I wrote this on LinkedIn as well. Maybe I'm the only one. Maybe I'm not. In any case, I've reached my limit.
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Dear ServiceNow University.
I feel there's something rotten in the state of ServiceNow certifications, and someone needs to say something.
You've recently started the awful practice of introducing new courses, upon which your old certifications suddenly depend.
I'm talking about the IT CIS certifications being dependent on the new CIS-DF courses.
Are the new courses free? Yes.
Can I take the first exam for free? Yes.
Was the time I spent taking my two IT CIS certifications free? Not at all.
Were the courses free? Also no.
Was my effort worth anything? Apparently not.
I just received a reminder that I must complete the two new CIS-DF exams before December 31st 2026. I don't know if I'll do that. I don't even know if I can. I don't do a lot of CSDM or CMDB work on the daily.
So it's likely I'll lose my certifications. That's 8 years worth of courses and certifications. I wonder how many of my colleagues across the ServiceNow field is in this situation?
So let's start from the beginning.
At first we took courses. We paid for those courses. Then we put in the time. Then we took exams. And then we held a certification. We had to do delta exams for each release. Doable. And fair. Those are relevant and keep us somewhat current.
Then came the yearly fee. To be able to keep the certifications we were to pay you $200 per year, to be able to take the delta exams. If we didn't take the delta exams, we'd lose our certifications.
I could justify that to an extent, although it felt like being taken hostage. Pay, or else... But, developing new delta exams and all that. That takes work on your part. So, ok.
And now we're here... To me, it seems greed has taken over.
Having done one of your certifications is entering a world where we can't trust the current state of things. Twice now, you've introduced extra costs to something we already paid for. What will be the next thing?
This is where the scales tipped for me.
You introduced two new courses with exams. To be able to keep what we've already paid for, and also paid to maintain, we have to pass those. We get 1 exam for free.
What kind of business model is that even? Has preying on the fear of losing certifications become a strategy?
This basically translates to earning money via forced extra exams, and for some perhaps even new courses at some point. Is that any way to generate new business? Isn't a good business relationship defined by trust and value?
Not fear of losing something and the feeling of being taken hostage? "Pay, or else", even wrapped in nice words is a movie-thing.
Why not introduce them completely free, including exams, since they're a retroactive change on your part? Show that you're supporting your community, acknowledging that this is your need for us to keep up? And do we not already pay a maintenance fee?
Or simply introduce them as optionals, letting someone who wants someone with a CIS-DF let that be a requirement?
Like I wrote. I don't know if I'll pass. It really doesn't matter at this point. Maybe I'll lose my certifications, maybe I won't. It won't impact my work anyway. It's been a nice ego-booster, but in reality they've meant nothing with regards to job offerings.
I get it. The platform develops. We need to develop with it. I'll happily do that. But not under the threat of losing what I already worked to accomplish. It's not as if a ServiceNow license is in any way free. The world is an expensive place right now, and who knows how many retries my employer needs to pay for, on top of the maintenance fees. I wonder how many are in that situation?
What remains though, is that I've lost trust in my certifications.
It seems it's no longer "the world works ON ServiceNow".
Apparently it's now "the world works FOR ServiceNow".
The platform is great. I love it. Your business practices in the certification area are not.
And I strongly feel someone has to say this.
