. The Lead of GDG Thessaloniki read them and asked me to become a facilitator for a Cloud Study Jams (CSJ) workshop. I accepted and then traveled to Athens to train three people so that they could also become CSJ facilitators. At the end of the CSJ, I was asked if I wanted to lead a Google Developer Group chapter. I agreed. Maria Encinar and Katharina Lindenthal interviewed me, and I got it!

What would be one piece of advice you have for someone looking to learn more about a specific technology?

Learning has to be an amusing and fun process. And that’s how it’s done with Google Developer Groups all over the world. Join mine, here. It’s the best one. (Wink, wink.)

Want to start growing your career and coding knowledge with developers like Ilias? Then join a Google Developer Group near you, here.

India’s Google Developer Groups meet up to ace their Google Cloud Certifications

Posted by Biswajeet Mallik, Program Manager, Google Developers India.

Image from Cloud Community Days India

Earlier this year, ten Google Developer Groups in India came together to host Google Cloud Community Days India, a two day event helping developers study for their upcoming Cloud Certification exams. To address the rising demand for professional certifications, the virtual event hosted over 63,000 developers, covered four main exam areas, and welcomed nine speakers. This was the second edition to the event series which started in 2019 in India.

By providing expert learning materials and mentorship, the event uniquely prepared developers for the Associate Cloud Engineer, Professional Data Engineer, Professional Cloud Machine Learning Engineer, and Professional Cloud Architect exams. Learn more below.

Acing the four key certifications

The Cloud Community Days event focused on helping developers study for four milestone certifications, tailored to engineers at four different stages of their career. The goal: help Google Developer Group members obtain the right credentials to improve their job prospects.

The event broke participants into breakout sessions based on which exam they were preparing to take. Since the certifications targeted professionals of all skill levels, study groups ranged from early career associates to late career executives. The learning groups were organized around the following certifications:

  1. Associate Cloud Engineer:

    This learning session was created to help early career developers complete the first stepping stone exam. In particular, learning materials and speakers were curated to guide participants who had no prior experience, or very little, working on the Google Cloud Platform.

    Workshops were mainly dedicated to assisting programmers who were familiar with building different applications but wished to show employers that they could deploy them on Google Cloud Platform.

    Watch more from: Day 1, here. And day 2, here.

  2. Professional Data Engineers:

    The next group brought together were data practitioners with special interests in data visualization and decision making. Workshops and learning activities helped these developers hone their large scale data and data driven decision making abilities.

    Improving these skills are essential for passing the Professional Data Engineers certification and growing a programmer’s early career.

    Watch more from: Day 1, here. And day 2, here.

  3. Professional Cloud Machine Learning Engineer:

    For these sessions, the Google Developer Group Cloud community paired experienced programmers with a significant interest in ML to form their study groups. The main driver in these learning activities was to help seasoned developers gain a deeper understanding of how to utilize Google Cloud ML services.

    With significant emphasis being placed on machine learning in the ecosystem right now, Google Developer Group community leaders felt this certification could help developers make the leap into new leadership roles.

    Watch more from: Day 1, here. And day 2, here.

  4. Professional Cloud Architect:

    Lastly, this event paired experienced Cloud executives and professionals working in leading capacities for their organizations. For these sessions, speakers and activities had a specific scope: help high level professions be at the forefront of Google Cloud Platforms innovative capabilities.

    Specifically, the Professional Cloud Architect Certification was created to help senior software engineers better design, scale and develop highly secure and robust applications.

    Day 1, here. And day 2, here.

Reactions from the community

Overall, the community put together these resources to help developers feel more confident in their abilities, obtain tangible credentials, and in turn increase access to better job opportunities. As two participants recalled the event,

“The session on Qwiklabs was so helpful, and taught me how to anticipate problems and then solve them. Cloud Community Days inspired me to take the next step with DevOps and Google Cloud.”

“This was the first time I attended the Google Developer Group event! It is an awesome package for learning in one place. All the fun activities were engaging and the panelist discussion was also very insightful. I feel proud to be a part of this grand GDG event.”

Start learning with Google Developer Groups

With Google Developer Groups, find a space to learn alongside a group of curious developers, all coming together to advance their careers from withinside a caring community of peers.

Want to know more about what Cloud Community days were like? Then watch their live recording below.

Ready to find a community event near you? Then get started at gdg.community.dev