Maintaining your Atlassian Certifications in 2020

[#1]

UPDATE May 2021: the following content will become increasingly out of date over time.  

Note: ASB-616 Customizing Jira Workflows does not extend ACP-100/ACP-JA. Sorry I do not have access to the original table to replace the screenshot.

In 2019 I wrote a 3-part series on Atlassian training:

• Part 1, Atlassian training is not one-size-fits-all, provided details of the long-list of training available from Atlassian.
• Part 2, Atlassian Training learning paths and their destinations, provided details of the Atlassian learning paths and certifications, and
• Part 3, Maintaining your certifications, provided the details on the ways you can maintain your Atlassian Certifications.

Since these articles were publish they have became out of date due to the fantastic improvements to the Atlassian Certification program outlined here. Earning and maintaining Atlassian Certifications also became cheaper and easier as announced here.

How do I extend my certifications?

Atlassian Certifications are now valid for 24 months! When this end of this time approaches you can keep your Atlassian Certifications active the following ways:

• completing a relevant Atlassian Certified badge by following a recommended training course and passing an online proctored exam from your home or office, 
• completing a relevant Atlassian Skills badge by watching recorded technical webinars and passing an online quiz, or
• meet special requirements particular to Atlassian Certified in Agile Development with Jira Software and Atlassian Certified in Jira Project Administration

Atlassian Certified in Agile Development with Jira Software (ACP-JSW) can be extended using your active third party Scrum or Agile certification from the following list:

• Active Scrum Alliance,
• PMI-ACP,
• Scaled Agile,
• ICAgile,
• Scrum@Scale,
• Scrum.org, and
• IBM (IBM Agile Advocate and IBM Agile Achiever badges only)

Atlassian Certified in Jira Project Administration (AC-JPA) can be extended in the same way as the other certifications by earning badges or you can earn either Atlassian Certified Jira Administrator (ACP-JA) or Atlassian Certified in Agile Development with Jira Software which will not only extend your AC-JPA, it also removes the need to maintain AC-JPA certification separately as keeping ACP-JA/ACP-JSW active will also keep AC-JPA active!

Atlassian continue to add new badges and extension methods so you do not have to worry about reaching the maximum lifespan of your certifications.

What do I need to know before choosing what badge to earn?

Some badges can extend up to four Atlassian Certifications while others extend only one Atlassian Certification. If you have, or plan on having, more than one Atlassian Certification you need to keep this in mind. Atlassian provides the following advice:

Plan your Badge activities carefully with these considerations:

• After you take the free Skillbuilder course, you can take the assessment to earn the Badge immediately, or you can choose to wait, and earn the Badge only when you need it to extend a related Certification.
• Earning a Badge will extend any related Certifications by 24 months from the Badge earned date, providing you earn it before the Suspension Date of your Certifications. 
• You can still earn a Badge during the 90-day Suspension period. If you earn a badge during the Suspension period, your Badge will extend your Certification by 24 months from the Certification Suspension Date.
• Your Badge will extend only Certifications you already hold. Earning a Badge before earning a Certification will have no effect on the Certification.  
• Your Badge will initially be valid for 24 months from the date you earn it.  To keep it active, simply earn any other Skills Badge or Pro Skills Badge

What are the differences between a Certification's suspension and expiry date?

Earning badges can be done at any time and will extend the suspension and expiry dates of any active Certifications by 24 months. If a Certification is suspended, the badge will only extend the suspension and expiry dates 24 months from the suspension date. Once a Certification has expired, you need to re-sit the Certification Exam to regain this qualification.

If you work for an Atlassian Solution Partner, the term inactive date is used instead of suspension date. Your Atlassian Certifications will no longer count towards your Atlassian Technical Sales Professional Accreditation requirement to have 2 active Atlassian Certifications once they are inactive/suspended or expired.

Decisions decisions ... a personal anecdote - updated

I wrote the original version of this article in September 2019 as the time to renew my first Certification was approaching.

At that time I had the following three options:

1. Earn the badge ASB-616 Customizing Jira Workflows on or before 11 March 2020. This will extend AC-JPA's inactive date until 11 June 2021, and ACP-JSW's inactive date to 11 September 2021 or sooner depending on when I earn the badge, 
2. The challenging option
   1. Earn ACP-JA on or before 11 March 2020. This will extend AC-JPA's inactive date until 11 June 2021 and AC-JPA will remain active as long as I maintain ACP-JA, and
   2. Earn ACB-312 Jira Reporting and Dashboards on or before 4 April 2020. This will extend ACP-JSW's inactive date until 4 October 2021 or sooner depending on when I earn the badge, or
3. The extremely challenging option
   1. Earn ACP-JA on or before 11 March 2020. This will extend AC-JPA's inactive date until 11 June 2021 and AC-JPA will remain active as long as I maintain ACP-JA, and
   2. Earn a third party Scrum or Agile certification on or before 4 April 2020. This will extend ACP-JSW's inactive date until 4 October 2021 or sooner depending on when I earn the submit the verification URL to the Certification Portal.

Option 1 was looking good to me at that time.

Over the next couple of months I found myself drifting towards the extremely challenging option 3 to meet larger company goals. I will sit my ACP-100 exam in February and last month I received my Professional Scrum Master certification from Scrum.org.

Over to you

• What Atlassian Certifications do you have now and how many do you plan to have?
• Did you benefit from the extended validity of Atlassian Certifications?
• What Skillbuilders are you keen to try?

[Mohamed Benziane]

What a great article ! Thank you for providing such good informations.

I haven't any certification yet but i would love to get acp-100-300-400-600 (i know it's a lot but anything is possible )

[Kat Warner]

Once you have those 4 certifications you may as well study and pass one more exam so you can become an Atlassian Certified Master. :)

Start with 600, then do 300 and 400 in either order, then 100 is my advice. 

[Mohamed Benziane]

This is exactly what i was thinking about, from 600 to 100. Just a question, let's say i pass my scrum certification before the ACP-300, can i use it to extend the atlassian certification or there is an order ?  

[Kat Warner]

My understanding is that when your ACP-300 is nearing the validity date you can follow the instructions to show you have a current Scrum certification to get the extension on ACP-300. The date the certification was earned is not important as long as it is still current when you apply for the aCP-300 extension.

Hopefully @Julia or @Ben Thoma or someone else in the Atlassian Team can confirm this for us. :)

[Julia]

@Kat Warner , that is exactly correct.  As long as the 3rd party Scrum or Agile certification is current, it can be used to extend your ACP-300.

[Andy - PTC Redundant]

OMFGoodness @Kat Warner ! This is just sublime ! ! Such a brilliant overview with great advice and guidance...! 🤩🌟👏

I've always loved that the Skillbuilder courses are free... a wonderful to dip a toe in the deep end... before plunging in!!

[Nathaniel Simpson]

@Kat Warnerthank you for this article.

Just curious, why did you go straight for ACP-100, after completing ACP-300 instead of doing ACP-400 first, and then completing ACP-100?

Is it difficult studying for ACP-100 without doing ACP-400?

I have completed ACP-600, now ASB-616, I will soon complete ACP-300 and was wondering which one to focus on after that as I don't often use Jira Service Desk.

Kind Regards, Nat

[Kat Warner]

@Nathaniel Simpson - ACP-400 does not extend the validity of ACP-600. While each certification has value - it is also important to think about keeping certifications active.

I have been a Jira Admin on and off for over 10 years whereas I only worked with an existing JSD set-up as a user a couple of years ago. I do not have the same base knowledge to build my studies off. This is another reason ACP-400 is lower down the priority list than ACP-100.

This article seems like it was written a long time ago now. January was a whole other world! I did not end up sitting my ACP-100 exam though this is still on my to-do list before the end of June this year. This extra time was gifted to me in part by Atlassian adding ACP-300 to the list of certifications that extend ACP-600.

[Kristján Geir Mathiesen]

HI @Kat Warner 

Do you know what a passing grade is for the badges?

Thanks,
KGM

[Kat Warner]

Hello @Kristján Geir Mathiesen  - the passing score varies by exam and is listed under the Exam Details space on each exam information page i.e. https://www.atlassian.com/university/certification/certifications/exam-acp-100

[Amit Srivastava]

My certification ACP-600(Jira Project Administrator for Data Center and Server certification) is about to suspended in few months. How can I renew it? If I do the certification ASB-616, will my ACP-600 certification will renew after that?

Please suggest.

Regards,

Amit S.

[Jimmy Seddon]

Hi @Amit Srivastava

There is now an ACP-610 that replaces the ACP-600. Take a look on https://university.atlassian.com for details. 

-Jimmy 

[Amit Srivastava]

@Jimmy Seddon I don't want to do the same certification again, i just want to renew that ACP-600 certification. I know there are some pro-skill-badges certifications in Atlassian, and we can renew our certification for 24months with the help of these pro-skill-badges. So, i just want to know, if I will earn the ASB-616 pro-skill-badge, will my ACP-600 certification will renew?

Regards,

Amit

[Jimmy Seddon]

Hi @Amit Srivastava,

The University website has all the information you need.  Specifically this page: https://university.atlassian.com/student/activity/836788-maintain-your-certifications

I hope that helps!

-Jimmy