Unity and Circuit Stream Collaborate on Certification Courses for Real-Time 3D Skills

Unity Technologies and Circuit Stream have collaborated to create new content, courses and certifications that enable professionals to learn, demonstrate and verify their real-time 3D skills.

Unity’s Certified Associate: Programmer and Certified Associate: Artist certifications are designed to validate knowledge of the Unity engine and help you obtain your first professional role in real-time 3D.

Unity is the market leading platform for creating interactive experiences and is currently used to create over 65% of the 3D content and mobile applications globally. In the search for the ideal partner to support its training and certification program, Unity recognized the quality of instruction and commitment to learners Circuit Stream demonstrated through its resources, workshops, and popular AR/VR courses.

Circuit Stream is the industry leader of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) education. The company has trained over 40,000 learners around the world the tools, processes, and workflows needed for building AR/VR (XR for short) applications.

Through this new collaboration with Unity, Circuit Stream’s XR Development with Unity and Interaction Design and Prototyping for XR courses will prepare learners to earn Unity’s Associate Programmer and Artist certifications in addition to providing them with the skills for developing and designing their own XR applications.

Circuit Stream founder, Lou Pushelberg, explains, “We have strived 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.”

The two courses will provide an introduction to Unity for anyone who is exploring a new career path, gaining new skills for their role, or pursuing their own freelance work and side projects. The certifications badges define a standard of knowledge in foundational Unity concepts that will start professionals on their path to a career using the Unity engine.

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The Growth of AR/VR and Real-Time 3D

The AR/VR hardware market has continued to grow. Unity powers a significant amount of the content and software that support the AR/VR ecosystem and is in a strong position as the market continues to expand. In addition to immersive technology, Unity is also the engine behind more than 50% of all games—on mobile, PC, and consoles—and currently runs on over 1.5 billion devices.

Thanks largely to the pandemic, global video game revenue grew 20% YoY, surging north of $180B in 2020. With next-gen consoles releasing and real-time 3D expanding 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.

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, some of which we’ve outlined below.

• Media & Entertainment – With real-time workflows, Unity speeds up the traditional pipelines to give artists, producers, and directors more creative freedom and faster feedback on their work. The engine is already in use for the virtual production of films, TV commercials, and animation at many of the world’s leading studios.
• Automotive, Transportation and Manufacturing – Unity is used 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 examples of Unity’s platform being used in the automotive, transportation and manufacturing industries.
• Architecture, Engineering & Construction – Unity can process renderings of buildings to simulate new building designs. This makes it possible to visualize and interact with a virtual version of a project before starting physical construction. Construction companies like Mortenson are leveraging real-time 3D to facilitate improved designs, faster builds, and reduced costs.

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

With the broad ranging applicability of real-time 3D across industries, how will Circuit Stream’s new certification courses help people take advantage of the growing demand for roles in real-time 3D?

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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 personally 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 its flagship XR Design and Development courses, Circuit Stream has created pathways 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 comprises three application projects, each of which teaches a range of critical Unity development skills:

• Mobile Database Application – This project teaches the essential skills for developing a user interface (UI) of a mobile app and the fundamentals of C# scripting.
• First Person Desktop Game – Creating this game will teach the fundamentals of physics and input handling 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 comprises three projects, each of which covers core Unity skills for the creation of 2D and 3D graphics:

• Creating a 3D Environment – This project covers integral topics for creating 3D scenes, including lighting, post-processing, and shaders.
• Animation and Prototyping – This project teaches the best practices for prototyping and creating an MVP using animation and multiple cameras within the environment.
• 2D Character Generator – In this project, learners will get familiar with 2D features provided by Unity by creating a character generator, where the user can customize an avatar.

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What you achieve by taking these programs

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

By enrolling in a certification course, you will learn the foundational skills of the Unity engine and prepare to earn a certification from the leading platform for creating interactive 3D content.

These skills and associated certifications are recognized by employers and will help you increase your job prospects, command a higher salary, and provide the opportunity to work on some of the most innovative projects using this technology.

For companies, the benefits of upskilling your team with Unity include:

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

“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.”

Conclusion

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. To get started learning the skills visit circuitstream.com or to earn your digital certification visit unity.com/products/unity-certifications.

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