Should I get an Unreal Certification

Community Community & Industry Discussion
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Hello, I graduated with a degree in game design in 2023 and took a hiatus from development for personal reasons. I now want to get back on track and secure any job I can in the industry, but my degree might not be enough, and my engine skills are not where they used to be. I looked up some stuff about Unreal Engine certifications that could add some proof of my usefulness to employers and get my skills back up.

What I want is some advice from those in the industry, if possible.

Is an Unreal Engine certification a good idea?

If so, is there an official Epic one that is reputable?

Any extra advice about what my next steps should be?

Thank you for your time. I am kind of desperate right now (I would work for free if it got me in the door, ha). Any answers are appreciated.

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Hello.

I think that above degrees and certificates, the portfolio is king. If the only thing in your portfolio is some projects that you were forced to do as part of your degree coursework thatā€™s a bit of a red-flag.

So ā€˜getting back on trackā€™ in my mind would involve using the engine every day, with the intention of following aspects of creation that interest you the most and presenting these creations + learnings in a portfolio.

A certification is certainly not a bad idea though. This Coursera one seems to be the most official.

Iā€™d approach it not as ā€œIā€™m taking this certificate so I can have an extra bullet point on my resumeā€ - but more as "Iā€™m taking this certificate so I can deepen my knowledge of the engine in a structured way - or even better directly applying and extending your learnings to a portfolio piece as you go through the course.

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@cesarajg I would suggest taking the Coursera Epic UE certification course. It takes about 6 months to complete and steps you through UE. Coming from no experience I have to believe you will have a leg up and maybe complete it quicker. I do agree with @Astrotronic that building your portfolio or shipping something speaks volumes but combined you should make for a strong candidate to hire! good luck and if you have any questions about the course let me know, Iā€™m on the last module about :slight_smile:

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Thanks for taking the time to advise me. I will look more into Coursera as a starting point

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Thanks for the suggestion. I do have some questions about it.

  • Did you start it with no experience at all?
  • What are some shortcomings that you saw in the course?
  • Being in the last module, do you feel adequately proficient given what you learned from it?
  • If one worked about 8 hours a day at it (no job right now, ha), about how fast could one complete it?

Sorry for all the questions, I just want to know before I start it.

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Cesarajg - sorry for taking so long to reply.

  • Did you start it with no experience at all?

correct, no experience whatsoever! iā€™ve watched some videos on youtube and know people who have worked with unreal but iā€™ve never touched it. I will admit first installing it and looking at the interface can be a bit overwhelming but reading some of the ā€œFirst Time..ā€ Documentation and watching videos convinced me to dive in. MY original plan was to watch YT videos and go through the documentation but luckily came across Coursera last summer.

so my recommendation, if you havenā€™t done so. Install it and start poking around. watch some beginner videos then jump into the course. NOTE the first module is focused on Game Design, donā€™t really dive into Unreal Engine until the 2nd course. Again, proper way of learning the industry (IMO)

  • What are some shortcomings that you saw in the course?

No course is perfect, no class will be perfect. MY approach, i copied the course transcript into a Word/Google Doc and highlighted as i watched the video. even as you start working within unreal, i would still take notes. I also downloaded the videos to watch later.

Donā€™t expect to learn everything, but it will point you to the UE documentation on this site for more detail. you can always google concepts or watch YT videos to explain more.

In the later videos, you will notice that what is in the transcript is not everything they are showing in the video. at some point, i believe, they assume that you will know to do certain things. SO pay attention to the video and notes!

  • Being in the last module, do you feel adequately proficient given what you learned from it?

I had a great college professor say, when you graduate, if you absorbed 20% of what you learned here you will be successful! SAME applies to this online course. It gives you a solid foundation. YOU have to do your part! maybe research a topic more or spend time learning all the capabilities of a certain task. The course will give you a good general understanding of UE and you will know where to get additional help or you will need to dedicate some time to ā€œplay with settingsā€.

Will you have the ability to build a game? YESā€¦ but it may take you some time to do so and you will need to go back to the videos/transcripts to review things or find more resources online. But completely doable!

  • If one worked about 8 hours a day at it (no job right now, ha), about how fast could one complete it?

the course says it takes 6 months. with no experience, and life happens, i would say longer. Also of course depends on how you learn. you may pick it right up or it may require you spending more time on a particular topic.

hopefully i was able to answer some of your questions, Good Luck!

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