Does your Cisco certification expire soon?

Here's how to renew your certification!

In spring 2020, the Cisco certification program went through a shake-up. Cisco announced a completely new program, including the Cisco Career certification. This certification allows IT professionals to demonstrate they have the right Cisco knowledge. 

In general, Cisco certifications are valid for a period of three years.

As technology changes rapidly, it is important to keep your skills up-to-date by recertifying your Cisco certification. In this article, we explain the steps you need to take to recertify a Cisco certification.

If a certification is about to expire

To keep your Cisco certification valid, you must complete the necessary progress or renewal requirements before your certification expires. This may require you to pass one or two exams or take one or more Cisco-approved courses to renew your certification.

Understand the recertification requirements

The first step in recertifying for a Cisco certification is to understand the recertification requirements.

You can check the status of your Cisco certification in the Cisco Career Certifications Tracking System.

If you hold a Cisco certification that is valid for 3 years, you can renew it by choosing one of the following options before the expiry date of your certification:

1. Extend by successfully completing one or two exams of the same or higher level
2. Extend by gaining credits with the Cisco Continuing Education program
3. Renew by a combination of successful completion of an exam plus earning credits with the Cisco Continuing Education program.

Access Cisco Recertification Requirements.

Renew with the Cisco Continuing Education program

Cisco's Continuing Education program is designed to encourage Cisco professionals to not only maintain existing skills, but also extend them with new knowledge. 

This will help IT professionals continue to add value to their organisation and customers.

The Cisco Continuing Education program allows you to earn credits that can be used to renew your active certification again for a period of 3 years.

You can earn the required credits by:

• attending classroom training sessions (ILT)
• completing e-learning training courses (ELT)
• attending events (for example, Cisco Live)
• participate as ‘Item Author’ for the development of professional certification exams.

Click here for an overview of all classroom and e-learning courses that allow you to earn the required number of credits to renew your certification.

If you choose to renew your Cisco certification (in whole or in part) via Cisco Continuing Education, you will need to complete the following steps:

• Register for the program by logging into the Cisco Career Certifications Tracking System
• Accept the Continuing Education terms and conditions
• Complete your chosen recertification pathway based on the Continuing Education offer
• Submit the items (such as your classroom training or e-learning training) that you have earned within 90 days after completing the item.

Be aware, to earn credits you must have an active certification from the day the you earned the certification until the day the certification expires and is renewed.

Recertification is awarded when the criteria are met and approved.

Extend by completing one or more exams

If you choose to extend your certification with an exam, you can use the overview above as well as our Cisco certification pages to see which exam(s) you need to complete.

You should schedule your exam well in advance of the expiration date of your certification to ensure that you have enough time to prepare and pass the exam.

Once you have scheduled your recertification exam, it's time to start preparing. You can use various resources to prepare for the exam, such as official Cisco training courses, study guides, and practice exams.

You will need to pass the exam(s) to recertify your certification.

In conclusion

Recertifying for a Cisco certification is important to keep your skills up to date and validate your expertise in networking. By understanding the recertification requirements and choosing the recertification option you prefer, you can successfully recertify your certification and advance your career in networking. But remember, start your recertification on time. When you want to reactivate a certification, you need to rebuild a certification from scratch.