- Where Certification Programs Stack Up On Recert/Maintenance
- Between Credential Expiration and Nothing, What Is There?
- Ranking Programs by Expiration Date, Version, or No Expiration
- Summary
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Ranking Programs by Expiration Date, Version, or No Expiration
With all these caveats in mind, Table 2 summarizes how credentials fall into the three categories. I report these numbers in two ways, in which the larger numbers include BrainBench (which does grant version-specific credentials, but does not require credential maintenance per se).
|
|
Date-Specific |
Version-Specific |
None or N/A |
|
Including BrainBench |
269 |
732 |
345 |
|
Excluding BrainBench |
269 |
284 |
345 |
|
Special Counting |
269 |
284 |
160 |
Table 2. Credential Maintenance Counts by Category
In the third row, it's important to understand what's meant by "special counting." It refers to my including 185 programs that include version specificity in their certifications, but that don't require credential maintenance (that is, upgrading or re-examination for the most current version or release) in their program requirements. At least 18 such credentials do impose upgrade requirements for vendor partners; because partner program details are harder to elicit than normal certification requirements, I believe it's safe to assume that some additional but unknown portion of the 167 credentials where partner requirements are unclear probably also require credential maintenance.
What's most interesting about these numbers is that roughly one-third of the total credential count imposes specific expiration dates and recertification requirements, and that another third—leaving out the BrainBench credential count—takes a similar tack with version-specific linkages. Though those links aren't always required explicitly, I do think it's safe to assume that the sponsor at least hopes new versions or releases will provoke credential maintenance in response.
NOTE
You can consult a spreadsheet that represents my sample population and the information I drew from that population here.