Talk about an unexpected stocking stuffer.

CompTIA this week announced that it is changing the way it does credentialing—and that means more than 145,000 people got new credentials Wednesday.

Wait, how? CompTIA is making its credentials “stackable,” meaning that those who receive more than one credential from the organization will now be able to claim a single, more authoritative one encompassing the others.

For example, if you have an active CompTIA A+ certification and a CompTIA Linux+ certification, you can now call yourself a CompTIA Systems Support Specialist. And as you get further along in your career, the stacked certifications become even more advanced. So, if you have a CompTIA Security+ certification, a CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst certification, and a CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner title, you can now call yourself a CompTIA Security Analytics Expert.

CompTIA President and CEO Todd Thibodeaux emphasized in a news release that the new credentials reflect successful completion of multiple best-in-breed educational programs—no small task.

“The technology professionals who’ve earned CompTIA Stackable Certifications have done so by passing rigorous exams developed by the industry to validate the technical and business skills that are in the highest demand in today’s economy,” Thibodeaux said.

The association’s new stacked course certifications focus on infrastructure and cybersecurity, two disciplines that CompTIA says fundamentally underline the information technology industry’s needs. Additionally, each of these certifications will be ranked by experience level: “specialist” for those with less than two years of experience, “professional” for those with two to five years of experience, and “expert” for those who have been active for more than five years.

CompTIA Chief Technology Evangelist James Stanger noted that the association’s simulations and performance-based exam questions “accurately reflect the real-world scenarios IT pros face daily.”

The expanded certifications come at the end of a busy year for CompTIA. It started 2017 by acquiring a competitor, the Association of Information Technology Professionals, which it relaunched as a “resume to retirement” subsidiary in August.

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