Introduction

Microsoft certifications are a great way to validate your technical expertise and stay relevant in this fast-moving industry, especially when you’re working with an Azure cloud based enterprise environment, or dotnet based applications.
But certifications don’t last forever.
Most role-based and specialty certifications expire after one year, which means you’ll need to renew them regularly. That’s the case of some of the certifications I earned some years ago especially on Azure and dotnet, and which I actually made blog posts about 😉

The good news ?
Renewing those Microsoft certifications is free and much easier than the original exam. 🎉 Let’s talk about how the Microsoft renewal process looks let’s and give some tips about this !

How the Microsoft certification renewal process works

  1. Eligibility
    You can renew your certification starting six months before it expires. Microsoft will notify you by email and through the Certification Dashboard.
    It is very important that you check those emails as they are (at least to my knowledge) the only asynchronous reminder officially available about the expiration 😅

  2. How the renewal works
    Instead of retaking the full exam, you complete an online, open-book assessment on Microsoft Learn.

    • It focuses on the most recent updates to the technology.
    • You can take it from anywhere, at any time.
    • If you don’t pass on the first try, you can retake it (and just after 24 hours since the last attempt, so it basically means you have unlimited retries available unless you try a day before your certification expires… which I know some of you will do 😂).
    • You have to answer 25 questions. And those questions are not that hard as long as you keep your knowledge up to date frequently !
    • For example, here is one of the questions I had during my DevOps Engineer Expert renewal exam:
      (Sorry about the screenshots being in french in this post, as I did pass the exam in my native language… But this particular question was about how to assure that the pipeline you are executing on Azure DevOps is done on agents that includes the npm feature, pretty straightforward 🫡) devopsquestion
    • Once you completed the renewal exam, you are giving the results in real time without delay: devopsresult
    • And you even have a little sneekpeek on how you performed sorted by themes 🔥 Unfortunately you can’t know exactly on which question you did bad… devopsscore

  3. Stay Current
    Because Microsoft technologies evolve quickly, the renewal assessments emphasize new features and best practices. Going through the guided learning paths on MSLearn before attempting the assessment is litterally the best way to prepare. 🤓

Tips for a Smooth Renewal

  • Check your timeline early: Don’t wait until the last week… Give yourself some time to prepare !
  • Use Microsoft Learn: All preparation materials are provided for free on Microsoft Learn , Microsoft is really giving you everything to get those renewals right 😅
  • Leverage real-world experience: Use the knowledge you acquired by practicing your job or personnal projects.
  • Keep an eye on evolutions: Technologies like Azure or dotnet evolve constantly, and renewal exams reflect that. If you try to keep up to date about those technologies naturally, it will be much easier to get those renewals 😉

Why Renewal Matters

Staying certified isn’t just about keeping a badge on your LinkedIn profile.
It shows employers and peers that you’re actively keeping your skills up to date, which is important in cloud and enterprise environments where changes are constant, especially nowadays.

Conclusion

So in the end renewing a Microsoft certification is pretty simple:

  • It’s free,
  • It’s online,
  • And it needs you to know what you’re talking about

If your certification is nearing expiration, log in to your Certification Dashboard today and start the process. It’s the easiest way to maintain your professional edge.

As usual, happy hacking 👨‍💻❤️