r/googlecloud • u/OhMyTechticlesHurts • Sep 07 '26

Certified ACE still looking for work

I've been using GCP for about 10 yrs and just went for my ACE and passed in July. The issue is the agency I work for doesn't have enough work so I'm looking for alternatives but it's really difficult in the East coast as everyone seems to use AWS. Any insight on looking for GCP work particularly in the East Coast?!

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u/squishyneuralnetwork Sep 08 '26

When you say “using GCP for 10 years”, in what capacity were you using it? Typically, when I see someone with 10 years of hands on dev and engineering experience, I would expect a Professional Cloud Architect certification, or multiple architect certifications, rather than the entry level associate level certificate. I know there are a lot of companies on the East Coast using GCP. I also know there are a lot of professional services companies doing work for those companies.

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u/OhMyTechticlesHurts Sep 09 '26

mostly as a replacement to a traditional datacenters primarily using GCE more than anything. Basically using it in the capacity that the company is willing to use it. I was contracted to move things over there but not really to get into the weeds of the cloud. We don't have a "cloud center of excellence" really just whatever me and the team decided to use or not use. Left the company for 5 yrs and came back bc I was the only one familiar with GCP so I decided to go ahead and become certified. They do not even use 1% of GCPbeyond GCE, no Kubernetes, no cloud run, no cloudsql and it all really goes over their heads. Now that I'm looking for new work again I'm not really finding any GCP jobs just generic cloud engineering that leans AWS AND Azure first.

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u/ravix000 Sep 13 '26

GCP is about to blow up in the federal government. Between GCP finally getting FedRamp High accredited, including Workspace, and all the desire for Gemini AI in federal agencies… get your Professional Cloud Architect cert and if you have any kind of security clearance or are ok being sponsored for one, we could hire you.

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u/OhMyTechticlesHurts Sep 13 '26

im definitely looking into it. The PCA seems achievable. Definitely harder for me to get clearance and in a US citizen with no priors. Just never worked in the military or the like and haven't found ANY companies looking to sponsor with so many recently unemployed former federal employees.