It is time to connect the dots! We started our journey with an introduction to public cloud platforms and why GCP is an important player in the game. We explored all of the GCP features and offerings and learned many of their use cases. We also learned the pricing differences between our choices of platforms/resources can bring. Now, let's sharpen all of this with some good practices and effective use cases to keep in mind to make sure we conclude our journey on a satisfactory note.

You will learn the following topics in this chapter:

• Designing cost-effective cloud apps can be harder than it seems; learn some of the tricks of the trade
• Designing for an effective scale: using Dataproc and Spark effectively can create a lot of impact even with existing code and existing skills
• Smart bets on new technologies, such as containers and Kubernetes, can transform your cloud architecture and your career