[SalesForce] Certification Maintenance Exam for DEV 401 folks

There is an annual USD 100 maintenance fee for all Salesforce Certified individuals who hold the following credentials:

Salesforce Certified Administrator

Salesforce Certified Force.com Developer

If you hold both credentials, the annual cost to maintain them is USD 200. The annual maintenance fee also includes the cost to maintain any higher-level credentials.

I wonder how you haven't paid the maintenance fee and maintained the credentials.

Don't get confused with the names. Both maintenance exam and release exam are literally same.

But in respect of maintaining your credential you have to maintain next year same release exam. So if you are certified for Winter 15, you need to complete Winter 16 release exam to maintain your credential.

So can I write Winter 16 release exam directly and maintain my credential?

No. You cannot write a release exam for Winter 16 without writing release exam of Summer 15. To complete Summer 15 you need to finish Spring 15. There is no need to finish Winter 15 release exam since your main exam is completed by Winter 15.

As far as date is concerned, your date of obtaining credential doesn't matter. What matters is the release.

For example, if Winter 15 main exam is available from March 1 2015 to June 30 2015, anyone who takes main exam between these two dates is certified for Winter 15. So they need to write Winter 16 release exam to maintain their credential. Each release exam will be available for almost 8 months.

I will ask you to complete Spring 15 and Summer 15 release exams first and pay for Winter 16 release exam and maintain your credential.

Hope it helps.