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Unity and Circuit Stream collaborate on certification courses for real-time 3D skills

May 24, 2021 in News | 11 min. read
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Real-time 3D skills are in high demand—from employers.  Read on to learn about the partnership between Unity and Circuit Stream as we collaborate to create new content, courses, and certifications that enable you to learn, demonstrate and test out your real-time 3D skills. 

Circuit Stream is the leader in real-time 3D education and has taught over 35,000 learners the tools, processes, and workflows they need to build AR/VR (XR for short) applications. In our search for the ideal partner to co-develop training, we recognized the quality of instruction and commitment to learners that Circuit Stream demonstrates through its resources, workshops, and popular AR/VR courses. Managed and led by Megan O'Connor, a Senior Instructional Designer from Unity, the project utilized Circuit Stream's development team to co-develop training to Unity's training standards and best practices.

In this post from our partners at Circuit Stream, you can learn more about our new partnership and the Certified Associate: Programmer and Certified Associate: Artist certifications. Also, you'll find out how these programs will help you improve your working knowledge of the Unity engine and get your first professional role in real-time 3D.

The growth of AR/VR and real-time 3D

The content below is courtesy of Circuit Stream.

As part of our new collaboration with Unity, you can take our XR Development with Unity and Interaction Design and Prototyping for XR courses to learn the skills to develop and design your own XR applications and also to prepare for our Associate Programmer and Artist certifications.

According to the Hired 2020 State of Software Engineer Report, hiring managers are increasingly assessing a candidate’s skills rather than over indexing on education. The report states that while 50% of software engineers have a computer science degree, another 32% either taught themselves to code or learned through a coding bootcamp — and they may very well have the same set of programming skills. The new content, courses and certifications announced today provide an avenue for learners looking to jumpstart or take the next step in their careers.

The AR/VR hardware market has continued to grow. Unity is in a strong position as the market continues to expand. In addition to immersive technology, Unity is also a leader in gaming, as games made with Unity accounted for 71% of the top 1,000 mobile games in Q4 of 2020.

Global video game revenue grew 20% YoY, surging north of $180B in 2020. With the release of next-gen consoles and the expansion of real-time 3D into enterprise applications, the demand for the talent to develop new and innovative real-time 3D applications will increase over the coming years. With that growth in mind, Unity has set a target of creating 80,000 new jobs by 2023.

Circuit Stream founder, Lou Pushelberg, explains "We strive to deliver the service we would hope to receive if we were in a course learning Unity for the first time. As long-standing supporters of Unity's vision, we’re proud they've recognized our commitment to the industry by choosing to work with us to develop the courses that prepare learners to earn these new certifications.”

Demand for Unity Skills

It’s not only the AR/VR and gaming industry that's driving demand for real-time 3D talent. Professionals have the opportunity to work in a range of different industries:

  • Media & Entertainment: With real-time workflows, Unity speeds up traditional pipelines to give artists, producers, and directors more creative freedom and faster feedback on their work. Its engine is already an important tool for the virtual production of films, TV commercials, and animation at many of the world's leading studios.
  • Automotive, Transportation, and Manufacturing: These industries use Unity to develop autonomous vehicle training simulations, provide safety and workflow, and help bolster marketing and sales efforts. Audi's car configurator is one of many use case examples of Unity’s platform in these spaces.
  • Architecture, Engineering & Construction - Unity can process renderings of buildings to simulate new building designs. The technology makes it possible to visualize and interact with a virtual version of a project before starting physical construction. Construction companies like Mortenson leverage real-time 3D to improve designs, speed up builds, and reduce costs.

Looking at growth across a range of industries, a study from Burning Glass found the demand for real-time 3D skills grew 601% faster than the market overall. 

With such a broad range of use cases of real-time 3D across industries, how will Circuit Stream's new certification courses help you take advantage of the growing demand for roles in real-time 3D?

The two courses will provide an introduction to Unity for anyone who wants to explore a new career path, gain new skills for their role, or pursue their own freelance work and side projects. 

We expect that these certification badges will define a standard of knowledge in foundational Unity concepts that will give professionals a great start to their career using the Unity engine.

What's included in the certification courses?

Leading curriculum development for these courses at Circuit Stream is Jerry Medeiros. Jerry holds a Master’s Degree in Computer Science, is a Unity Certified Expert, a Unity Certified Instructor, and Circuit Stream's Head of Education. 

Jerry explains that "When someone earns a certification, they demonstrate that they have valid, up-to-date expertise that not everyone possesses in this field. The industry is competitive and changes fast. To stand out from the crowd, professionals must constantly seek opportunities to master new skills. I believe that the project-based approach we are offering will help students, hobbyists, and professionals take their skills and careers to the next level."

By integrating these certifications with our flagship XR Design and Development courses, we now offer pathways that allow you to combine essential skills in Unity with credentials recognized by the industry.

Here's what you can expect to achieve by completing either certification course.

Certified Associate: Programmer

The programmer certification includes three application projects, each of which teaches a range of critical Unity development skills:

  • Mobile Database Application: This project teaches you the essential skills for developing a user interface (UI) of a mobile app and the basics of C# scripting.
  • First Person Desktop Game: Creating this game will teach you the fundamental physics and input handling skills within Unity.
  • Manufacturing Simulation: This application guides you through foundational knowledge of Unity development, including version control, bug fixing, and profiling.

Certified Associate: Artist

The artist certification includes three projects, each of which covers core Unity skills for the creation of 2D and 3D graphics:

  • Creating a 3D Environment: This project covers key topics for creating 3D scenes, including lighting, post-processing, and shaders. 
  • Animation and Prototyping: This project teaches you the best practices for prototyping and creating an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) using animation and multiple cameras within the environment.
  • 2D Character Generator: In this project, you will get familiar with the 2D features of Unity by creating a character generator, where you can customize an avatar.

What you achieve by taking these programs

In 2019, over 34,000 job openings required real-time 3D skills, and the demand is growing 50% faster than the overall IT skills market.

By enrolling in one of our certification courses, you will learn the foundational skills of the Unity engine. Better yet, you will prepare to earn accreditation from the leading platform for creating interactive 3D content. 

Employers in multiple industries across the AR/VR ecosystem recognize these skills and associated certifications. By taking these programs, you will increase your job prospects, command a higher salary, and get the chance to work on some of the most innovative projects using this technology.

The Global Head of Partnerships at Unity, Nicole Zingg, explains the key differentiator of these new certifications and why people should enroll: 

“We know that the biggest change in the workforce of today and the workforce of 2030, will be the demand for technical programming skills. Even if students don’t plan on becoming a programmer, those skills will be crucial,” said Nicole Zingg, Global Head of Channel Partnerships, Unity. “Through the new courses and certifications announced today, Circuit Stream has the ability to better prepare learners for the jobs of tomorrow.”

What’s Next

The AR/VR market is set to pass $296B by 2024. With the technology showing no sign of slowing down, now is an excellent time to get on board.

Unity's Associate Programmer and Artist Certificates, and Circuit Stream's certification courses, represent a pathway to new skills, achievement, and opportunities in the real-time 3D and AR/VR industry. 

By taking advantage of this new partnership, you can get on track to an exciting career in one of the most innovative, fast-growing industries in the world.

If you’re ready to start learning the core skills, check out Circuit Stream.

May 24, 2021 in News | 11 min. read

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