Since the announcement of the new Certification Renewal Policy earlier this month, CompTIA has received some serious criticism from certification holders.

The new policy stated that the A+, Network+ and Security+ certifications will no longer be lifetime certifications. Instead, the certs would expire three years from the date they're issued, at which point candidates would have to renew the certs in order to remain certified.

The kicker in the deal was that the new policy applied to everyone -- individuals who obtained the certifications in the past along with those who were planing on completing them in the future.

This did not go over well. Take a look at some of the comments we're received about the issue -- people were honestly upset about this, especially those who have been certified for years.

And CompTIA listened.

Changes to CompTIA's Certification Renewal Policy

Today, CompTIA released a statement clarifying the policy:

"Current certificate holders remain certified for life; renewal requirement applies only to certifications earned on or after January 1, 2011"

Which means that lifetime certifications for A+, Network+ and Security+ certs will remain valid, but only if you certify before the end of this year.

Furthermore, Todd Thibodeaux, CompTIA president and CEO, stated:

"We do not wish to disenfranchise any of the individuals who have supported our certification program. The right thing to do is to honor our past commitment to those certified under our original ‘certified for life' policy."

This is great news for a lot of people, but what I still don't get is why they didn't say this from the beginning. Why didn't they try to avoid this situation in the first place? I guess it's better late than never.

You can read the rest of the press release here

Last Chance to Get Lifetime A+, Network+ and Security+ Certs

So now here is your chance to get A+, Net+ and Security+ certified for life. Wait ... let me clarify that, here is your last chance to get these lifetime certs.

If you pass your exams before December 31st, 2010 you can still get your hands on a lifetime A+, Network+ and Security+ certification.