Certification catalog audit — September 17, 2026¶
The first broad discovery pass attempted all 26 registered vendors, plus Google Education, OpenAI, and Anthropic. The comparison used 226 seed records, 223 published guides, and the two partner AI references. It found meaningful coverage gaps and corrected outdated OpenAI/Anthropic credential descriptions. The follow-up review completed enumeration of the seven initially unresolved catalog scopes and identified October Microsoft exam transitions plus additional IBM, MongoDB, MOS and ServiceNow candidates.
This is a catalog audit, not a new technical audit of all 223 guides. A catalog listing establishes a research candidate; availability, exact exam identity, blueprint, eligibility, and launch date require individual evidence. The priority findings below received that additional review where stated. Existing breadth gaps are not automatically newly launched credentials.
Results worth acting on¶
| Vendor / credential | Type and verified status | Coverage / action | Official evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Gemini Certified Educator, Faculty, Student | Education certifications with public exam/preparation routes; Student has separate K–12 and university audiences | Missing; scope Educator first, then preserve audience/eligibility distinctions for the others | Education catalog |
| Databricks Context Engineer Associate | Proctored certification; public guide and exam registration available | Missing from the seven-guide Databricks inventory; add a guide candidate | Exam page |
| Cisco AI Technical Practitioner — 810-110 AITECH | Certification with a scheduling link and public topics | Missing; add a guide candidate. AIBIZ is a separate learning badge | Exam page |
| Cisco Data Center AI Infrastructure — 300-640 DCAI | Specialist certification exam; also a CCNP Data Center concentration | Missing; add infrastructure-focused guide candidate | Exam page |
| CompTIA SecAI+ — CY0-001 | Certification; official launch date February 17, 2026 | Missing; add AI/security candidate | Exam page |
| CompTIA AutoOps+ — AT0-001 | Certification; official launch date June 2, 2026 | Missing; add automation/operations candidate | Exam page |
| CompTIA DataAI — DY0-001 | Certification renamed from DataX; page retains July 25, 2024 launch date | Missing breadth; do not present the rename as a new 2026 exam | Exam page |
| ISACA AAIA, AAISM, AAIR | Three AI certifications with registration and public preparation information; qualifying prior designations are required | Missing; add audit, security-management, and risk candidates with eligibility checks | AAIA, AAISM, AAIR |
| Linux Foundation MCPA and PTCA | Model Context Protocol Associate and PyTorch Certified Associate; individual pages describe online proctored exams | Missing; add AI builder candidates | MCPA, PTCA |
| Linux Foundation CNPE | Cloud Native Platform Engineer; individual page describes a performance exam | Missing existing breadth; consider after selected AI candidates | Exam page |
| Snowflake Advanced MLOps Engineer — MLA-C01 | Certification; individual page offers registration | Missing; vendor-scope this code because AWS also uses MLA-C01 | Exam page |
| Oracle Agentic AI Foundations Associate — 1Z0-1157-26 | Certification announced June 22, 2026; official announcement links exam topics and a free exam | Missing; add guide candidate. Full Oracle index also contains additional AI/database/Fusion routes | Launch and exam links |
| Anthropic CCAO-F, CCDV-F, CCAR-F, CCAR-P | Associate Foundations, Developer Foundations, Architect Foundations, Architect Professional; all four public PDFs identify version 1.0 effective July 2026; enrollment requires partner eligibility | Three missing references; Architect Foundations reference needed correction. Queue blueprint mapping and guide production, not a claim of a new September launch | Partner catalog and guide downloads, eligibility FAQ |
| OpenAI Academy | 14 public courses; badges and eligible pathway completion certificates, not formal certifications | Eleven courses were absent from the existing three-course overview; updated the reference with Foundations, Codex, API, and standalone routes | Official course and credential rules |
The suggested production order is Gemini Educator, Cisco AITECH, Databricks Context Engineer, and Anthropic blueprint mapping, followed by SecAI+, MCPA/PTCA, Oracle Agentic AI Foundations, and ISACA's specialist routes. This ordering is editorial judgment based on the library's AI coverage gaps, not vendor evidence of popularity or employer demand. No new guide has been marked as published.
Watch, update, or keep separate¶
| Item | Finding / disposition | Official evidence |
|---|---|---|
| AWS SAP-C03 / DVA-C03 | Announced replacements, not current delivery. Registration opens October 27; SAP-C03 starts November 17, DVA-C03 December 1. The announcement gives predecessor last-test dates of November 16/30, but live credential pages give November 17/December 1; see the exam-level conflict record. Recheck detailed guides on October 27 | September announcement |
| CompTIA SecOT+ — SOT-001 | Pre-order; stated launch December 1, 2026. Watch rather than label currently available | Exam page |
| NVIDIA NCP-AAI / NCP-GENL | Pages combine registration links with “Coming soon.” Availability remains unresolved; do not promote to active solely from the links | Agentic AI, Generative AI LLMs |
| ISACA CCS | Beta in progress; application period closed. Some older application wording remains farther down the page | CCS program page |
| Linux Foundation OSCA | Catalog labels OpenSearch Certified Associate coming soon; individual launch verification remains pending | Catalog |
| OpenAI Certified | Still invite-only for eligible Enterprise/Edu workspaces; separate from Academy badges | Certified app access |
| Databricks platform architect/administrator entries | Catalog also lists accreditations and a renewal assessment. Classify these separately from new certification families | Catalog |
| GitHub GH-600 | Already has a published guide; not a newly discovered library gap | Current credential |
| HashiCorp Advanced naming | Both former Professional guides already record the September 7 rename; no duplicate credential needed | Catalog |
Vendor coverage ledger¶
“Read” means the public listing was retrieved and compared, not that every linked credential was individually revalidated. Counts below are repository guide counts. Broad catalogs can mix exam versions, credential families, accreditations, retired entries, translations, and renewal routes.
| Vendor / program | Published guides | Catalog review outcome and remaining scope |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub | 6 | Follow-up read all six certifications; all reconcile to existing guides. Applied Skills remain separate. Public website JSON feed now monitored |
| Microsoft | 50 | Follow-up reconciled all 74 catalog results, including GitHub/MOS overlap. Existing Microsoft families covered except deferred Educator. Found PL-400 → AB-400 transition and DP-420 October update; current website feed now monitored |
| HashiCorp | 4 | Read four catalog labels; Advanced rename is already documented in existing guides |
| Databricks | 7 | Read certification/accreditation catalog; confirmed missing Context Engineer; renewal/accreditation entries require separate treatment |
| AWS | 14 | Read all 14 exam-guide index entries and September announcements; index entries correspond to existing exam codes; upcoming replacements are watch items |
| Red Hat | 5 | Read broader role/exam listing; additional specializations and retired links are discovery candidates, not 52 separate new credentials |
| CompTIA | 7 | Read mixed certification/course catalog; individually checked SecAI+, AutoOps+, DataAI, and SecOT+ |
| Linux Foundation | 5 | Read English listings with bundle/translation exclusions; substantial CNCF/AI breadth gap; checked MCPA, PTCA, CNPE |
| Google Cloud | 8 | Read 15 credential links. Workspace, Data Practitioner, database, developer, DevOps, network, and security-operations breadth remains outside selected guides |
| Cisco | 4 | Follow-up enumerated 54 career exam entries and 23 channel/partner/other entries. Four guides match; AITECH/DCAI remain priority candidates. HTML checker still gets 403 |
| Snowflake | 4 | Read 11 English credential listings; three match current guides and one existing guide preserves retired Associate context. MLOps checked; other advanced/specialty entries remain breadth candidates |
| ISC2 | 4 | Read nine credential families; CGRC, CSSLP, ISSAP, ISSEP, ISSMP are existing breadth candidates, not asserted new launches |
| NVIDIA | 3 | Read 12 credential links; individual availability requires review, especially the two conflicting professional AI pages |
| Salesforce | 4 | Read all seven linked role overview catalogs. Deduplicate shared credentials before expanding; most roles exceed current scope |
| MongoDB | 3 | Follow-up confirmed four exam families and opened missing self-managed DBA exam; registration and guide links available. HTML checker still sees a shell |
| ServiceNow | 2 | Follow-up rendered all four role branches: CSA/CAD covered; 34 implementation paths include 17 CIS-coded routes. CIS-DF individually checked; suites, accreditations, micro paths and architect programs kept separate. HTML checker remains manual |
| Palo Alto Networks | 17 | Read 17 role credential links corresponding to the selected portfolio; no additional family identified in this listing |
| Fortinet | 19 | Read NSE labels and program update. Automated extraction covers 17 NSE labels; two industry tracks and exact versioned product requirements remain manual |
| Splunk | 11 | Read 14 tracks including three Legacy entries already retained in seeds; no new family identified in this listing |
| ISACA | 3 | Read certifications, certificates, and CMMC links; individually verified AI routes and CCS beta boundary. Do not equate all 31 links with certifications |
| Python Institute | 10 | Read roadmap families; roadmap links include development/watch items. Recheck individual exam pages before promoting another version |
| C++ Institute | 6 | Read six existing C/C++ families; individual version/availability checks remain separate |
| JS Institute | 4 | Read four existing JavaScript/web families; normalized duplicate host links out of the comparison |
| Microsoft Office | 5 | Follow-up read all 18 MOS catalog listings: five covered, seven Office 2019 app credentials, two job-focused Excel credentials, four aggregate awards. MO-220/MO-230 individually checked; missing listing alone does not establish MO-410 status |
| IBM | 6 | Follow-up read all 74 current search results with Certification filter. Six guides match; five missing watsonx exams individually report Live and public objectives. Combined credentials/specialties classified separately; scheduled HTML remains manual |
| Oracle | 12 | Older education catalog failed; broader public index read successfully. 207 distinct links include exam/learning-path aliases and delta routes; verified Agentic AI Foundations announcement, remaining identities require review |
| Google Education | 0 | Read educator, Gemini, and champion programs; headings merge repeated levels/audiences, which must be preserved during intake |
| OpenAI | Editorial reference | Follow-up retry read all 14 courses unchanged; badge/pathway distinctions remain correct. Intermittent access challenges remain possible |
| Anthropic | Editorial reference | Read four partner certification pages and downloaded all four public exam guides; corrected the prior “objectives unavailable” claim. Public Academy is a separate course catalog |
Microsoft documents an authenticated Learn Platform API. The follow-up used the separate public feed observed in the current Browse Credentials website, validating its reported total and absence of pagination. The deprecated legacy catalog API was not used as completeness evidence; no account onboarding or authenticated collection was performed.
Recurring check and evidence¶
The configured sweep covers 41 sources across the 29 vendor/program groups: 37 weekly catalog scopes and four monthly announcement/status scopes. The initial full attempt returned 34 usable sources, seven manual-review results, and no network/HTTP errors outside those access limitations. It captured 672 listing observations. The initial accepted baseline retained 35 successful source observations and 686 listings, including the earlier same-day OpenAI Academy capture. These totals count observations, not distinct or validated certifications.
The seven initially unresolved sources were GitHub, Microsoft, Cisco, MongoDB, ServiceNow, IBM, and OpenAI Academy. The follow-up completed their scoped catalog reviews and improved GitHub/Microsoft extraction. The current accepted baseline has 37 sources and 766 observations. Four of these seven sources still require browser review in unattended runs; OpenAI succeeded on retry. See the follow-up evidence and limits. Never convert a blocked result into “no changes.”
Raw comparison results and URL/exam-code matches are retained in
ADLC_Docs/operations/2026-09-17-certification-discovery.json; accepted listing
snapshots are in data/certification-discovery-baseline.json. Public PDF study
guides were inspected in temporary storage, not copied into the repository.
This audit does not renew seed verification dates or technical guide audits.
The automation instructions describe local runs, baseline review, Wednesday checks, and the first-of-month broader review. Schedules need the workflow on the default branch. Monthly automation fetches known channels and emits a checklist; official web searches, additional catalog/pagination review, and final credential classification remain explicit review work.