New certification renewal program is coming soon! 🥳

[#1]

G’day, Atlassian University training & certification group!

Some exciting news from the Atlassian certification team.

The new certification renewal program will be rolling out in the coming weeks! The new approach encourages ongoing learning and Atlassian Community engagement.

By August 2024, certification holders (candidates) will be able to use continuing education (CE) units to renew their certifications. CE units can be earned by completing courses on Atlassian University, and/or attending a webinar from Atlassian’s Live Learning Program, or watching the recording if you are unable to attend. CE units can also be earned by attending Atlassian events - either a local ACE or a global Atlassian event.

As a reminder, all Atlassian courses are now completely free. The same is true for Atlassian’s Live Learning Program, and attending local ACEs. This means renewing a certification can be completed at no cost! 

How does it work? After completing an activity, by either finishing a course or attending an event, candidates will enter information about the activity in the CertMetrics portal. This feature will be rolled out by August 2024. We’ll update you with another post in this group once the date is confirmed.

Some key features:

• An activity can be use to renew more than one certification. For example, if you have two certifications, completing a course can be used to renew both.

• Any activity since the February retirements can be used, so feel free to get started right away!

• The certification team will work with candidates that are not able to renew the certifications that expire this fall. Please see the FAQs on Maintain your Certification for details.

• The CertMetrics portal will include a dashboard that shows your progress.

• Candidates may also opt to retake the exam to renew their certification, in place of using CE units.

Want to learn more? Please see Maintain your Certification for additional details, examples, and FAQs.

The Atlassian certification team is eager to share this new, simplified approach to help candidates maintain their certifications. We’re grateful for our community’s patience as we build out new programs and navigate changes to improve Atlassian certifications.

[Varsha Joshi]

I love the direction. :-) Eagerly waiting for the rollout!

[Ashish Mani Tripathi]

This is awesome news. Love it!!!

[Pramodh M]

Very Interesting!

[Tomislav Tobijas]

Wow, now I'm feeling bad for all those people who had to get the badges to extend the certificates 😅

Love the direction this was designed, especially when it comes to growing the community!

[Jimmy Seddon]

This is amazing news @Ree Kent!

Thank you for sharing this post.  I can't wait for us to talk about it at Monday's Live Learning session!

[Ree Kent]

@Jimmy Seddon Me too! 

For anyone who is able to join: Get Started with Atlassian Certifications | Ep. 6: What You Should Know About Renewing Your Certs! 

[Shane Johnson]

Will this be retroactive for this year? So, if I attended a local event earlier this year, am I going to be able to use that attendance once this rolls out? 

edit - I just realized that was already written at the top. 

[Ree Kent]

@Shane Johnson Yes, any activity since February can be used. 

[Anzar]

A new dashboard to see renewal progress 🤩

Are there any new certifications in pipeline?

For how we get to keep our certificate after getting one course done?

[John Funk]

This is very exciting! I love the idea about the CEs!!

[Suzanne Veljanoski]

Love these exciting changes. Thanks  @Ree Kent

[Ravi Sagar (Sparxsys)]

@Ree Kent This is great news.

I have the following certificates.

• Atlassian Certified Jira Administrator for Data Center, ACP-JA, expiring 28th Dec 2024

• Atlassian Skills Badge: Issue Security In Jira, ASB-ISJ, expiring 28th Dec 2024

• Atlassian Pro Skills Badge: Advanced Jira Workflows, APB-AJW, expiring 28th Dec 2024

• Atlassian Certified in Agile Development with Jira Software, ACP-JSW, expiring 30th Sep 2024

Since the program will launch in August, I don't think I will have enough time to renew. I have already raised a support request to extend my certificates by 6 months.

Another question: How do we earn points by taking a course or attending event? Do we need to raise a support ticket each time and send a proof?

Thank,

Ravi

[Ravi Sagar (Sparxsys)]

@Ree Kent I raised two support ticket request for 6 month extension but I haven't received any email with ticket number. I also don't see anything when I go to my open requests section.

[Olexandr Tolochko]

Amazing news! Thank you!

[Ree Kent]

Hi @Ravi Sagar (Sparxsys) 

Looking over your list, the only certification eligible for renewal that you hold is the Atlassian Certified Jira Administrator for Data Center, ACP-JA. The others are all retired and cannot be renewed. If you can, please take a look at the Maintain your Certification page for more information on CE Units and how they will be entered. I will keep an eye out for your tickets if you are unable to renew the ACP-JA before December. Thanks!

[Sajit Nair _Trundl_]

Love the idea! Can't wait to have more participation in local ACEs

[Ravi Sagar (Sparxsys)]

@Ree Kent Thanks. Is it possible for your to check why my support tickets were not generated. I filled up the form to raise a ticket, twice but never got any email and my open request doesn't show any recently created ticket.

[Andy Gladstone]

This makes so much sense and aligns with so many other professional certifications - CE credits usually make up the bulk of the maintenance after passing the initial exam(s). It is a better indicator of who is staying current vs. letting their knowledge lapse and then cramming in an exam at the last minute to extend their certification. 

[Marshall Walker Lee]

I love seeing the positive reactions and thoughtful questions—keep them coming!

[G subramanyam]

Good one @Ree Kent , So exciting to hear about the CE concept and super easy ways to track them in CertMetrics portal.

[P_D_ Foerster]

I'm also glad the wait is over and we finally know to renew our certifications. I'm excited about what events we can expect. I had a look into the live learning which seems pretty interesting especially the smarter than a Jira admin event :) 

[Dietmar Doerschlag]

Great information. 

Question please. Having recently obtained all Atlassian Accreditations (Cloud, ITSM, Product Development, Agile at Scale), can the courses I completed on Atlassian University between April and June 2024 be applied as CE's for certification renewals when the new renewal portal opens up in August?

In the FAQAs I read this ... " What is the earliest date that will be accepted for the activities used for CE units? Any activities completed since the retirement of pro skill badges in February 2024 will be eligible" which seems to suggest courses taken after Feb 2024 can be credited. Just wanted to confirm this is indeed the case. Thanks.

[Jimmy Seddon]

@Dietmar Doerschlag from what I was told by members of Atlassian's certification team.  CE activities from February cannot be applied to Certifications earned in May.  CE Units will only be credited to certifications you have active as of the date the activity was completed.

[Ree Kent]

Hi @Dietmar Doerschlag 

@Jimmy Seddon is correct. (Thanks Jimmy!) Activities are only applicable if they are earned after obtaining the certification.

Looking at your profile, the only one that is really impacted is the ACP-OA Atlassian Cloud Organization Admin (ACP-520), which you earned on April 5, 2024. For that certification, activity would need to take place after that date. All your other certifications were earned before February 2024, so any activity since February can be used to renew. 

Hope that helps!

[Dietmar Doerschlag]

@Jimmy Seddon  @Ree Kent  
Thank you for the quick response and this clarification. Great news in my particular scenario, and the approach taken makes a lot of sense. As I have obtained all my certifications (620/120/420/520) before starting the courses related to the 8 accreditations, I should be good. 

If I may ask for 1 more clarification please which is important and I am sure of interest to everyone.

When a certification holder obtains sufficient CE's to extend / renew a previously earned certification, the extension is processed as of the date when those CE's were achieved, and not the date of the current certification expiration, is this correct? Example: ACP-620 earned 03/25/2023, expires 03/25/2025; CE's lets say earned 12/01/2024 - the ACP-620 is then renewed to 12/1/2026 (CE date plus 2 years) and not to 03/25/27 (last expiration date plus 2 years). And, since the 100 CEs apply to all certifications, all certifications would then renew to the same date (CE date plus 2 years), although these certs could have been earned at very different dates and even years. 

If this is correct, then the recommendation obviously is to earn the required CEs (100 for certs) as close to the current expiration date (actually the earliest expiration date of any certification I hold) as I would otherwise only renew for a fraction of the 2 years.  I obtained my first ACP (620) in 03/2023 and my last ACP (520) in 04/2024; if I get 100 CE's in lets say 12/2024, all my certs extend to 12/2026 which means my ACP-520 would actually only renew 6 months past the current expiration date. Am I tracking correctly?

Note: Other certifications (PMP from PMI as an example) renew not from the date when the CEs were earned but from the last / current certification expiration date, so the difference here is important. 

THANKS Atlassian for making great changes and the wonderful work you do in Atlassian university.  I must have watched 1000 plus videos these past months (no kidding) and found them awesome. Greetings to Joanna T.

Cheers

Dietmar