Google Cloud in collaboration with Developer Students Club (DSC) provides an opportunity to students to start their journey in cloud programming with hands-on labs on Google Cloud Platform that powers apps like Google Search, Gmail, and YouTube. Along the way, you will learn and practice cloud concepts like computing, big data, application developments, and machine learning. It usually takes place in October every year, as the name suggests the duration of this program is 30 days. It consists of several quests (collection of labs) that need to be completed in a stipulated time.
Program’s Syllabus:
The program is divided into 2 tracks:
- Cloud Engineering Track: It consists of 6 skills each represented as badges as follows:
- Getting Started: Create & Manage Cloud Resources.
- Perform Foundational Infrastructure Tasks in Google Cloud.
- Setup & Configure Cloud Environments in Google Cloud.
- Deploy & Manage Cloud Environments with Google Cloud.
- Build & Secure Networks in Google Cloud.
- Deploy to Kubernetes in Google Cloud.
- Data Science & Machine Learning Track: It consists of 6 skill represented as badges as shown below:
- Getting Started: Create & Manage Cloud Resources.
- Perform Foundational Data, ML, and AI Tasks in Google Cloud.
- Insights from Data with BigQuery.
- Engineer Data in Google Cloud.
- Integrate with Machine Learning APIs.
- Explore Machine Learning Models with Explainable AI.
On average there are around 6 labs in each skill badge. That makes it a total of 30-35 labs and at the end of each skill badge, you will need to give a test based on your learning so far.
Qwiklabs is the platform to complete the labs of the 30 days of Google Cloud. You will first need to create an account on the platform. To start with each lab you will require credits which you would get for free after successfully registering for the program.
How to begin?
Follow the below steps to start working on labs and exercises provided by the program:
Step 1: Head over to your Qwiklabs account, search the quest mentioned, and then click on Enroll in this Quest.
Step 2: After that, you just need to select the lab and then click on the Start Lab button to unlock the lab by using your credits.
All the labs are fixed as you click on Start Lab a timer starts within which you need to complete the lab.
Step 3: Click on Open Google Console and verify your credentials in the below-shown section.
Step 4: Click on Accept and then on Confirm.
Step 5: Then click on Agree and Continue.
Step 6: Click on the icon of cloud shell to activate the cloud shell which is in the top-right corner.
Qwiklabs is a beginner-friendly platform and there is a step-by-step detailed process that needs to be followed.
Step 7: As you can see in the image below, there is an input command (which needs to be copied and should be pasted in the cloud shell terminal. After the input there is an output and also an example output, so you get to know when you are going wrong.
Pro Tip: Sometimes 'refreshing' your window can solve your problem
in case you are not getting the desired output.Step 8: Just follow the instructions properly and click on the End Lab button when the scoreboard shows 100/100
Pro Tip: It is suggested that the entire task of Qwiklabs
should be done in incognito mode. As to complete
each lab you are given unique credentials for a
temporary Google account so by using incognito window
you would not mess it up with your original Google account.What if you get stuck?
- Just click on the scoreboard on the right-hand side and a message will pop up mentioning what you have missed.
- There is an option of ‘Qwiklabs Chat Support‘ where you can ask for help whenever you are facing any problem and you would be helped within minutes.
- There is also a ‘Campus Facilitator’ from each college to guide the students throughout.
Pro Tip: You are given a maximum of 5 attempts to complete a lab so do it carefully.
What will you gain?
- It is a total gain situation as this entire program is free of cost.
- Get hands-on practice of Google self-placed labs.
- Get to learn how Google cloud computing, Google Assistant works, and also learn trending skills such as Machine Learning, AI, Kubernetes, and many more.
- Get an amazing Google cloud certificate on successful completion of the program.
- Get a skill badge after the completion of every quest which you can share on your social media account.
- The best part is you get a chance to win really cool Google cloud goodies (This is the reason why majority of the students enroll in this program)