The Google Cloud Community uses a ranking system that consists of earned ranks and assigned ranks. The earned ranking ladder encourages quality contributions, whereas assigned ranks, provide special permissions, such as administrative access.
Community members can reach higher earned ranks by contributing to the Community. For example, by creating new topics, receiving kudos ("likes"), or authoring accepted solutions. You'll receive notifications when you earn a new rank, including via email.
Community ranks are one way of showing that you are especially passionate about Google’s products and not just active in the Community, but also helpful. Having a high rank can help establish you as a leader, give you more visibility with Googlers, and even open up exclusive opportunities.
A member's Community rank is shown throughout the Community - on your profile page, as you interact in the forums, and on leaderboards.
As mentioned above, the Google Cloud Community's ranking system consists of earned and assigned ranks.
All Community members start with the "New Member" rank. As you participate in the Community and engage in different activities, you will climb the Community ranks. Below, you can see a list of all ranks from highest to lowest.
Participant V
Participant IV
Participant III
Participant II
Participant I
Explorer
Observer
Community Visitor
New Member
We don’t share the exact formulas and activity criteria for each rank. This makes things more exciting and ensures that high ranks are well-deserved and not easily earned by gaming the system.
Community members with an assigned Community rank sit outside the earned Community ranks structure. Notable assigned ranks that you will see throughout the Community include:
Staff: Employee of Google (Googler)
Community Manager: Part of the extended Google Cloud Community team, focused on providing a welcoming, helpful, and safe space for members to meet their goals with Google Cloud. Community Managers actively monitor the forums, help ensure Community Guidelines are followed, and help facilitate community conversations, content, and events.
Google Developer Expert: Part of the Google Developer Experts program, these Community members are passionate professionals with expertise in Google technology who enjoy continuous learning, sharing knowledge, and making an impact on the community.
You'll see that Community Managers and Google Developer Experts also have rank icons to the left of their usernames to emphasize their roles in the Community.
While all Community members have a rank (either earned or assigned), you'll see that some members also have an avatar icon to signify a unique status, role, or achievement in the broader Google Cloud ecosystem.
Community members who are Googlers (assigned rank, "Staff") have an avatar icon, as shown in the image below. This is so all Community members can more quickly and easily recognize who is or who is not a Google employee.
Other avatar icons you'll see in the Community include Innovators, Innovators Plus, and Champion Innovators.
Badges recognize you for your contributions and accomplishments in the Community (e.g. posting, commenting, authoring solutions, and receiving likes) without being tied to a rank. Badges are unlocked by completing a certain amount of activities, whereas ranks are tied to completing a combination of activities and accomplishments.
To view the badges you've earned, click "My profile" from the drop-down by your avatar on the top right of the Community.
On your profile page, you can see a high-level overview of badges you've earned, including the most recent. Click "View all badges" to see all the badges you've earned.
When you view all badges, you'll also see badges with reduced opacity to indicate badges you haven't unlocked yet.
You can also see other Community members’ badges from their profile pages.
As you participate in the Community and reach activity milestones, you'll unlock earned badges, including authored solutions, posts, comments (replies), ideas, and likes received.
There are also badges that are assigned manually, including the Founder badge, which represents the earliest members of the Community who helped us shape it before launch.
Here’s an overview of the badges available in the Google Cloud Community:
Badge Image |
Title |
Description |
Authored Solution |
Your reply/post was accepted as a solution in the Community forums. |
|
Authored Posts |
You published a new post in the Community. |
|
Comments Posted |
You published a comment (reply) to a Community post. |
|
Likes Received |
You received a "like" (kudos) on your Community post or comment. |
|
Ideas Submitted |
You published an idea to the Features Idea area of the Community (currently only applicable for the Google Workspace and AppSheet Communities) |
|
Founder |
This badge represents the earliest members of the Community, who helped us shape it, with their feedback, starting even before the beta launch. |