CompTIA Certification Renewal Policy

CompTIA has a new certification renewal policy taking place January 1, 2011 and is applicable to all individuals who earn CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+ and/or CompTIA Security+ certifications.

Basically this means that as of January 1, 2011, CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+ and CompTIA Security+ certifications are valid for three years from the date the candidate becomes certified. A “valid through” date will appear on all certificates and certificate holder CompTIA ID cards. If however, you are certified on or before December 31, 2010 in CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+ and CompTIA Security+ , your certificates will retain their “certified for life” status and no valid through date will appear on certificates and certificate holder CompTIA ID cards.

This change in policy is in line with the practice of other major providers of certifications for IT professionals, such as Cisco, Microsoft, and Oracle. In today’s IT environment it’s important for IT professionals to demonstrate that their knowledge and skills are current. CompTIA’s new renewal program is a way to assist those individuals who would like to take advantage of it. The certification renewal program includes a continuing education component that gives eligible certification holders a range of ways to keep their CompTIA certifications current without necessarily having to take a new exam.

Todd Thibodeaux, President and CEO of CompTIA said this regarding the new change:

To Our Customers,

I am very appreciative of the honest feedback you have provided us regarding our recent announcement concerning CompTIA certifications. We’ve listened to what you have told us and we’ve changed the policy announced on January 11, 2010.www.comptia.org/renewal and https://blog.comptia.org/ for information and updates. We value your input.

CompTIA will not require recertification for any current holders of CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+ or CompTIA Security+ certification. You are not required to retest to maintain your valid CompTIA certification. Regardless of when you became certified in CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+ or CompTIA Security+, you are certified for life.

For candidates currently preparing to sit for a CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+ or CompTIA Security+ exam, if you pass an exam and become certified by December 31, 2010, you too will have a lifetime certification with no requirements for recertification or retesting.

Effective January 1, 2011, all new CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+ or CompTIA Security+ certifications will be valid for three years from the date the candidate is certified. After three years, the certification must be renewed. This can be done by passing the most current exam for a respective certification or by participating in CompTIA’s upcoming new continuing education program, which will allow individuals to keep their skills current and their certification up to date without retesting.

We’ve worked hard to balance the interests of our current and future customers first and foremost, with the stringent requirements to maintain our ISO 17024 accreditation for CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+ and CompTIA Security+. Our ISO accreditation is extremely important to us because of the global credibility it carries. Equally important is the trust our certificate holders placed in us when they became certified. We believe our new plan accomplishes both goals.

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Best Regards,

Todd Thibodeaux

For more information regarding this new change, please visit the Frequently Asked Questions on CompTIA’s site regarding the renewal policy.