GCP Professional Data Engineer vs AWS Certified Database – Specialty — Which Certification Is Better?

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	GCP Professional Data Engineer	AWS Certified Database – Specialty
Provider	Google Cloud	Amazon Web Services
Level	Professional	Specialty
Exam Cost	$200	$300
Avg Salary	$140,000	$132,000
Pass Rate	50%	48%
Study Hours	160h	140h
Difficulty	8/10	7/10
Job Listings	13.0K	11.0K

Our Verdict

GCP Professional Data Engineer covers a broader scope — data pipelines, ML integration, BigQuery, Dataflow, and Pub/Sub — making it ideal for data engineers working across the full data lifecycle. AWS Database Specialty is narrower, focusing on database technologies (RDS, DynamoDB, Aurora, Redshift, Neptune) and is better suited for dedicated database administrators. GCP Data Engineer commands a slightly higher salary ($140K vs $132K) and reflects Google Cloud's strength in data and analytics workloads.

Choose GCP Professional Data Engineer if you...

Want higher earning potential ($140K vs $132K avg)
Prefer a more accessible exam (50% pass rate)
Want a lower exam cost ($200 vs $300)
Want broader job market demand (13.0K listings)

Choose AWS Certified Database – Specialty if you...

Prefer a less challenging exam path (7/10 difficulty)
Have limited study time (~140h vs ~160h)
Focus on Amazon Web Services ecosystem and specialty-level roles

Deep Dive Into Each Certification

GCP Professional Data Engineer

Google Cloud · Professional · $140K avg

AWS Certified Database – Specialty

Amazon Web Services · Specialty · $132K avg

Frequently Asked Questions

Which has more practical value for data engineers?

GCP Professional Data Engineer is broader and more aligned with modern data engineering roles that span ingestion, transformation, storage, and ML model serving. AWS Database Specialty is more valuable for roles specifically focused on database administration and optimization.

Does GCP's smaller market share matter?

For data-specific roles, GCP punches above its overall market share. Google Cloud is especially strong in analytics (BigQuery), data streaming, and AI/ML workloads. Many large enterprises use GCP specifically for their data platform even if their primary cloud is AWS or Azure.

Can I use both certifications together?

Yes — holding both signals multi-cloud data expertise, which is increasingly valuable. Many organizations use different clouds for different workloads, and data engineers who can work across platforms command premium salaries and have access to a wider range of opportunities.

Related Career Paths

Data Engineer

Data engineers design, build, and maintain the infrastructure and pipelines that move and transform ...

$80K - $165K

Database Administrator / Data Engineer

Database administrators and data engineers design, implement, and maintain the data infrastructure t...

$72K - $155K

Data Sources

Salary data — Aggregated from job postings and salary surveys (US median)
Job listings — Active postings across major job boards
Pass rates — Community-reported estimates