Cloud Babble- A personal blog site by Jamie Thompson on Google Cloud https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/ Bridging the Gap: From Database Administration to Intelligent Platform Architecture - Google Cloud Professional Database Engineer Exam Guide When I first passed this exam back in December 2023, it was widely considered one of the more approachable professional level certifications, essentially a “Cloud SQL exam.” Fast forward to now, and I can tell you that is no longer the case. The... Mon, 05 Jan 2026 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2026-01-05-google-cloud-professional-database-engineer-exam-guide/ https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2026-01-05-google-cloud-professional-database-engineer-exam-guide/ Why low-code bots are just the beginning, and how to scale for the autonomous enterprise. - The Agentic PoC Graveyard: Why “Faster Horses” Won’t Fix Your ROI The adoption of Generative AI has shifted from a phase of experimental curiosity to one of strategic necessity. Across the enterprise landscape, the directive is consistent: operationalise AI to drive competitive advantage. Organisations are accelerating their adoption of enterprise... Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2025-12-12-agentic-ai-process-reinvention/ https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2025-12-12-agentic-ai-process-reinvention/ A technical guide to connecting backend ADK logic on Vertex AI Agent Engine, to the Gemini Enterprise frontend. - How to Register and Use ADK Agents (on Agent Engine) with Gemini Enterprise So, you’ve built a custom agent using Google’s Agent Development Kit (ADK). It’s deployed on Vertex AI’s Agent Engine platform, and it’s ready to work. But right now, it’s just code sitting in the cloud. How do... Mon, 08 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2025-12-08-Registering-ADK-Agents-On-Vertex-AI-Agent-Engine-In-Gemini-Enterprise/ https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2025-12-08-Registering-ADK-Agents-On-Vertex-AI-Agent-Engine-In-Gemini-Enterprise/ A technical guide to architecting reliable, hallucination-resistant agents using a defence-in-depth strategy. - Organisations are developing AI agents en masse, driven by the promise of next-generation automation. We aren’t just building chatbots that talk; we are building systems that do. We are giving LLMs access to APIs, databases, and enterprise software, allowing them to reason through multi-step tasks and execute actions autonomously. But... Sat, 06 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2025-12-06-preventing-agent-hallucinations-defence-in-depth/ https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2025-12-06-preventing-agent-hallucinations-defence-in-depth/ An updated guide based on my 2025 exam experience: SRE, GKE, and CI/CD Security and more. - Google Cloud Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer Exam Guide Back in June, I sat and passed the Google Cloud Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer exam. This marked my third time earning this credential (having first passed in 2021). While the exam has evolved over the years, it remains one of the most... Fri, 05 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2025-12-05-Google-Cloud-Professional-DevOps-Engineer-Exam-Guide/ https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2025-12-05-Google-Cloud-Professional-DevOps-Engineer-Exam-Guide/ An experienced architect's guide to the new format: Gen AI topics, case studies, and official prep resources. - Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect Renewal: What to Expect & Mastering the New 1-Hour Exam My Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect (PCA) certification was up for renewal in October. I first earned this certification back in 2019, so this marked my fourth time sitting an exam to maintain the credential.... Tue, 18 Nov 2025 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2025-11-18-Google-Cloud-Professional-Cloud-Architect-Exam-Guide-Renewal/ https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2025-11-18-Google-Cloud-Professional-Cloud-Architect-Exam-Guide-Renewal/ This blog provides an overview of Google Cloud's newest foundational certification: Generative AI Leader and my experience preparing and passing the exam as part of an early adopter pilot group. - In April, I joined the Google Cloud Early Adopter program to complete training and sit Google Cloud’s newest exam: Google Cloud Generative AI Leader (beta). This is Google’s second foundational level certification, following Google Cloud Digital Leader, but this time focusing on GenAI. In this blog I share my experience... Wed, 14 May 2025 00:00:00 -0400 https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2025-05-14-GoogleCloudGenerativeAILeaderCertification/ https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2025-05-14-GoogleCloudGenerativeAILeaderCertification/ Harnessing DeepResearch & Building Custom Agents to Transform Enterprise Workflows - My previous deep dives into Google Cloud Agentspace, Agentspace UI Overview and Agentspace Connectors and Actions , established how its user experience and robust data integration (via Connectors and Actions) deliver significant value through enhanced enterprise search and summarisation. While this provides a powerful foundation, the true promise of Agentspace... Tue, 06 May 2025 00:00:00 -0400 https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2025-05-06-agentspace-agents/ https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2025-05-06-agentspace-agents/ Understanding how Agentspace integrates with enterprise systems and respects data permissions - In my last blog post, I explored the potential of Google Cloud Agentspace through its user interface and enterprise search and summarisation features. Now I’ll cover the practical mechanics of integrating Agentspace within an enterprise landscape, focusing on two critical pillars: Connectors and Actions. This post explains how Agentspace securely... Thu, 10 Apr 2025 00:00:00 -0400 https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2025-04-10-agentspace-connectors-actions/ https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2025-04-10-agentspace-connectors-actions/ Streamlining Enterprise Search and Unifying Knowledge: Exploring the Agentspace Interface - How much time do your teams lose searching for information? In today’s enterprise, critical knowledge is often scattered across cloud storage like Google Drive or SharePoint, collaboration platforms like Slack or Microsoft Teams, critical business systems like Salesforce or SAP, knowledge bases like Confluence, and countless other internal databases and... Tue, 08 Apr 2025 00:00:00 -0400 https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2025-04-08-AgentspaceUI/ https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2025-04-08-AgentspaceUI/ Intrigued to understand more about Google Cloud's newest certification as it becomes generally available? Read about the exam content, format, difficulty and my experience and advice to pass the exam. - Google Cloud’s latest certification ‘Associate Data Practitioner’ is now generally available for those who missed the beta exam. After being envious of the flurry of announcements filling my LinkedIn feed of people passing the Beta exam version, I waited eagerly for the exam to become generally available and finally sat... Wed, 22 Jan 2025 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2025-01-22-associate-data-practitioner/ https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2025-01-22-associate-data-practitioner/ Is Your PostgreSQL Holding You Back? Learn how AlloyDB Delivers Superior Performance, Cost Savings, and Architectural Simplicity. - Database Modernisation and PostgreSQL AlloyDB Overview AlloyDB Architecture Disaggregated Compute and Storage Multiple Layers of Caching Built in Columnar Engine Intelligent Query Optimisation Vertical and Horizontal Auto Scaling Capabilities AlloyDB vs Standard PostgreSQL Feature Comparison Conclusion Database Modernisation and PostgreSQL As more organizations embrace PostgreSQL during database modernisation and Cloud... Thu, 16 Jan 2025 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2025-01-16-AlloyDB-vs-Postgres/ https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2025-01-16-AlloyDB-vs-Postgres/ To help reinforce my learning, I’m creating various blog posts on the topics I’m studying in preparation for the exam, and to assist anyone else embarking upon the Google Cloud ML Engineer certification, or interested in learning more about machine learning topics. This blog post focuses on Machine Learning, how it relates to Artificial Intelligence and the common model types. - Machine Learning Supervised vs Unsupervised Learning Supervised Learning Unsupervised Learning Classification vs. Regression Models Classification Models Regression Models Machine Learning Machine learning (ML) is a subfield of artificial intelligence that deals with the ability of computers to learn without explicit programming. Imagine a child learning to recognize different animals. Through... Fri, 28 Jun 2024 00:00:00 -0400 https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2024-06-28-machine-learning-overview/ https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2024-06-28-machine-learning-overview/ This blog equips you with the knowledge and tools to tackle Google Cloud's Professional Cloud Network Engineer certification. Dive into exam essentials: Understand key skills tested and Google's expectations. Your study plan: Discover best practices, recommended resources, and practice tips. Insider knowledge: Gain insights on exam format, structure, and potential challenges. My experience: Learn from my journey and benefit from valuable advice I have gleaned after achieving this certification three times. - Last week I embarked upon my latest certification renewal- Google Cloud Professional Cloud Network Engineer (PCNE). This was my third time certifying as a Professional Cloud Network Engineer having initially passed in January 2020, renewed in 2022, and again in 2024. The exam had been updated this time, so it... Thu, 01 Feb 2024 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2024-02-01-GoogleCloudProfessionalCloudNetworkEngineerCertification/ https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2024-02-01-GoogleCloudProfessionalCloudNetworkEngineerCertification/ In this blog I cover how to implement a simple data ingestion pipeline using Google Cloud Pub/Sub's BigQuery Subscription service including example Terraform code. - Google Cloud’s Pub/Sub BigQuery Subscriptions What IAM permissions do Pub/Sub BigQuery Subscriptions require? Defining Pub/Sub Topic Schema Creating BigQuery Subscription Configuring Dead Letter Topic Google Cloud’s Pub/Sub BigQuery Subscriptions Google Cloud’s Pub/Sub BigQuery subscriptions simplify data ingestion pipelines that require little or no data transformation. Applications performing extract, load and... Fri, 08 Dec 2023 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2023-12-08-google-cloud-pubsub-bigquery-subscription/ https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2023-12-08-google-cloud-pubsub-bigquery-subscription/ In this blog I cover the open source tool gcpdiag that helps identify misconfigurations and best practices across a range of Google Cloud offerings including GCE, GKE, BigQuery, GCS, Cloud Run, Cloud SQL... - What is the gcpdiag tool? What IAM permissions does gcpdiag require? What API’s does gcpdiag require? How to authenticate gcpdiag How to install gcpdiag How do I use the gcpdiag tool? What is the gcpdiag tool? gcpdiag is an opensource tool that can detect configuration issues within Google Cloud Projects.... Fri, 05 May 2023 00:00:00 -0400 https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2023-05-05-gcpdiag/ https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2023-05-05-gcpdiag/ In this blog I cover Google Cloud’s Professional Cloud Architect certification and offer my advice and guidance on preparing to become a certified Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect. - What is the Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect certification? Who is the Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect certification aimed at? How difficult is the Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect certification? How to prepare for and pass the Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect exam Recommended training material and courses for Google... Tue, 28 Feb 2023 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2023-02-28-Google-Cloud-Professional-Cloud-Architect/ https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2023-02-28-Google-Cloud-Professional-Cloud-Architect/ In this blog I provide an overview of how to securely access Google Cloud resources from your containerised workloads running on Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) with Workload Identity, why this approach is the recommended method, how to configure Workload Identity with both gcloud commands and Terraform code, and call out some of the risks associated with the alternate methods accessing Google Cloud resources. - Accessing Google Cloud Resources From Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) Exporting Service Account Keys Using Compute Engine Service Account Workload Identity Identity Sameness Google Kubernetes Engine Metadata Server Using Workload Identity Enabling Workload Identity Create A Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) Cluster with Workload Identity Enabled Enable Workload Identity On An Existing... Fri, 17 Feb 2023 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2023-02-17-GKE-Workload-Identity/ https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2023-02-17-GKE-Workload-Identity/ In this blog I provide an overview of the Anthos Service Mesh product offering and architecture, describing how a service mesh helps secure and simplify microservice architectures. - Securing Microservices Anthos Service Mesh Anthos Service Mesh Offerings Anthos Service Mesh Deployment Options The Control Plane The Data Plane Network Security Observability Advanced Traffic Management Securing Microservices Monolithic applications with multiple functions have no issues communicating internally, but when these applications are modernised and migrate to a microservices architecture,... Tue, 17 Jan 2023 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2023-01-17-AnthosServiceMeshOverview/ https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2023-01-17-AnthosServiceMeshOverview/ In this blog I cover Google Cloud’s Cloud Digital Leader certification, how you can access free training and offer my advice and guidance on preparing to become Google Cloud Digital Leader certified. - What is the Google Cloud Digital Leader certification? Who is the Google Cloud Digital Leader certification aimed at? How difficult is the Google Cloud Digital Leader certification? How to prepare for and pass the Google Cloud Digital Leader exam Recommended training material and courses for Google Cloud Digital Leader certification... Tue, 06 Dec 2022 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2022-12-06-GoogleCloudDigitalLeaderCertification/ https://www.cloudbabble.co.uk/2022-12-06-GoogleCloudDigitalLeaderCertification/