NI Certification – Transition to a New Online Exam Delivery System

[CarlosRZ]

Dear NI Community member, 

NI Certification has exciting news for you! We have listened to your feedback about our Online Certification Exam and taken corrective actions to give you the best experience. Below we share some improvements that will be made as part of the new experience and important information to keep in mind during this improvement process. 

What is happening? 

By the end of March 2023, we will have in place a New Online Certification Exam Delivery System. To do so, the NI Education Services team will be transitioning to a new vendor in charge of proctoring the Online Certification Exams. 

What will be the main improvements? 

Besides being a new delivery system, you will notice that the new system will have a much lower exam-to-proctor ratio, and the person who signs you in will be the person who proctors your exam and helps troubleshoot if there are issues. They'll even call you back if you get connected. If you've been following the discussion about the online exam experience, you can see how this should address most of the issues you've been experiencing. 

Considerations 

During this transition, it is important to consider the following: 

1. We will not be offering Online Certification Exams for at least three months (April 1^st, 2023), and test centers will no longer be available. Only In-person Certification Exams will be available and proctored by one of our authorized representatives. 

2. In this link: Scheduled Virtual and Classroom Training Courses, you can find information regarding the following dates and locations where the Certification Days (Public In-person Certification) will be held. You can submit a request for scheduling by filling out this form. 

3. For the Onsite Certifications (Private In-person Certification), we will manage the requests case by case. Don't hesitate to contact the Certification team (certification@ni.com) to evaluate an onsite option (only available in selected regions/countries with a minimum of 5 attendees).

4. Along with this new proctoring experience, we will update our Recertification by Points policy. Stay tuned for more information regarding this topic in our community.

5. For customers, distributors, or partners with a certification expiring date between January 1^st and March 31^st, 2023, a notification will be sent via email indicating that the validity of their certification will be extended for six months. 

If you have questions or concerns, please contact us at certification@ni.com. 

Thank you for your patience as we build a better testing experience. 

Sincerely, 

[BayArea_Developer]

NICE.  Thanks for covering all the potential use cases including the 6 month extension for expiration between Jan 1 and Mar 31.

Just to confirm: Is there also a 6 month extension of suspended status if one is slated to lose suspended status between Jan 1 and Mar 31?  I am in that situation and trying to schedule a CLA-R exam.

Also, are there plans to offer a few more in-person certification exam times and locations in the Americas?  As of now, I see only one in the US and one more in Mexico.

[codcoder]

This is great news!

I've taken both the CLD online, back in 2018, and the CLD-R more recently. The onlince experience worked but honestly it felt a little dated. Good news that NI is addressing this.

[CarlosRZ]

Hello, @BayArea_Developer.

Thanks for your comments. We encourage you to contact certification@ni.com to let the Certification Team know about your situation to evaluate the best solution based on your need.

Regarding additional in-person certification days and locations in the Americas, we will update our website here with more Certification days soon.

[BayArea_Developer]

Thanks @CarlosRZ

[Shiv0921]

Is there some way to be able to find out about in person exams occurring?

You mention it has to be a minimum of 5 attendees, but what if there aren't 5 from the same institution, but might be 5 from the same region who don't know each other but all wish to sit the exam in person? I'd be willing to drive a good while to join an exam with enough attendees to run.

[Mark_M.]

@Shiv0921,

Reach out to certification@ni.com and let them know you're interested in an in-person exam. If you're within driving distance of Melbourne, FL or Austin, TX, NI held onsite exams in both locations in March. They need a minimum of 5 people to host an exam session at one of those locations. I'm currently on the list for Austin. 🙂

-Mark

[spacemaker]

So, how is it going with that new online system? When we will be able to register and take exams?

[Mark_M.]

The new online exam testing system is now live.

https://www.ni.com/en-us/shop/services/education-services/certification-program.html

Select your desired exam, then Schedule an Exam.