Programme policy

What a credential attests

Last updated 2026-08-11

The claim we make

A Buildkite credential says that on a given date, against a stated exam version, a named person demonstrated a specific set of skills. That is the whole claim.

We publish the exam version on every credential precisely so the claim stays checkable. Objectives change; a credential earned against version 1.0.0 attests to version 1.0.0’s objectives, and retiring a question later does not retroactively alter what someone was assessed on.

The claim we do not make

A credential is not a statement that the holder is currently working on Buildkite, that their employer’s setup is well configured, or that they will make good decisions under pressure. It is evidence, not a guarantee.

Written exams versus verified work

The Pipeline Author track is a written exam. It proves someone can author a correct pipeline.

The Platform Engineer and Partner Implementer tracks are not written exams. The candidate performs the task in a real Buildkite organisation and we verify the result against the Buildkite API — the build was created by them, inside the attempt window, carrying that attempt’s meta-data key, and exhibiting the behaviour the task asked for.

We do this because a written exam about cluster configuration proves very little. Someone can describe queue targeting correctly and still misconfigure it. Verifying the artefact of real work is harder to fake and closer to what the credential is supposed to mean.

Verification is public

Anyone can check a credential at /verify/<identifier> without an account, and programmatically at /verify/<identifier>.json. A credential nobody can check is not worth issuing.