The Istio Certified Associate Exam is Evolving
Changes are coming soon to the Istio Certified Associate (ICA) exam. As part of our commitment to keeping the certification relevant and valuable, we’re rolling out updates that reflect the latest advancements in Istio and the skills today’s professionals need.
Key Dates to Know
- July 28 – August 11, 2025: The ICA exam will be temporarily offline to prepare for the changes.
- Aug. 12, 2025 (00:00 UTC): The new version of the ICA exam goes live. All exams taken on or after this date will reflect the updated content and structure.
What’s Changing?
- Updated Domains and Competencies to better align with current industry practices.
- The exam environment will be upgraded to Istio v1.26.
Important: It doesn’t matter when you booked or purchased your exam. What matters is when you take it. If you want to be tested on the current curriculum, be sure to complete your exam before July 28, 2025.
About the ICA
The ICA is for anyone working to improve application performance, reliability, and security – especially in Kubernetes-based, cloud native environments. It validates your ability to manage complex service communication and enforce consistent security and observability in microservices architectures.
The updated domains and competencies that the exam will test on beginning on Aug. 12 are:
- Installation, Upgrades and Configuration: 20 percent
- Traffic Management: 35 percent
- Securing Workloads: 25 percent
- Troubleshooting: 20%
This update ensures that those that have earned the ICA are at the forefront of Istio expertise. For more information please visit the ICA Program Changes page.
