Technology changes rapidly. Certifications should keep pace, giving people the confidence that these exams validate current skills. The IT Specialist team works with professional and academic subject matter experts to regularly assess our exams and ensure they cover technology currently used by IT professionals. After our most recent review, we decided to make some small but important updates to several of the exams, including adding artificial intelligence concepts.
Artificial Intelligence is transforming everything from software development to cybersecurity, data analytics to coding. Skills such as generative AI for code generation and software development are core concepts that will be needed for today and the future.
See which exams are being updated and when to make sure you’re ready to prepare students for their IT Specialist certifications.
IT Specialist Cloud Computing
In July, we added or updated the following concepts to the English version of the exam:
- Major cloud providers
- Edge computing
- Containers
- Microservices
- Serverless architecture
IT Specialist Cybersecurity
This fall, the English exam will be updated with the following concepts:
- Adversarial attacks and the mitigations for these attacks
- Input data manipulation attacks and the mitigations for these attacks
- DAST and SAST
IT Specialist Databases
In July, we added or updated the following concepts in the English version of the exam:
- Encryption
- Hashing
- Masking
- Purpose of auditing
IT Specialist Data Analytics
This fall, the English exam will be updated with the following concepts:
- Adding date/time data type and tuple data structure
- Implementation of technologies like SQL, R, Python, Excel
- Principal component analysis
- Cluster analysis
- Association analysis
IT Specialist Device Configuration & Management Windows 11
The objective domains for the English version exam have been updated. You can view them here. These new objective domains will apply for Windows 10 and Windows 11 versions of this exam. Students will still be able to select Windows 10 or 11 in the exam selection process to ensure they are taking the exam they prepared for.
IT Specialist Java
This fall, the English exam will be updated with the following concepts:
- Collection framework
- Generative AI for code generation and debugging
IT Specialist Software Development
In July, the following concepts were added or updated on the English exam:
- Debugging techniques
- Agile concepts
- Generative AI for code generation and debugging
IT Specialist Python
Performance-based questions are already live. Get additional details about how to test and review the new exam .
For the most successful certification outcomes, we recommend implementing the “Learn, Practice, Certify” approach. As such, learning partners are working diligently to update their products to match the release time frames of these changes.
We understand that you may want to review changes or enhancements to an exam. To give you additional flexibility and enable you to try new features, we are adjusting the retake policy, allowing you to retake an exam even if you have passed. For more information or clarification on the upcoming changes, please reach out to your JVIDÊÓƵ Territory Manager here.