Directory / Google Cloud

Associate Data Practitioner

An associate-level data exam with a small amount of beginner ML. Google Cloud has no associate-level certification dedicated to AI or ML.

What it signals

Practical assessment: Scenario-based multiple choice. Proctored multiple choice.
Identity assurance: Proctored with identity verification. Proctored: online-proctored (Pearson VUE OnVUE) or onsite at a Pearson VUE test centre. Registration via CertMetrics (cp.certmetrics.com/google). Third-party source says delivery moved from Kryterion to Pearson VUE on 2026-03-02.
Depth: Associate. Associate level.
Experience expected: Under 6 months. Google recommends 6+ months; rated 1 as the closest band.
Portability: Mixed. Basic data concepts transfer; tooling is Google-specific.
Verifiability: Public badge or registry. Public Credly badge and searchable directory.

For hiring managers

Included because it is the only Google Cloud associate-level cert with any ML content; there is NO associate-level AI/ML-specific Google Cloud certification as of 2026-09-27.
ML coverage is BigQuery ML/AutoML at beginner level, under 10%.

Verifying it

Digital badge issued via Credly (Open Badges); employer opens the candidate's live Credly badge URL (shows name, credential, issue and expiry dates). Opt-in searchable Google Cloud Skills Directory on Credly: https://www.credly.com/organizations/google-cloud/directory

What it covers

Published exam outline

Data Preparation and Ingestion 30%
Data Analysis and Presentation 27%
Data Pipeline Orchestration 18%
Data Management 25%

By topic

GenAI apps: Touched on (under 10%). Only using pretrained LLMs from BigQuery is mentioned.
Agents: Not covered. Not in the blueprint.
Classical ML: Touched on (under 10%). Objective 2.3 is about a third of a 27% section, i.e. just under 10%.
Operations: Touched on (under 10%). Only Model Registry organisation; pipeline orchestration is for data.
Data: Core focus (over 35%). Data preparation, ingestion, pipelines and management dominate the exam.
Responsible AI: Touched on (under 10%). Data governance/access control in the Data Management section is not AI-specific.

Exam details

Who the provider says it is for. Practitioners with basic experience of data ingestion, transformation, pipeline management, analysis, machine learning and visualization on Google Cloud.

Format: multiple choice; multiple select
Delivery: Proctored: online-proctored (Pearson VUE OnVUE) or onsite at a Pearson VUE test centre. Registration via CertMetrics (cp.certmetrics.com/google). Third-party source says delivery moved from Kryterion to Pearson VUE on 2026-03-02.
Code or hands-on work: No hands-on tasks; multiple choice/multiple select. Objectives reference executing SQL for BigQuery ML, so SQL reading is likely (not explicitly stated).
Prerequisites: None
Recommended experience: 6+ months of hands-on experience working with data on Google Cloud
Renewal: Renew within renewal eligibility period; details in Renewal FAQs.

Preparing

Not confirmed

These details were not available from an official source at the time of research.

validityYears (associate certs are generally 3 years but not confirmed for this cert)
passingScore
launch date
examCode

Sources (2)