On September 21, Scream School announced the conclusion of a strategic partnership with Unity Technologies. Within its framework, the school received the right to certify specialists for Unity knowledge, and also became a Certification Center for Unity teachers in Russia. We talked to the director of Scream School – Ekaterina Cherkess-zadeh – about what this means.
Hi! Let’s start with the third-party certification program. Please tell me what is certification?
Ekaterina Cherkess-Zadeh
Unity certification is a huge step of the company towards the formation of criteria that a Unity specialist should know, be able and understand in order to be called them.
In essence, this is the standardization of professional skills. I think this is a huge step towards the formation of industrial standards in game development and not only. Phenomena such as certification mean that the industry has grown up to the concept of “professional” and can describe its criteria. That’s cool.
At its core, certification is a format where anyone can sign up for a test and confirm their knowledge of the product. When passing the test, he receives a certificate from Unity that he is a certified specialist. This is the basic principle of standardization of expertise, which is managed by Unity.
The test consists of 100 questions. If I answer them correctly, what does this imply? That I’m a good programmer, designer, or just understand something about Unity?
The test of 20 topics / 100 questions is the so-called basic test from Unity, which shows that you know how to use the tool to solve basic tasks.
But this test is just the beginning. Subsequently, several basic and advanced level tests will be implemented for specialists in different fields (programmers, game designers, artists, and so on). This is a lot of work on standardization of knowledge.
Why do I need certification at all? Wouldn’t an intelligent technician understand right away that this guy doesn’t know what, for example, matanalysis is, which means he doesn’t need it?
The technician, of course, will understand, but certification is needed not for the technician, but for the specialist himself, because certification can answer not only the question “What do I know in Unity”, but most importantly — the question “What do I NOT know in Unity”. Not only to answer, but also to understand it before meeting with an intelligent techlide. And a technical specialist who takes a person to work, this will reduce the time when selecting candidates. Because a certified specialist is compliance with the industrial level.
Unity works a lot with the industry, just like us. Training and certification must meet the requirements of the industry. Something is changing in the industry, the test is changing. Now you can confirm your professional skills that they meet these standards.
I think the price issue will be important for everyone here. How much will it cost to try your hand?
Passing the test will cost $99. I note that this is three times cheaper than in Western Europe, where the cost will be $ 350.
The student will also have access to materials for preparing for the test, which are now being translated into Russian.
Scream School also conducts short-term courses – “Introduction to Game Design”, “Basic Course in Game Programming” and others, and now these programs will include both preparation for the test and its delivery in one package. As part of the School’s long-term programs (2 years), passing tests will also be automatically included. This means that upon successful graduation, the student will also receive a certificate from Unity confirming his knowledge.
In addition to the certification itself, you now have permission to train people who will teach Unity. Tell me about this program.
Indeed, now we are authorizing teachers who teach Unity. It doesn’t matter where they will teach later: they must be certified here, in other training centers or universities.
A potential Unity coach should be an industry specialist, have a portfolio and recommendations from the company where he works. The program itself will include a one-week course on the British Academic Quality System (AQ) and passing special tests. The AQ system is a very useful course for forming a training program based on an industrial request and “packing” your practical experience into an educational format. This is the system on which 106 programs of the educational consortium that I lead are built, and it is very effective.
In this case, the AQ system was specially designed for the tasks set by the certification of Unity experts. After completing the AQ course and successfully passing the test, the teacher receives the status of an official Unity coach. So now, if you go to study, no matter where, be sure to ask if your teacher is certified.
So far, we are planning to conduct authorization courses for trainers twice a year: in February and May, and then we will see.
And, of course, here, too, I can’t resist the commercial question: how much will this pleasure cost?
The standard authorization price is 60,000 rubles. But let’s not forget that this is an international certification, and then, a person will earn money on it later.
So far only in Moscow, or will there be an opportunity to take the exam somewhere else?
Until the end of May 2017, we are planning certification in Moscow, separately we will jointly with Unity conduct certification of specialists at conferences and large events for the industry (one of the first tests will be held as part of the autumn session of White Nights Moscow 2016, which will be held on October 11-12. Moreover, it will be possible to pass the exam at an exclusive price of $ 70. And those who score 75% and above will receive a free indie pass to the conference with access to all lectures, exhibition area and happy hour from Applovin! The application can be submitted via the link. – Approx. editorial offices).
Taking the test will always be full-time, so that no one sits next to you and prompts you!
When can I expect certificates for higher and specialized levels?
Now we are working on this together with Unity, and by spring we plan to expand the certification line.
And the last question. I know that the first talks about this initiative, about Scream School being able to officially train Unity specialists, have been going on for at least two years. Why is it taking so long?
Well, firstly, a little more than 2 years ago Unity opened an office in Russia, then we sat down to discuss this format of cooperation. We have been educational partners for a long time, but all these 2 years we have been discussing certification. We understood that almost all game developers work on Unity, so we periodically addressed Unity with questions during the formation and annual revisions of programs such as Game Design, for example.
As a result, such brainstorms of ours led to the formation of a full-fledged certification concept. It took 2 years, but it was worth it.
In general, trends such as the emergence of authorized training centers, the development of international business conferences on game rendezvous, certification of teachers and specialists are an indicator of the healthy growth of the industry as a whole. I personally am very happy about this, so there is something to teach people, and these people will have a job.
Thanks for the interview!