Do certifications now have an expiry date?

[AminaBass]

When I looked at taking the Databricks Certified Developer for Apache Spark 3.0 certification last year, the FAQ said that certificates do not expire, as they are tied to a specific Spark version. Now, the Academy FAQ states that certifications expire after two years.

I have the following questions:

1. When and where was this change announced?
2. What happens to people who already got certified last year? Do they keep their infinite certification term or do their certifications now expire after 2 years? Some people might have paid for the certification expecting it would be valid indefinitely, as described.
3. Why was this change introduced? If the rationale was that certifications are tied to a specific Spark version (since supposedly features do not change), what justifies now having to re-certify every two years for Apache Spark 3.0?

Thank you!

[Kaniz]

Hi @Amina Bass​ ! My name is Kaniz, and I'm the technical moderator here. Great to meet you, and thanks for your question! Let's see if the concerned team in the community have an answer to your question first. Or else I will get back to you soon. Thanks.

[AminaBass]

Thank you, @Kaniz Fatma​ , I am looking forward to the replies.

[Kaniz · Accepted solution]

Hi @Amina Bass​ ,

From our understanding, we should have had the fact that certifications expire in 2 years in our FAQ but we did not. This was an error on our end because we had still set expirations on all certifications in accredible from the beginning.

1. When and where was this change announced? 

• The expiration policy has always been in place and we apologize for any miscommunication.  

2. What happens to people who already got certified last year? Do they keep their infinite certification term or do their certifications now expire after 2 years? Some people might have paid for the certification expecting it would be valid indefinitely, as described. 

• If you happened to earn a certificate in the last year, your certificate will still expire. We can offer a certificate voucher due to any inconvenience caused. 

3. Why was this change introduced? If the rationale was that certifications are tied to a specific Spark version (since supposedly features do not change), what justifies now having to re-certify every two years for Apache Spark 3.0? 

• We need our certifications to expire because the platform and roles change over time- skill sets change so fast, especially with how quickly Databricks the platform can change. 

[Prateek]

This was the exact same wording on the Academy page "certificates do not expire, as they are tied to a specific Spark version.", all of a sudden, my old certificate (Which does not even mention expiry) was updated to show the expiry. All of this without so much communication as to the certificate was moved from the original space into a new 'credential' space.

All the people who added the certificate on LinkedIn before the 'Credential' movement still have older links that fail upon verification, at least that should have been constant.

A highly unprofessional transition for such a big company.

[SamuelDebruyn]

That is indeed the case. Before the exam they literally mentioned your certificate does not expire and now after 2 years I'm getting emails saying it will soon expire. Databricks provided false information here.