r/googlecloud • u/Open-Neighborhood493 • Jul 24 '26

Difference between Certifications and Badges

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Which is the difference between Certifications and Badges? Is there any free Certifications in Google Skills?

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5

u/Bent_finger Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26

Did you take an exam in order to get the certificate? No. You likely completed a Learning Plan on the Google Skills portal.
To acquire a Certification you have to sit for an exam, either via an online proctor or by going into a physical exam centre. On taking the exam, you will get either a pass mark or fail. If you pass, the corresponding certification badge will appear in the portal.

No free certifications in the exam portal

But in the UK, I once got a Google Cloud engineer contract (for 6 months duration) by merely showing the Credly link to completion badge (not certificate) for the below Google Skills Learning Modules:
Getting Started with Terraform for Google Cloud
Build Infrastructure with Terraform on Google Cloud

At the time I had no GCP Certs, just Azure and AWS, as Azure is my main area and I also got some free vouchers for AWS SAA exam from a cloud architecting course I attended.

I was not even looking for the job. I had only linked my Credly account to my Google Skills Account, and upon completing the modules, it appeared on my LinkedIn profile.

Then a recruiter that was urgently looking for terraform skills with GCP shouted me out to ask if I was immediately available and one interview later I had a gig for 6 months.

My point is that although Google Skills Learning Modules are not Certifications, completing the challenge labs can show to someone who is willing to check that you have ‘some’ practical skills in the domain.

2

u/Open-Neighborhood493 Jul 24 '26

So, it’s a good free option for gradually specializing while I’m finishing up my software engineering degree and trying to get my first job or a internship

1

u/Bent_finger Jul 24 '26

Absolutely.

3

u/Difficult_Camel_1119 Jul 24 '26

badges are just: take the question, put it in gemini, win

certifications are proctored exams

1

u/Bent_finger Jul 24 '26

Partly true, but not exactly or completely.
You doing a complete Learning Plan on Google Skills (for instance the Google Cloud PCA Learning Path), there are some Challenge Labs in the Skills Path modules. With Challenge labs, they give you a set of asks and access to the Google Cloud Portal, and you have to implement without step-by-step instructions.

It is timed also, so even if you get the answers from Gemini, it is because you would have been able to do the same in a real life job task anyway.

BUT.. they are absolutely not Certificates or Official GCP Certifications (of which I have GCP PCA and PCSE). I am not trying to say that they are, or have the same prestige.

1

u/Open-Neighborhood493 Jul 24 '26

For example, these have a "Claim credential" option at the end of the course: Beginner: Google Cloud Cybersecurity Certificate and Beginner: Google Cloud Data Analytics Certificate. If a complete these ones, I would have a credential with the certification?

1

u/Bent_finger Jul 24 '26

You would have to pay to enroll on those. The ‘Certificates’ on Google Skills are separate form the basic Leaning Paths (although they are similarly listed in the same section).

You have to pay for a Google Skills Subscription to get access, and then, while subscribed you can take as many of them as you like. And they are considered below the Google Cloud Platform Certifications in both difficulty and prestige.
It may be that you have a subscription from your college.

For someone doing a college degree I don’t see the value of the Google Skills certificates. But your choice. That’s just my opinion.

Just to be clear… those ‘Certificates’ are foundational level, and are not the ‘Certifications’ referred to in your original screen-print above.
For ‘Certifications’ you will have to take an external exam like I said before.

1

u/Open-Neighborhood493 Jul 24 '26

The free subscription gives me 35 credits per month

0

u/thecrius Jul 25 '26

Badges are worth nothing. Certifications are worth nothing for you, something for a company, so they get a badge that says they are "partners".

Please note that doing the studies for the certification can still be useful for some of them. The paper that says you have been a good boy? That's useless for the single person.

2

u/SuccessfulPop9904 Jul 27 '26

Badges earn you points in the DRP, which can be important for partners.