Stay current with in-demand skills through free certification renewals
Published Dec 15 2020 07:59 AM 210K Views
Microsoft

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 around the world. In just the first two months of the COVID-19 pandemic, we observed two years’ worth of digital transformation take place. And the momentum continues to help organizations and businesses optimize. In fact, in the past year, Microsoft Azure grew by more than 1,000 new capabilities, allowing us to innovate with the latest advancements in key areas including AI, machine learning, and virtualization. The rapid pace of technology change has truly shifted the landscape of in-demand skills for a digital world. 

 

At Microsoft, we’ve been building a portfolio of role-based training and certifications designed to help tech professionals stay current and be future-ready. The retirement of product-focused certifications has allowed us to continue investing in our role-based learning offerings. And today, we’re excited to announce a couple of upcoming updates to our certification program to help our customers and partners keep pace with technology.

 

First, we’re providing our certified professionals a method to renew their Microsoft Certifications, initially earned by passing rigorous exam(s). In March 2021, you’ll be able to renew your role-based and specialty certifications by passing a free renewal assessment on Microsoft Learn. Rather than having to retake scheduled exam(s), the renewal assessment can be completed online on your own time, and anytime within six months before your certification expires. After you pass the renewal assessment, your certification is extended by one additional year from the current expiration date; this can be done annually. To help you prepare, you’ll also have the option to access a free collection of curated learning modules for each renewal assessment.

 

Second, we’re updating the validity for role-based and specialty certifications to one year from the date you earned it. Starting in June 2021, this change will take effect for newly earned certifications. The shift to a one-year certification validity aligns to how quickly cloud technology changes; renewing certifications on an annual basis validates skills and ability to perform in job roles are relevant in the market.

 

This new frictionless approach is intended to enable you to focus on keeping current with technology, while also reducing the stress, complexity, and cost of keeping your certification active. Embracing a growth mindset and the need for continuous learning can help you open career opportunities, successfully perform in job roles, and continue to support your organization’s digital and cloud transformation. With a Microsoft Certification—globally recognized and industry-endorsed evidence of mastered real-world skills—you also demonstrate your proficiency in keeping pace with technology.

 

We’re happy to share these upcoming changes that enable you to stay current with necessary skills and to seamlessly weave in your certification renewal. For additional details on how to renew role-based and specialty certifications, including answers to frequently asked questions, check out the Renew your Microsoft Certification page. We thank you for sharing your learning journey with us, and we look forward to keeping you up to date on technology’s groundbreaking ability to continue transforming our world.

 

 

 

 

 

85 Comments
Copper Contributor

This is really exciting 

Copper Contributor

I second that! Sounds like an awesome new process. 

Copper Contributor

exciting news!!

Copper Contributor

This is awesome news!!

Copper Contributor

Sounds exciting! 

Microsoft is taking whole lot of efforts to make Azure the world's primary cloud provider. 

Brass Contributor

This is great, don't ever change it back!!

Deleted
Not applicable

Whoever came up with it - Thank you!!! From the bottom of my heart - you guys rock! I cannot even... I am truly lost for words. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

 

Happy Azure Stacking!!!

Brass Contributor

Great thinking! Keep it up....

Iron Contributor

Wow, this is will be the game changer.

Thank you Microsoft team.

Copper Contributor

@alexpayn I have several role based certs that expire in January.  Will those be extended to give us time to renew or will we have to take the exams again?

Brass Contributor

Very happy to see Microsoft adopting the Salesforce model.
Great (free) training resources and free certification renewals.  A smart move for platform adoption.

Copper Contributor

@alexpayn My Enterprise Administrator Expert  expires jan 30th and Security Administrator on feb 6th. Can I do the assessments or do I have a problem?

Microsoft

@Norman Kennedy @Daniel Rodrigues Parreira - role-based and specialty certifications that are scheduled to expire between Jan 1-Jun 30, 2021 will be automatically extended for six months to give you enough time to renew your certification when the assessments are made available. The new certification expiration dates will be reflected on your Certification Dashboard by Dec 25, 2020.

You should've received a direct email (sent to the email tied to your MCID) on Nov 25, 2020 informing you of this change, and if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to the certification support team via forum. Hope that helps!

Iron Contributor

@alexpayn Great news. Thank you. 

@KarinaUng  Thank you too.

Iron Contributor

I have not seen any announcements for the replacement of the MCSE/MCSA. We need specialty certifications for Windows Server and Azure Stack HCI. @alexpayn , Do you have information to share about this?

 

Thank you!

Brass Contributor

This is fantastic news from Microsoft.

Copper Contributor

Great News. Thanks. 

Microsoft

Hello @Steskalj,

Microsoft Certifications are focused on job roles that address technical skills required to build, manage, and operate solutions for hybrid and cloud workloads. Product-based certifications are being retired, but we continue investing in training for products like Windows Server, and these products may be included in role-based certifications when specific job-roles need to use them as part of their work on hybrid or cloud solutions.

 

Stay tuned as in 2021 our certification portfolio will grow with more hybrid cloud roles and specialties.

 

Thank you!

Copper Contributor

Really great Initiative. Keep it up MSFT.

Iron Contributor

@SandraMarin and @alexpayn ,

 

Thank you for the response, but we as engineers who depend on the MCSE/MCSA for promotions and raises need to see a clear path. Most companies plan for training and development paths in January, and currently there is no clear path for Windows. This has been the case for almost 3 years. Please give us an updated roadmap for System/Virtualization Admins very soon, since the ability to acquirer the existing certs at the end of January.

 

Thank you,

John

Copper Contributor

While this is a great relief as we strive to appear for exam every 2 years, i would like to check if recertify through online assessment is applicable for people who are planning to appear exam now (az-303/304)? 

Brass Contributor

Annual cert expiry is a dumb idea, I don't have time every year to to write multiple exams to renew certs that cover material that doesn't in fact change that quickly, the Azure RM model is quite stable and while specific feature details change the overall approach to workload migration to the cloud has matured considerably in the past 5 years and now doesn't require up to the minute skills verification. I'll probably stop pursuing MS exams and certs based on this one year validity window. 

Steel Contributor

Excellent idea!
Good to know: thanks for sharing.

Copper Contributor

@alexpayn @KarinaUng 

Hi,

Great news.. Thank you! I've a certificate expiring 23 oct 2021 (Azure Administrator Associate) and may have a new certificate early 2021 (Security Admin).

What will I need to do to renew theese ones? Learning or a new real exam?

Copper Contributor

@alexpayn 

 

My certification already expire . will be ok?

 

Many Thanks

Copper Contributor

Great news thanks for sharing 

Copper Contributor

In 1998 when I earned MCSD, it was valid 10 years.

In 2005 when I earned MCSD.NET, it was valid for 5 years.

In 2011, I upgraded to MCTS.NET. Valid 4 years.

In 2018, I took C#Programming (for fun). Valid 2 years.

In 2020, I failed AZ-900, AZ-400, AZ-204 because I am enough of that.

Everybody know that people use blank real exam with real answers and questions from examcollection.com and Avanset Cert Pro to Print PDF the exams... And to earn MCP easily.

MCP are not valuable anymore.

 

I apologized if it is the truth. You should hear people like me.

 

Christophe | MVP Developer Technologies 2017 - 2021

 

 

Brass Contributor

I am with Microsoft technologies past 15 years. now current certifications are messy every year exam certification is changing it is very difficult to spend time on only with microsoft.

Azure solution architect expert exam should complete 2 exams, every 2 years we should pass 2 exams to hold solution architect expert certification.

Please make it comfortable like Amazon AWS and VMware certifications.

 

Now a days Microsoft certification is troubling.

 

Other companies like Amazon AWS certification is valid for 3 years 

And VMware certification validation is removed.

 

 

Brass Contributor

رائع فعلا ولكن هل تتوفر شهادات مجانية معتمدة

Brass Contributor

There are other issues with the MS cert model. Another dumb part are the many "single exam to obtain cert". This is a waste of defining a certification, especially at the Intermediate and Advanced level. Either there is enough material to justify and require two or three exams so it makes sense to bundle them under a cert or there is only one exam worth of material and then it doesn't need a certification to prove you took the one exam.

Copper Contributor

Isnt 1 year too less to keep striking balance between technology updates and customers interest , it should be 1 year 6 months at least if not 2 

Copper Contributor

This is a very good approach to ensuring that one maintains validity of their certification, thank you for making it practical and manageable.

Copper Contributor

Wow this is a great idea! 

Copper Contributor

Whoa, such great news. Thank you :)

Copper Contributor

Stay current, except if you support INFRASTRUCTURE environments like Server 2019 which still does not have a certification to gauge proficiency.

Brass Contributor

Great, but...

Are there any plans to reintroduce a SharePoint certification after the Teamwork path was pulled without a replacement?

 

At a time when organisations are moving to an online or hybrid model because of the pandemic, it's time to reintroduce the Teamwork certification or a suitable replacement.

Brass Contributor

Lets hope MS stick to this model this time. Last time wasn't as promised. Luckily it was easy for me to upgrade from MCSE to Messaging administrator associate, because i spent alot of time to get it.

Just finished my Microsoft 365 Enterprise administrator expert and planning to take MS-700 and MS-500. Hope to finish them off before June, so they will last two years.

My Messaging administrator associate will expire soon, so means i will be one of them getting the email for renewal this year. If the renewal is the same as the other MS learning Modules, then it is good. This means it will be easier for me to keep multiple associate (role based) titles.

Fingers crossed! :D

Copper Contributor

WOW! this is amazing... thank you!

Copper Contributor

I don’t know anyone has commented this is a good idea. All role and specialty exams will only be valid for a year now at the prices charged for exams that’s a scandal. Literally every other major IT cert is valid for 2 years. Some like AWS are 3! 

And to keep your cert after one year you now have to do skills assessment.

 

What about people with several MS certs. And other vendors. You’re assuming we have to time with jobs and families to go through this additional process. And your “free training” is awful. So thanks for nothing there also. I may have to walk away from keeping active MS certifications once passed.

 

This is as bad an idea as that time the free exam retake was removed. Well done 

Copper Contributor

Great news & a lot of thanks to Microsoft to come up with such a marvelous solution which will help everybody to stay focused and continue studies for future growth. 
All being said, I am really unhappy with the way Microsoft sometimes takes regarding the certifications as well as products, for example, 1. Windows Server 2019 was released a long time back yet no certification is announced. I got a job offer which asked me to take MS exams ( on server 2016), I told that I'd take server 2019 exams later I have to reject their offer.) 2. Microsoft discontinued an award-winning software known as Threat Management Gateway, I put tough effort to learn TMG but couldn't apply my knowledge. 3. Bing search to Map all are irreverent. 4. Microsoft like others increased exam fees though MS considers exam fees based on territory but now these days online exams can be conducted for which MS can consider taking lower fees ( and some offer like Juniper open learning program where based on the quiz of a particular course one gets discount, such offer helps a person like me who is not working for the time being to take exams at moderate fees.  5. Finally, for MS exams there is no option except a fraud company named pearsonvue, MS should seriously consider others for exams. ) 
Last but not the least, MS often releases updates for the OS without rigorously testing it. ( For example, A few days back I came across a problem regarding Keyboard which was caused by the update. ) 

That's all. 

Once again thanks for the great news. Like many others me too excited and looking forward to this regard. 

 

Copper Contributor

ایول خوب شد.

Thank you very much. it makes total sense.

Copper Contributor
 

Great news and it totally makes sense

Copper Contributor

This is really encouraging

Copper Contributor

I haven't certified since my MCSE and MCSE Windows 2003 but I wonder if would be valid for something similar in Azure or the latest Enterprise certifications?

Anyone got an idea?

Copper Contributor

@NassimJD I would certainly hope so. But then again not all Azure certs expire. Maybe it relates to only the Associate level and above??? Not sure just guessing. Either sounds very promising. 

Copper Contributor

Love it!

Copper Contributor

My certificate will expired on 21 February 21 and I do not received emal for renew certification yet. How long I should wait? Is there anybody who faced the same situation? Thanks!

Copper Contributor

@vonkajan @ If it is not for data and ai then May be your certification renewal exam is not yet live and in progress 

You can confirm it with certification support team.

Microsoft

@vonkajan 

Role-based and specialty certifications that were scheduled to expire between Jan 1-Jun 30, 2021 were automatically extended for six months, and those impacted should’ve received an email notification in December 2020. The new certification expiration date should currently be reflected on your Certification Dashboard; if you’re not seeing the updated expiration date, please contact our support team by vising the Microsoft Certification Support Forum, click Ask a question at the top of the page and fill out the form. A support agent should respond within one business day.

Brass Contributor

Not sure if im the only one, but for last week i have not been able to access transcript or certificate from home page: Your dashboard (microsoft.com)

It takes long time to load then just times out with an error. If i click contact support i get error page been blocked due to many requests...

Co-Authors
Version history
Last update:
‎Mar 30 2022 05:11 PM
Updated by: