This PDE practice question tests your understanding of designing data processing systems. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
Which TWO roles are required to allow a service account to run a Dataflow job and write results to BigQuery? (Choose two.)
roles/pubsub.subscriber
Why wrong: Not needed if only writing to BigQuery.
roles/dataflow.worker
Required for the worker service account to run the job.
roles/bigquery.dataEditor
Needed to insert data into BigQuery tables.
roles/storage.objectAdmin
Why wrong: Not needed for BigQuery output.
roles/dataflow.admin
Why wrong: Admin role is for managing Dataflow jobs, but workers need only the worker role.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
roles/dataflow.worker
Option B is correct because the roles/dataflow.worker role grants the service account the necessary permissions to execute Dataflow worker tasks, such as reading from sources and writing to sinks. Option C is correct because roles/bigquery.dataEditor allows the service account to insert rows into BigQuery tables, which is required for the Dataflow job to write results.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
roles/pubsub.subscriber
Why it's wrong here
Not needed if only writing to BigQuery.
roles/dataflow.worker
Why this is correct
Required for the worker service account to run the job.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
roles/bigquery.dataEditor
Why this is correct
Needed to insert data into BigQuery tables.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
roles/storage.objectAdmin
Why it's wrong here
Not needed for BigQuery output.
roles/dataflow.admin
Why it's wrong here
Admin role is for managing Dataflow jobs, but workers need only the worker role.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often select roles/dataflow.admin thinking it is needed to run a job, but the exam tests that the worker role is sufficient for execution, while admin is for management tasks like creating or updating jobs.
Trap categories for this question
Command / output trap
Not needed for BigQuery output.
Detailed technical explanation
Under the hood, Dataflow workers use the BigQuery Storage Write API (or legacy streaming inserts) to write data, requiring bigquery.tables.updateData permission, which is included in roles/bigquery.dataEditor. The roles/dataflow.worker role includes permissions like dataflow.worker.lease and dataflow.worker.report, which are essential for the worker to communicate with the Dataflow service and execute pipeline steps. In a real-world scenario, using the minimal set of roles (worker + dataEditor) follows the principle of least privilege, reducing security risks compared to using admin roles.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
What to study next
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FAQ
Designing data processing systems — This question tests Designing data processing systems — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: roles/dataflow.worker — Option B is correct because the roles/dataflow.worker role grants the service account the necessary permissions to execute Dataflow worker tasks, such as reading from sources and writing to sinks. Option C is correct because roles/bigquery.dataEditor allows the service account to insert rows into BigQuery tables, which is required for the Dataflow job to write results.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026
This PDE practice question is part of Courseiva's free Google Cloud certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the PDE exam.
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