Updated January 27, 2021
This past year has certainly been an extraordinary one, and we’ve seen the impact of technology as it transforms to meet increasing productivity and collaboration needs...
Updated Mar 31, 2022
Version 6.0
Blog Post
I think the idea of the assessments to re-qualify is good, I am in favor with continued learning, when it is in the right way. To increase our knowledge. The renewal assessments if they stay free that is good and will help a lot of people as that can be a barrier
I do think 1 year validity will undermine the value of Microsoft certifications and based on role based how does this work with the structured certifications e.g expert level where they are linked to multiple role-based certifications. What happens if I have 12 Microsoft certifications do I have to renew them all individually or only the higher level certifications e.g if I have AZ-303, AZ- 304, Az-500 would I also have to renew AZ-900
My big concern here is Microsoft are forgetting that people only have so much time, companies can only give so much time to continual professional development. if as an IT professional you are expected to keep continual learning and assessment up every 12 months, to keep the certification up to date. I have another vendor qualification I also have to ratify, and I can see this putting people off the certifications
So with 1 year validity I am now getting to a point I have to pick what certification I would like to keep rather then pursuing the next area of innovation, this may also be dictated by the company I work for. this will then also have a knock-on effect to a lot of Microsoft partners where the qualification are part of the agreement to maintain that status. so, could be a limiting fact.
Also, when you take into account delay in Microsoft course ware to MCT compared to the learn platform the SC qualifications are a good example as they had a lot of excitement, it will start undermining some of the value in-class training as this takes employee time away from company services as well as costing them money for the course. for a company the certification if only valid for 1 year it really drive down its value in there return on investment.
I would be good to hear Microsoft prospective on this on beyond the argument of technology change. On how the 1-year validity adds or maintained the certification value compared to other vendors