Why I'm Done With ServiceNow Certification – And Why You Might Be Next

[alimohamed6]

After everything I went through to earn my ServiceNow CSA certification  the late nights, real-life challenges, financial investment, and a full commitment to learning the platform — I just lost it. Why? Because I missed a delta exam deadline during a time when I was already going through hell.

No grace period. No warning that it would expire permanently. No human support or consideration. Just an email saying it's gone  and if I want it back, I have to pay again and retake the entire exam.

This is not how a certification ecosystem should work.

Certifications are supposed to reflect skills, effort, and experience — not punish people for missing an arbitrary deadline when life gets real. I’ve spoken to others who’ve gone through the same thing, and many feel the same: the system is rigid, unforgiving, and designed around revenue, not fairness.

If ServiceNow wants to be a serious player in the enterprise tech space, it needs to start treating its professionals like humans — not transactions. Offer late delta options. Offer reactivation windows. Offer support. Anything but this “reset everything or pay again” mindset.

Until then, I’m done. With their exam. With the ecosystem. With pretending this is okay.

If this has happened to you too say something. Share your experience. Because this will happen to others unless it becomes too loud to ignore.

I have reached out to ServiceNow to see what they can offer. Absolutely, hurt my this news. i took it in April and expired on Jun and i am just finding out as i wanted to print my certification to show a client. 

Total shameful 

Thanks,

Ali Mohamed

[Nikhil Bajaj9]

Hi @alimohamed6 ,

Only Servicenow Certification team can reply on this but as per my understanding system is sending mails in advance that soon certification will be expired. Even Servicenow University is showing certification is on risk. Not sure if you received those mails or not (May be in Spam). Lets wait to hear back from servicenow team.

[alimohamed6]

I wasn’t aware, nor did anyone tell me about DELTA. I recently studied for and passed my CAD, so I don’t understand how my CSA can expire especially when I’ve been working hard toward a platform that I don’t even use at work, teaching myself. It just hurts the motivation aspect of things. I’m not mad about it anymore it’s life, and we move on but where I come from, this is called stealing from the people who are trying to educate themselves. My expectation was certs expire at least a year and +, less then 2month is abort! i got my Cert in April and expired on Jun. The education part will forever stay with me what i am mad about is the Money i spent to achieve this milestone went straight in the toilet.

[Dr Atul G- LNG]

Hi @alimohamed6 

I understand your point, but I’d like to clarify a few things. During the training and when you log in to Now Learning, a warning is clearly displayed that a delta is due. Additionally, ServiceNow sends reminder emails about the upcoming delta deadlines.

If those were missed, unfortunately, there’s not much that can be done now.

I completely understand that pursuing certifications isn’t easy—it requires both financial commitment and dedicated time. However, delta windows aren’t short; they typically stay open for 2–4 months. I'm fairly certain the notification emails were sent during that period.

At this point, there are two options:

1. Start fresh with the certification process, or

2. If you feel confident in your knowledge and skills, proceed with job opportunities or interviews based on your current expertise, even if your certification is no longer active.

What’s done is done—but you can still move forward from here.

[alimohamed6]

Hello Dr Atul,

I appreciate you clarifying the usual process, and taking the time to answer but I want to explain exactly how this situation has felt unfair from my side because I didn’t know I had to take the delta exam, and no one clearly told me.

• I took the CSA (Certified System Administrator) exam in April, believing that once I passed, I was certified.

• I only discovered that my certification was expired in Sept, when a friend asked me for a copy of my certificate and I went looking that’s when I saw “expired.”

• As a fresher, I didn’t know about the delta requirement: I had no prior experience with how ServiceNow certifications expire or how the delta window works, or that you must take the delta exam within a time frame to keep the cert active.

• I never received an email I recognized telling me “your delta is due” or “your certification will expire” in such a way that I understood it applied to me — at least nothing that I saw or could act on.

Because of all that, I feel like I was robbed of the opportunity: I did everything I believed was required (study, take main exam), and I only found out later that I needed something extra which I didn’t even know existed. This situation really hurt my motivation.

I understand there are rules; I want to work within them. But I also believe there should have been clearer communication. I’m hoping we can see if there is any way to reinstate or renew without doing the full main exam again, given the circumstances.

Thanks for your understanding,

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