Sep/26: Analysis - total professionals by cert
Sep/26: Analysis - total professionals by cert
Analysis of the Google Cloud Platform certification program.
How many GCP certified professionals are there, by cert, on 31/August/26?
Total number of GCP certificates
| Certification | Total | MoM | %MoM | % of total MoM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 718060 | 11792 | 1.67% | 100.00% |
| Foundational | ||||
| Cloud Digital Leader | 123933 | 694 | 0.56% | 5.89% |
| Generative AI Leader | 81049 | 3480 | 4.49% | 29.51% |
| Associate | ||||
| Cloud Engineer | 202909 | 2013 | 1.00% | 17.07% |
| Data Practitioner | 9421 | 316 | 3.47% | 2.68% |
| Google Workspace Administrator | 6797 | 589 | 9.49% | 4.99% |
| Professional | ||||
| Cloud Architect | 129074 | 1599 | 1.25% | 13.56% |
| Data Engineer | 65108 | 1363 | 2.14% | 11.56% |
| Cloud Developer | 16798 | 215 | 1.30% | 1.82% |
| Network Engineer | 11051 | 116 | 1.06% | 0.98% |
| Security Engineer | 18008 | 147 | 0.82% | 1.25% |
| DevOps Engineer | 19237 | 259 | 1.36% | 2.20% |
| Machine Learning Engineer | 21539 | 588 | 2.81% | 4.99% |
| Cloud Database Engineer | 9629 | 134 | 1.41% | 1.14% |
| Security Operations Engineer | 3507 | 279 | 8.64% | 2.37% |
Log-scale graphs
Monthly highlights
- Program growth rebounds strongly: Added 11.792 new professionals in September, up 32,2% from August’s 8.919, total portfolio expanded to 718.060 credentials, driven by Q3 corporate training pushes and autumn enterprise upskilling.
- GAIL regains growth momentum: Reached 3.480 new certifications in September, up 49,7% from 2.324 in August, captured 29,51% of total monthly additions as top performer, fueled by widespread enterprise demand for non-technical Generative AI literacy.
- CDL additions slide downward: Dropped to 694 new professionals in September from 842 in August, share of total monthly additions fell to 5,89%, caused maybe by candidate interest shifting toward specialized AI and associate engineering tracks.
- ACE surges past landmark: Added 2.013 new certifications in September, up 44,3% from 1.395 in August, total population crossed 200.000 to reach 202.909, propelled by strong baseline demand for foundational cloud engineering skills.
- AGWA maintains elevated additions: Recorded 589 new professionals in September following August’s record 662 peak, maintained a portfolio-leading 9,49% MoM growth rate, driven by ongoing enterprise expansion of Google Workspace administration tools.
- ADP growth cools slightly: Added 316 new data practitioners in September down from 371 in August, retained a solid 3,47% MoM growth rate, reflects steady entry-level data interest despite minor seasonal normalization.
- PCA leads infrastructure surge: Surged to 1.599 new certifications in September, up 67,3% from 956 in August, represented 13,56% of total monthly additions, driven by enterprise demand for architects capable of designing AI-native infrastructure.
- PDE volume more than doubled: Surged to 1.363 new certifications in September, up 111,9% from 643 in August, captured 11,56% of all monthly additions, driven by corporate demand for underlying data grounding and analytics pipelines to power AI agents.
- PCD displays steady gains: Added 215 new developers in September, up from 207 in August, achieved a 1,30% MoM growth rate, supported by growing demand for application developers adopting the former Gemini Code Assist or the new Antigravity tools.
- PCDOE holds steady pace: Recorded 259 additions in September, virtually flat from 261 in August, represented 2,20% of monthly additions, reflects consistent enterprise demand for continuous delivery and SRE practices.
- PCNE rebounds past hundred: Rose to 116 new certifications in September, up 38,1% from 84 in August, share of monthly total grew to 0,98%, driven by growing need for hybrid and multicloud networking expertise.
- PCDBE records solid growth: Added 134 new database engineers in September, up 21,8% from 110 in August, recorded a 1,41% MoM growth rate, supported by enterprise cloud database migrations to AlloyDB and Spanner.
- PMLE post-overhaul momentum accelerates: Added 588 new ML engineers in September, up 46,3% from 402 in August, achieved a strong 2,81% MoM growth rate, fueled by candidate adaptation to the updated Gemini Enterprise Agent syllabus.
- PSOE maintains high growth: Added 279 new security ops engineers in September following August’s massive 524 surge, delivered an 8,64% MoM growth rate as second-fastest relative grower, driven by urgent enterprise adoption of Google SecOps and threat hunting.
- PCSE gains modest volume: Reached 147 new security engineers in September, up from 138 in August, recorded a 0,82% MoM growth rate, reflects steady baseline demand for perimeter and IAM security architecture.
Trend analysis
- PSOE explosive long-term growth: Total population expanded over 555% from 631 in November 2025 to 3.507 in Sept 2026, maintained highest average MoM percentage growth across all professional certs, driven by rising threat landscapes and enterprise deployment of AI-powered SOCs.
- GAIL volume dominance stabilizes: Added 48.290 credentials since December 2025 accounting for nearly 30% of all new certs in 2026, monthly share normalized from a 50,56% peak in April to 29,51% in September, reflects initial GenAI hype maturing into specialized technical implementation tracks.
- PDE dramatic three-month recovery: Additions surged from a low of 373 in May to 1.363 in September 2026, monthly share expanded from 5,18% to 11,56%, caused by enterprises realizing robust data grounding pipelines are essential for agentic AI.
- PMLE post-exam revamp rebound: Monthly additions dropped to 223 in June following the Gemini Enterprise agentic overhaul, rebounded consistently over four months to 588 in September, demonstrates rapid market alignment with Google’s updated AI engineering syllabus.
- AGWA sustained medium-term expansion: Additions grew from 219 in March to 589 in September 2026, total population doubled from 3.173 in late 2025 to 6.797, propelled by accelerated enterprise adoption of AI-enabled Workspace tools.
- Program cyclicality and cohorts: Monthly volume oscillated between a June low of 6.910 and spikes above 11.000 in July and September, total program reached 718.060 credentials, influenced by structured voucher initiatives like GEAR cohorts and corporate Q3 upskilling schedules.
Project updates
- New “Professional Agentic Architect” or “PAA” certification available in beta on 3/Sept/26. Will be included in next analysis as soon as results are available.