The cert expires in a couple years, and you have to get it again, with some new stuff added though.

I've got my AWS solutions architect associate and professional, they expire in 3 years.

Azure is the worst offender, offering certs that expire in ONE year. No thanks.

Google certs expire after 2 years.

At least you don't have to pay for renewals of Microsoft role-based certifications. "You can renew your Microsoft Certifications by simply passing a free, unproctored, online renewal assessment on Microsoft Learn, instead of retaking exams. The assessments measure the skills you need to remain up to date in your job role. They’re shorter than the original exams because they focus only on the latest technology changes." [1]

[1]: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/renew-...

I genuinely did not know this, thanks for the info. Unproctored? Wow, either the exam material must be insanely difficult or they just don't care. Interesting.

AWS is also proprietary which I failed to point out - but it’s so widely used and has such great market share that it’s not a bad life skill at this point.

That's a fair point.