Google Cloud can look huge when you are starting out. This roadmap breaks it into small steps you can follow for free, one at a time.
Step 1: Create your Google Skills account
Google Skills is where the hands-on labs, courses and skill badges live. Sign up on skills.google and set up your public profile so your badges are recorded.
Step 2: Play the monthly Arcade games
Each month the Google Skills Arcade releases new hands-on games. Every game is worth one Arcade point, and the access code for each game is on the official Arcade page. Games are short, so they are a friendly way to get used to the console.
Step 3: Earn skill badges
Skill badges go deeper than games. Each badge is worth half an Arcade point, and together they build proof of your skills. Pick a theme and stay with it for a while, for example storage and data, or AI and agents, rather than jumping between topics.
Step 4: Use the free trial for your own projects
Google offers a 90-day trial with $300 in credits, and says it will not charge your card automatically when the trial ends. Use it for small projects that are not part of a lab.
Step 5: Build tiny projects
After each topic, build something small on your own:
- store files in Cloud Storage
- deploy a simple app to Cloud Run
- query a sample dataset in BigQuery
- try a Vertex AI example
Step 6: Take notes and repeat
Write down commands, mistakes and useful links after every lab. Try repeating a lab from memory a few days later. Thirty to sixty minutes a day beats one huge weekend.
Step 7: Join the community
The Google Developer forums are full of learners sharing tips and asking questions.
Track your progress
Keep count of your games and badges with the Arcade Points Calculator. It has a checklist that remembers your progress and shows which prize tier you are heading for.
Want to see these steps done live? Watch the walkthroughs on the B Tecky YouTube channel.