Apple Certification
 

I have been reading online for a while now that Apple offers certification programs for alot of their products. I don't really want to take a program, and feel that I can learn better on my own. However, I want to know how seriously a certificate from these programs is taken. If I put it down on my resume, will it greatly increase my chance of landing a job? Also, if anyone has taken these tests before, what level of skill required to pass? I ask this because the closest testing center is 12 hours from home and I want to make sure it would be worth the trip.

if you have the qualification and are pitching for the same job as someone without the qualification, and otherwise all things are equal ie there's nothing much to tell between your showreels, resumes, references and rates ... well, then yes, I'd be inclined to hire the one with the Apple certification

I'm taking an FCP class now, it's at a CC not Apple, but one thing they share from what I hear, is that you are constantly reminded about shortcuts and how to use them to speed up your workflow. I guess that's what it comes down to, learning the most efficient way to use each function and that's quite important in my book. So even if you don't get a job because of the "cert", you will be able to blaze though your work faster and be more likely to make a good impression on an employer during an interview.

As far as the requirements to pass the test, I'm sure someone who has taken it would be more qualified to answer than I. However I do know that for every function there are usually 3 or so ways to perform it and knowing them all would be beneficial for the test. Also, there are different levels of certification, as I'm currently studying an Apple certification book for "level 2 certification". If you absolutely don't want to take a class you can buy the books and study them to pass the test I believe.

You can find some Apple certified books at www.peachpit.com under the Apple Pro training series section. I find the series to be pretty comprehensive and the more advanced ones are written by Michael Wohl who was one of the main designers of FCP for 5 years.

I am also curious about the difficulty of the tests. Even just Level 1. If somebody who has taken it could provide some insight and maybe give an example of one of the harder questions, it would be greatly appreciated.

Get the books and read, read, read. They have been very valuable to me. However, fair warning about the DVDs that accompany the books: they are of questionable value. I have had tremendous read-errors from all their discs. So, make sure you keep the receipt.

While I do not anticipate needing certification for the kind of work I'm doing, I too love the Peachpit books. I guess I've been fortunate in that I have 5 of the book/DVDs and have not had any disc errors with mine. Mike's advice is still a good idea though.

I didn't take the class, but I read the book and have worked with FCP almost every work day for the last 5 years. I went and took the test and got 95% percent earning the level 1 certification. They won't allow you to take the level 2 certification without taking the class.

Mostly it was questions involving shortcuts and ways of doing different operations. It's a multiple choice computer test so you know how you did immediately upon completion. The biggest thing to watch out for is there are a lot of questions that have multiple answers that are correct and you need to include them all.

Has being certified helped me at all? No, but it gives me one more thing to hang on the wall and put on my resume.

In the end, knowing how to use the software doesn't make one an editor. So, having the certification isn't really going to impress anyone who knows what an editor really is. Your demo reel and references are going to have an infinite amount more weight than what courses you took.

I earned a position as a director/editor in a broadcast TV studio when I was living in Philadelphia, working for a guy with over 30 years as a professional editor... and I've never taken a single film or video class. My education is in jazz music! But, my reel was decent and my personality is good and my references were excellent. Nothing else mattered.

When/if I have the spare $$$ and time to take the exams, I may consider doing so... but it is at the bottom of my priorities. I'd rather put time into a low/no budget short film that would augment my reel.

Thanks, guys, for all your input. I really have no interest in going to editing classes. I prefer to learn on my own, which has worked out well so far. It's just good to hear that these certification classes don't really hold any weight when trying to find work.