Epic Games Game Design Professional Cert(Coursera)

Hello all, this is my first post in the unreal forums. I just saw the new professional certificate course that unreal/epic launched recently. I was wondering what are some general thoughts on things like this? I am head over heels addicted to learning game dev stuff but I am still very much so a noob.

The creators of the course are all esteemed individuals and the course claims that after finishing it, you will be ready to apply for jobs within the industry. I find that part hard to be true, but the professional cert and experience from the course canā€™t be a bad thing right? I really want to get more involved with things and learn as fast as I possibly can.

I figure at the very least, I learn some stuff and have the cert to add to my linkedin! Anyways, let me know your thoughts on cert programs and courses like this! If possible, I would love to hear from some industry professionals as well.

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If you are referring to the new ā€˜Epic Games Game Design Professional Certificateā€™ on Coursera, I would highly recommend waiting. I enrolled shortly after it launched and itā€™s been broken since launch. Irrelevant practice materials, bugged answers for quizzes, inadequate time limits, extremely dodgy AI grading, itā€™s a mess.

Whatā€™s worse, Coursera staff members have been unresponsive and customer support has been extremely unhelpful. The course instructor hasnā€™t replied to posts about the broken modules in over 10 days. I canā€™t speak to the value of professional certs in general, but the course you are describing is not ready for primetime until the glaring issues are fixed. Iā€™m kind of surprised Epic hasnā€™t stepped in considering they are endorsing the course but maybe they are just unaware.

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I see. I would really love for something like this to exist and be of quality. I was hoping, since the professors are all quality and intelligent individuals AND it is backed by Epic, that it would be a great source of educational material.

I agree. Itā€™s one of the reasons I put a pause on a few other courses I was doing and jumped on this. If you are just looking for general tutorials and instruction (not a certification) Epic has hundreds of officially endorsed videos for you here.

If you are looking for a more structured course (and are willing to spend money) Iā€™ve had a great experience with a number of courses from Udemy.com and GameDev.TV

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Iā€™ll be honest, I have been completing the course. I will say, the Epic page for the course on their own website, claims that after completing the course, you will be ready to search for a job within the industry. I found that hard to believe but decided it is from Epic themselves, so why would that be false. I am barely starting the second course, but so far, I fail to see how I will be job ready by the time I complete this course. Unreal engine itself is so complex, I do not believe this cert alone could make me competent enough to even have a junior position at a company. I have been working in UE5 nonstop for weeks straight ( i know that is nothing in the long term) and I thought this course would be a launch pad to finally understanding slightly more complex aspects of the engine. I really hope as I continue the course, it begins to actually help me develop the skills I need to eventually make a career transition into this field.

Anyone got actual links to the specific cert / course to see HOW its being promoted / marketed? @Cartermatic The unglamorous truth of Indie game dev is, most of the time, work days are just about adding features, fixing bugs, maximizing performance (plus the whole marketing cesspit side :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: ). If a cert / course helps with that, great. But most of the time, it wonā€™t deliver. There are detailed past threads explaining why. Will add some links belowā€¦ :wink:

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