Change to LPI (Linux Professional Institute) recertification policy

11 December 2006

The Linux Professional Institute (LPI) has changed it's recertification policy. Previously LPIC qualifications were active for 10 years, but now they are only active for 5 years. I can understand the reason for the change, and still think it's a reasonable length of time. If you think about how much Linux has changed in 10 years you can see that the operating system has changed quite a bit in that time.

I'm unlikely to recertify when my certificates run out. The main reason that I gained certification was as a personal challenge, and actual experience can be just as useful (if not more) than the certification. Despite the change in the active period it's still a worthwhile qualification to gain.

Notification from LPI

Linux Professional Institute changes Recertification Policy

(Tokoyo, Japan: December 1, 2006) - The Linux Professional Institute
(LPI), (http://www.lpi.org), the world's premier Linux certification is
changing the organization's "Recertification Policy" to ensure that the
skills and knowledge of Linux professionals continues to be relevant and
current. Candidates who have earned LPIC certifications will have to
re-certify every five years or alternatively earn a higher certification
status. Previously recertification was only required after ten years.

Jim Lacey, President and CEO of LPI, said LPI will continue to advise
Linux professionals to seek recertification every two years due to rapid
changes and improvements in the Linux operating system but that
consultations with industry leaders indicated that a mandatory five year
recertification policy was sufficient at this time: "We continue to
improve our product development processes and programs through on-going
dialogue with industry leaders and IT professionals. In bringing our
exams up-to-date with recent versions of the Linux kernel we found it
necessary to re-examine our recertification policy. It should be noted
that because we are distribution-neutral we don't require our candidates
to re-certify with each new version of a specific distribution. However,
we are interested in the underlying technology of the Linux operating
system and what knowledge and skills an IT professional must have to
work with multiple distributions in an enterprise environment. Our new
recertification policy should ensure the relevance, currency and value
of those who have obtained our certification."

LPI's new Recertification Policy can be found on the organization's
website at http://www.lpi.org/en/lpi/english/certification/policies and
is included in full below:

"Recertification Policy

Once a person is certified by LPI and receives a certification
designation (LPIC-1, LPIC-2, LPIC-3), recertification is recommended
after two years from the date of the certification designation to retain
a current certification status. However, to RETAIN an ACTIVE
certification status, a certification holder is REQUIRED to recertify
within 5 years of the certification designation.

Recertification requires that the individual candidate passes all
up-to-date exams that are only required for the highest earned
certification designation. After successful recertification, the
designation status will be updated to ACTIVE for a period of FIVE years.

When a higher level certification designation is earned, the status of
all lower level designations are considered ACTIVE for FIVE years from
the date of the higher level certification designation. However,
candidates who do not recertify and allow their certification status to
lapse will be required to earn their current and all lower level
certification designations, should they subsequently pursue reactivating
their certification status.

The addition of the designation status of ACTIVE or INACTIVE into the
LPI database began on September 1, 2004. Certification designations
(LPIC-1, LPIC-2, etc.) earned before that date will be subject to
the recertification stipulations as outlined above. Therefore all
certification designations earned before September 1, 2004
will no longer be considered 'lifetime' designations and instead will only have
ACTIVE status from FIVE years from the date of certification
designation. However, certification designations earned prior to
September 1, 2003 will be considered ACTIVE certifications until
September 1, 2008."