Whether you’re a newcomer to Unity or an experienced developer, advancing your career with game development can be a fantastic path to take. However, there is a lot of competition – so what can you do to highlight your own self? The answer is Unity Certification, which can prove your credentials and is industry-recognized!

In this article, we’re going to focus specifically on the Unity Associate Game Developer Certification, get you excited about it, and then get you learning the materials you’ll need to obtain it!

Let’s get started!

What is the Unity Associate Game Developer Certification?

Unity’s Associate Game Developer Certification is designed for aspiring developers with intermediate skills who can take a game from an initial idea to completion. The certification will showcase a receiver’s mastery of Unity, proving their worthiness for a professional game development role.

Those that take the Associate Game Developer Certification will have a background in computer programming or be self-taught hobbyists with detailed knowledge of Unity and C#, including audio, animation, and game physics. Rather than focusing on more minor details, this exam focuses on the broader picture of game development and design.

To qualify for the Unity Associate Game Developer Certification, you’ll need to:

• Build complex games using C# in Unity
• Understand end-to-end game production
• Have previously built a game for publication
• Be confident using prototypes, debugging, and solving programming issues

When taking the exam, you’ll cover a range of topics, including:

• Animation
• Audio
• Asset management
• Employment preparedness
• Game art and design principles
• Industry awareness
• Lighting
• Materials and effects
• Physics & Programming
• Project management & services

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The Benefits of the Associate Game Developer Certification

Unity is an influential game engine, powering half the world’s games. Unity-made applications are used by 2 billion people every month, with 1.5 million creators using Unity to create new and innovative games and applications.

Learning how to use Unity will improve your chances of breaking into the gaming industry, and receiving an Associate Game Developer Certification proves to employers that you’re skilled in game design and development.

Here are the main benefits of taking the Unity Associate Game Developer Certification.

Become a Unity game developer

Receiving a Unity Certification allows you to stand out against your competitors as it’s a recognized qualification in the game development world. Even better, many Unity-based jobs will list a Unity Certification as a preferred requirement, helping you better your chances of becoming a game developer.

Showcase your skills

To take the Unity Associate Game Developer course, you’ll need advanced skills in both Unity and C#. You should be able to make intricate games from conception to reality. Having a Certification will prove your skillset to potential employers, allowing you to stand out in a busy crowd.

What courses are best to prepare for the Associate Game Developer Certification?

Taking the Unity Associate Game Developer Certification requires significant skill, and you’ll need advanced knowledge of Unity and C# to qualify.

It’s essential to build your knowledge practically by making fully-fledged games suitable for your professional portfolio. Luckily, there are plenty of advanced online courses you can take to improve your knowledge of Unity and C# practically by building games.

Here are the best advanced online courses you can take that are suitable to prepare for Unity’s Associate Game Developer Certification.

Unity Game Development Mini-Degree

As mentioned above, preparing for this exam isn’t just about learning Unity, it’s also about having proven game development projects under your belt. What if you could do both at the same time though?

In Zenva’s Unity Game Development Mini-Degree, you’ll go through a comprehensive set of courses that cover just about everything you might want to know about Unity. It covers everything from various tools offered by the engine, and up to covering specific genre mechanics. All the courses are project-based, so you’ll also get plenty of items to add to your portfolio. This includes things such as RPGs, FPS games, racing games, idle clickers, and much more!

Plus, Zenva’s courses also offer a ton of supplemental learning material. Like to read other people’s code? There are downloadable course files of the complete projects! Aren’t a video person? There are text-based summaries that can be used to learn independently of the video!

With Zenva’s Unity Game Development Mini-Degree, you’ll learn:

• C# coding basics
• UI systems
• Audio effects
• Cinematic cutscenes
• Special effects
• Procedural terrain
• Animation

Skill level: Beginner. You don’t need prior experience in Unity or C#.

Duration: 36h 23m

How to access: Access the curriculum here.

Unity Advanced Tutorials

When it comes to game development, there are a surprising lot of details in terms of how mechanics are rendered. Likewise, there are a ton of Unity tools that aren’t so clear or have nuances that can make or break how your game feels.

The Unity Advanced Tutorials series by Brackeys seeks to demystify this. From specific nuances of game mechanics to just taking better advantage of Unity as a tool, this series has a little bit of everything. Nevertheless, it will vastly improve your skillset that you can use for game development.

As part of this course, you’ll cover key topics, including:

• Gravity simulation
• Dialogue systems
• Altering the Unity windows
• Making a level editor
• Reversing game time
• Making a loading bar
• Procedural generation
• Putting Unity projects on GitHub
• Using Unity Analytics
• Volumetric lighting
• Scriptable objects
• Object pooling
• Different combat styles

Skill level: Intermediate. You’ll need to know how to use Unity and program in C#.

Duration: 4h 31m

How to access: Access the series here.

Survival Game Development Academy

To reinforce a point above, the game developer certification is about showing you can take a game from idea to completion. So, understandably, having experience in making a larger, more complex game can be a big boost.

This is where we come to Zenva’s Survival Game Development Academy. Unlike many entries on this list where you’re learning bits and pieces of Unity and doing a different project every course, this curriculum is about making one singular project: a survival game. You’ll learn core mechanics such as player needs, crafting, base building, and combat – and with the breakdown into several courses, wind up with a fairly complex game project!

Plus, this curriculum is perfect for any skill level. If you haven’t ever used Unity before, the curriculum will guide you through the fundamental courses first before throwing you into the project.

All in all, though, the skills here feed directly into learning what being a game developer is all about and teaches you a ton of material that will be helpful for taking the exam.

As part of this course, you’ll cover key topics, including:

• Hunger, thirst, health, and sleep needs
• Day-night cycles
• Item and inventory systems
• Crafting mechanics
• Base building
• Combat and Enemy AI
• Game Saving

Skill level: Beginner. No prior knowledge of Unity or C# is needed.

Duration: 18h 45m

How to access: Access the curriculum here.

Learn to Program with C# – Unity Advanced Tutorials

While programming isn’t the focus of this specific certification, you can’t really ignore it. After all, you’re going to need to know C# pretty well in order to show the advanced level at which you can create games.

Thus, we include Learn to Program with C# – Unity Advanced Tutorials by GameDevHQ. This series of tutorials focuses on a few very specific aspects of C# that are not typically covered in a beginner’s level journey. However, as you advance in game development, you will find they are integral and well-used – so learning them will boost your skills immensely (even if you decide not to get certified).

As part of this course, you’ll cover key topics, including:

• Lists
• Enumus
• Structs vs Classes
• Nullable types
• Interfaces
• Delegate and events

Skill level: Intermediate.

Duration: 1h 46m

How to access: Access the series here.

EdTech Mini-Degree

Unity is for more than just making entertainment industry games. EdTech is revolutionizing how Unity is used with educational games and job training applications. The industry is already worth $6 trillion and is set to grow further.

For the purposes of certification, though, EdTech is also a fantastic way to explore unique Unity features and other advanced skills that otherwise never get covered.

The EdTech Mini-Degree by Zenva is designed to teach you everything you need to develop educational and training-based apps. You’ll cover topics including developing in 2D and 3D, using virtual reality, data analytics, and much more.

Each subsequent project featured in the curriculum gives you a chance to explore new applications for Unity – while also teaching you important facets involved in the software development cycle. Plus, as these skills are a bit more unique, it adds some extra material to your portfolio to stand out from the competition.

As part of this course, you’ll cover key topics, including:

• Coding basics with C# and Unity
• Quizzes featuring text, images, audio, and video
• Virtual reality applications
• Data-driven development with Unity Analytics
• Retrieving data with external APIs
• Voice and language recognition
• Text-recognition and text-to-audio

Skill level: Beginner. No prior coding experience is needed.

Duration: 21h 40m

How to access: Access the curriculum here.

Learn Unity Engine and C# by creating a real top-down RPG

Similar to an earlier entry, a good portion of this exam is about showcasing you can make games as a whole. So, making games as a whole is sure to help you actually prove that.

Learn Unity Engine and C# by creating a real top-down RPG by Epitome, as the title suggests, is all about teaching you various skills while building a fully scoped top-down RPG. Where this tutorial is slightly unique is that it focuses specifically on 2D – which is just as important to learn as 3D. Nevertheless, this course will put you through the gambit and make sure you have tons of key systems down pat!

As part of this course, you’ll cover key topics, including:

• Setting up
• Moving and Manual Collision Detection
• Tilemap and Designing Dungeon
• Interactive Objects and Inheritance
• Saving Game’s State
• Floating Text System
• Top Down Combat System
• Animator and Weapon Swing Animation
• Character Menu and the new UI System
• Polishing and Adding Content

Skill level: Novice. Some basic knowledge of Unity and C# is needed.

Duration: 7h 45m

How to access: Access the course here.

Game Design Academy

Game design is integral to developing a game. Game designers will conceptualize levels and characters, create engaging stories, and make the game feel cohesive through stylistic and narrative choices. While not “technical” in the same way coding is, it still requires purposeful choices and skills that show you can plan a game. So, though often overlooked, it is a huge step in the entire game development process.

Game Design Academy by Zenva is the perfect way to jump into this aspect of the game development process. You’ll explore the main principles of design using real-world examples, and discover how these fundamental concepts affect the overall feel of the game

More importantly, though, you’ll learn skills that will let you enhance your game projects, which in turn improves your overall Unity skills with new reasons to learn specific skills and tools.

As part of this course, you’ll cover key topics, including:

• Core game loop setup
• How to guide players
• Game feel
• Level design foundations
• Storytelling techniques

Skill level: Beginner. You don’t need any prior knowledge of Unity or C#.

Duration: 3h 5m

How to access: Access the curriculum here.

Unity’s Associate Game Developer Certification

Well, that’s all, folks – the best courses for the Associate Game Developer Certification. This certification will be a lot tougher than the previous User level. However, preparing for it with enrich your ability to make games as a whole.

This said, be assured there are a lot more courses out there, even on platforms like Zenva. The more you can learn about Unity and game development, the better off you’ll be. Plus, everyone’s learning style is different, so your “best” course may be different from what’s on the list.

Regardless, we hope these resources help, and best of luck on your certification exam!

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This said, standing out from the competition can be difficult, as the industry is also highly competitive. With the popular Unity engine, though, the Unity Certification program – which is industry recognized – allows you to gain credentials to boost your resume and portfolio.

In this article, we’re going to help you prepare to take the exam for the Unity Associate Programmer Certification with the best courses available. We’ve also designed this list to work for both beginners and experienced developers – so all skill levels are welcome!

Let’s jump in and start learning Unity!

What is the Unity Associate Programmer Certification?

Unity’s Associate Programmer Certification is a credential offered by Unity Technologies, the company behind the Unity game engine. The program showcases a coder’s skills and knowledge in Unity, including C# programming and game development.

Unlike the User Programmer Certification, the Associate level exam focuses primarily on C# coding, and you’ll need a detailed understanding of Unity’s API to script behaviors and objects, including UI elements, to receive this qualification. This Certification proves that you understand best practices for data structures and that you’re competent at debugging.

After passing the exam, individuals will receive the Unity Associate Programmer Certification, which they can use to demonstrate their skills and knowledge in Unity programming and game development to employers. The certification is valid for two years. After this time, individuals must renew their certificates by taking the exam again.

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The Benefits of the Associate Programmer Certification

The Unity Associate Programmer Certification is an advanced exam designed to showcase your skills as a game developer. Some of the benefits of this certification include the following:

Stand out in the job market

Having a certification from Unity helps individuals stand out in the job market since it proves significant skill and dedication to programming. In fact, many employers, including Unity, will list certification as a preferred requirement.

Build your programming skills

Unity’s Associate Programmer Certification is an advanced exam and involves rigorous training on many concepts within game development. As you train for the exam, you’ll develop your skills and knowledge in core aspects, including programming, scripting, game physics, and optimization.

Networking

By getting Unity Certification, you’ll have access to a growing community of professional game developers, including holders of the certification. Having a network can provide individuals with valuable opportunities for their future careers, including learning and collaboration.

What courses are best to prepare for the Associate Programmer Certification?

To prepare for Unity’s Associate Programmer Certification, you’ll need a strong understanding of the Unity game engine and C#, as well as core programming concepts. Luckily, there are many online courses suitable for learning game development that will prepare you for taking the certification. Along the way, you’ll be able to develop complete games that will form the basis of your professional portfolio.

Here are the best advanced online courses you can take that will help you qualify for Unity’s Associate Programmer Certification.

Unity Game Development Mini-Degree

While the Associate Certifications are the second level of certifications available, that doesn’t mean that aren’t achievable by beginners looking to establish goals for themselves.

Our first stop is therefore Zenva’s Unity Game Development Mini-Degree. This comprehensive curriculum offers a little bit of everything in regards to Unity. You’ll learn the fundamentals of the engine and C#, genre game mechanics, asset handling, animations, procedural generation, and much more.

This curriculum also takes a very practical project-based approach, so you’ll get the opportunity to build things such as FPS games and action RPGs for your portfolio. There are also supplemental materials such as downloadable course files and text-based lesson summaries. This means that it doesn’t matter how you learn – this curriculum can match what you need!

Plus, as mentioned, this curriculum was designed for people with zero knowledge. So, any skill level can practice with these courses!

You’ll learn:

• C# coding basics
• UI systems
• Audio effects
• Cinematic cutscenes
• Special effects
• Procedural terrain
• Animation

Skill level: Beginner. You don’t need prior experience in Unity or C#.

Duration: 36h 23m

How to access: Access the curriculum here.

C# Programming (Advanced)

As the title of the certification suggests, knowing how to program with C# is a super important aspect of this exam. However, remember that C# is a general-purpose language and was actually primarily created to make software. Thus, it doesn’t hurt to learn the language divorced from Unity.

The C# Programming (Advanced) series by Code Master does just that and focuses on C# from a software development perspective. However, the principles covered are near universal to all C# applications – so they can easily be applied back to Unity. This said, do be prepared – this series is intended for those with C# experience, and is heavily comprehensive in just about everything you can do with the C# language and programming in general!

With this course, you’ll learn the following and more:

• Delegates, lambdas, and events
• Generics
• IEnumerables
• LINQ
• Functional programming
• Dictionaries
• Lookups
• Joining data
• Programming patterns
• Anonymous types
• Conversions
• Structs and classes
• Indexers
• States
• Different architectures
• Component systems
• Zone systems
• Game mechanics such as inventories and dialogue trees

And much more!

Skill level: Intermediate. You’ll need some coding experience.

Duration: 17h 45m

How to access: Access the series here.

Survival Game Development Academy

In the complete opposite from the above, it’s also just as important to understand programming in the practical Unity setting. The best way to achieve this is simply by building games – and unsurprisingly, the more complex the systems the more you’ll learn about coding.

Zenva’s Survival Game Development Academy is a curriculum focused specifically on building one single survival game. However, in so doing, you can focus on a lot of game mechanics, such as crafting systems, inventory management, and enemy AI.

Due to the complexity of the project featured, you’ll get the opportunity to explore a ton of aspects of Unity’s API and C# in general, however, which is integral for taking the exam. Plus, you’ll get a nifty project for your professional portfolio as well.

As part of this course, you’ll cover survival game topics, including:

• Hunger, thirst, health, and sleep needs
• Day-night cycles
• Item and inventory systems
• Crafting mechanics
• Base building
• Combat and Enemy AI
• Game Saving

Skill level: Beginner. No prior knowledge of Unity or C# is needed.

Duration: 18h 45m

How to access: Access the curriculum here.

Learn to Program: C# Advanced Unity Tutorials

We’ve included a lot of comprehensive courses on this list, but what if you’re more interested in something a bit more simple and focused on just a few C# programming skills.

GameDevHQ’s Learn to Program: C# Advanced Unity Tutorials series is just for you then! Instead of learning everything you could ever imagine about C#, this series focuses on just a few advanced concepts that are both important and regularly used for game development. Thus, you can be assured there is no fluff here – just the exact material you’ll want to learn to code your game projects more efficiently.

As part of this course, you’ll cover key topics, including:

• Lists
• Enumus
• Structs vs Classes
• Nullable types
• Interfaces
• Delegate and events

Skill level: Intermediate.

Duration: 1h 46m

How to access: Access the series here.

2D RPG Academy

As part of preparing for the exam, we highly encourage exploring lots of different game mechanics. This forces you to learn and re-learn C# structures and systems, as well as focus on improving your coding efficiency.

The 2D RPG Academy by Zenva is a perfect choice when it comes to this. In this collection of courses, you’ll focus on creating a variety of 2D RPGs, including turn-based RPGs, farming sims, action RPGs, and rogue-like games.

As each project featured involves different systems, you’ll quickly expand what you can do with C# and 2D in general. Likewise, you’ll also reinforce programming certain features like character movement that are integral to any kind of game that needs to be created.

With this course, you’ll learn the following:

• Tile-based maps
• Melee & ranged attacks
• Items & inventories
• Randomized dungeons
• Mini-maps
• Enemy AIs

Skill level: Beginner. No prior coding experience is needed.

Duration: 19h 2m

How to access: Access the curriculum here.

Learn Unity Multiplayer

If you really want to advance your skills with C#, one of the best game types to practice with is multiplayer. Multiplayer involves a ton of more advanced concepts to consider when it comes to programming since networks are a subject unto themselves. Plus, with Unity’s new multiplayer system, it’s become fairly integrated with understanding the API.

Learn Unity Multiplayer by Code Monkey is the ultimate solution here. You’ll master a ton of things like synchronizing data, deciding the authoritative structure, using RPCs and network variables, balancing server-side and client-side data, and more.

There is little chance this won’t improve your C# skills in some way!

With this course, you’ll learn the following:

• Singleplayer Overview
• Install Netcode and Basic Setup
• Sync Player Movement, Client Vs Server Auth
• Sync Player Animations
• Sync Delivery Manager
• Fix Selected Counter Visual
• Sync Pick up Objects
• Sync Kitchen Object Parent
• Sync Trash Counter, Cutting Counter, Stove Counter
• Sync Plate Add Ingredients
• Player collisions
• Sync Game State & Sync Pause
• Handle Disconnects & Late Joins
• Connection Scene Flow
• Character Select Scene
• Lobby & Relay
• Game Server Hosting (Multiplay), Matchmaker, Vivox
• Multiplayer Debug Tools
• Singleplayer Option
• Gamepad Test

Skill level: Intermediate. You’ll need some coding knowledge to understand this course.

Duration: 6h 20m

How to access: Access the course here.

Strategy Game Development Academy

Strategy games aren’t just popular – they feature a ton of complicated systems. Thus, learning just how strategy games work and are programmed can be a big boost to your skills.

The Strategy Game Development Academy by Zenva allows you to explore a variety of different strategy game mechanics. You’ll learn everything from making city-builders with an emphasis on resource management to turn-based strategy games featuring multiplayer mechanics. You’ll even get to explore universal systems such as unlockable, tech research trees!

The breadth of variety here is astounding – but allows you to practice a ton of C# programming and cement it into your skill set. You can also practice expanding these games as well to further your skills and make certain you’re prepared for the exam to come.

With this course, you’ll learn the following:

• Strategy game mechanics
• Resource management
• Turn-based and real-time formats
• Enemy AI and state machines
• Multiplayer games with Photon networking

Skill level: Beginner. No prior knowledge of Unity or C# is needed.

Duration: 28h 33m

How to access: Access the curriculum here.

Unity Associate Programmer Certification Wrap Up

That brings us to the end of this list, and you should hopefully soon be ready to tackle the Associate Programmer Certification. Regardless of whether you pursue certification or not, though, these courses are sure to help you upskill.

All this said, we hope you continue to explore other courses available on platforms like Zenva and elsewhere. There is a lot to learn about Unity, and there are even higher-level certifications after this. More education on working with Unity can never hurt!

Good luck with your preparations, and we look forward to seeing new Unity experts out there in the future!

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The game industry is currently booming, projected to reach $372.00bn by 2023 and grow to $545.98 bn by 2028. For those interested in game art, now is a fantastic time to break into the industry with jobs galore available. However, even with a portfolio, game art is a super competitive field without some extra edge to bring you above the competition.

This is why having Unity’s User Artist Certification can give you a boost. It proves your skills, and proves your knowledge of the game engine itself (both highly valued skills for jobs). That said, how can you prepare for the exam?

In this article, we’re going to explore some fantastic courses available to help you master the art of game art and learn Unity – even if you have zero experience with the engine.

Let’s get started!

What is the Unity User Artist Certification?

Unity’s User Artist Certification showcases your core Unity skills to help you achieve a professional role as a Unity 2D and 3D artist. It will demonstrate that you can manage aspects of art assets, scene design, and use complex tools in Unity to make character creations.

To be eligible for this exam, you’ll need at least 150 hours of Unity experience and some basic knowledge of character creation, lighting, materials, and cameras. You’ll also need to undertake two to three semesters of Unity classwork or independent study and have a portfolio containing a range of completed Unity projects before applying.

Many holders of the Unity User Artist Certification will go on to become junior developers, junior artists, lighting and technical artists, content designers, or quality assurance testers.

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The Benefits of Unity’s User Artist Certification

Unity is the most popular game engine to date, powering half of all games worldwide. Making games using Unity will improve your chances of starting a game artist career.

Unity’s User Artist Certification is designed to showcase the professional knowledge of aspiring game artists to help them stand out against their competitors. Here are the benefits of receiving Unity’s User Artist Certification.

Boost your career chances

Having a Unity Certification will allow you to stand out in an incredibly competitive industry against hundreds of other applicants. It’s a rare credential in the game artistry industry and is used as proof that an individual has the skills needed to start a professional career. Alongside this, a Unity Certification proves dedication to being a game artist since it costs significant money and time to finish the exam.

Many Unity-based jobs list certification as a requirement, putting you in a great position to start your career in the gaming industry.

Improve your talents as an artist

You’ll need plenty of experience using Unity and C# to create game art before taking the Unity User Artist Certification, allowing you to improve your talents as a game artist. By spending at least 150 hours using Unity to create complicated characters and worlds, you’ll be more than ready to enter a professional career.

Showcase your technical skills

To obtain the Unity User Artist Certification, you need to have strong technical skills for games, apps, models, and simulations. You’ll be able to showcase your technical skills and proficiency in using Unity, one of the most popular game development programs.

What courses are best to prepare for Unity’s User Artist Certification?

To take Unity’s User Artist Certification, you need foundational knowledge of using Unity and C# for the purposes of game design. It is essential to study game artistry before applying to take the exam. Luckily, there are many online courses designed to help you improve your skills as a game designer so that you can take the Unity User Artist Certification.

Here are the best online courses you can take to prepare for Unity’s User Artist Certification.

Unity Game Development Mini-Degree

Passing the artist certification is as much about knowing Unity as it is about art. Zenva’s Unity Game Development Mini-Degree is a comprehensive curriculum designed around teaching you Unity from the ground up. You’ll work on everything from the foundations of Unity to building real-world projects that are perfectly suitable for bulking up any portfolio you might want to create.

Along the way, you’ll learn a ton of aspects relevant to the User Artist Certification – such as how the cameras work, how audio assets work, and even how to manage animations for your game projects (whether 2D or 3D).

Plus, all of Zenva’s courses offer tons of extra material to help with your learning process. This includes downloadable project files and text-based summaries so you can learn in whatever way suits you best!

With the Unity Game Development Mini-Degree, you’ll learn the following topics:

• C# coding basics
• UI systems
• Audio effects
• Cinematic cutscenes
• Special effects
• Procedural terrain
• Animation

Skill level: Beginner. You don’t need prior experience in Unity or C#.

Duration: 36h 23m

How to access: Access the curriculum here.

Intro to Game Development with Unity

If you want to start off a bit smaller with your Unity journey, Intro to Game Development with Unity by Zenva is the perfect starter.

This short course is focused specifically on people who have never used Unity in their life. As such, rather than throwing to you the deep end of the pool, it takes a light, hand-holding approach. You’ll discover how to set up Unity, what windows in the engine mean, how to work in 3D space with objects, and more. Of course, you’ll also discover some fundamentals around C# as well – so when you’re ready to start building games, you’ll have the key skills you’ll need.

By the end, the course will also get you building your first interactive project!

If you’re unsure, Zenva does offer a free sample of this course via Unity 101 – Game Development Foundations.

As part of this course, you’ll cover key topics, including:

• Installing and setting up Unity projects
• manipulating object size, position, and rotation
• How to change aesthetics with materials
• Coding variables and operators with C#
• Using various skills to create interactive games
• Building and deploying your games

Skill level: Beginner. No prior knowledge is needed.

Duration: 2h 7m

How to access: Access the course here.

Unity Pixel Art Game Tutorial – Complete Starting Setup

2D games are still thriving, so learning how those sorts of assets work in Unity is a good skill to have as well – especially for certification.

Through Unity Pixel Art Game Tutorial – Complete Starting Setup by Restful Coder, you’ll explore how to take 2D pixel art assets and bring them into Unity for game projects. This includes how to paint tilemaps in the engine, how to import your assets properly, and even some idiosyncrasies when it comes to setting up cameras and collisions.  You’ll also learn a bit about the different ways in which creating pixel art levels through parts works.

You’ll cover key topics, including:

• Unity overview
• Player character and sprite
• Player movement
• Tilemaps and background
• Obstacles and collisions
• Prevent character spinning
• Add a camera (Cinemachine) and follow player
• Make the camera pixel perfect
• Confine the camera to the background
• Fix background collision bug
• Tweak camera settings

Skill level: Novice. Some basic knowledge of Unity and C# is needed.

Duration: 51m

How to access: Access the course here.

Create your First 3D Game in Unity

One of the best ways to learn to work with game assets is to just build a game. Of course, you don’t want to start off too complicated, which is why Zenva’s Create Your First 3D Game in Unity is a great course.

Focusing specifically on 3D games, you’ll master a variety of platformer mechanics including how to work with character controllers, set up “enemies”, create coin collectibles, add UI systems, and more. Each element has its own asset requirements, of course, so you’ll learn a lot about how to manipulate art aesthetics using the tools Unity offers. Plus, by the end of the course, you’ll have a nifty entry for your portfolio and good skills to begin expanding into other relevant areas (such as lighting).

With this course, you’ll learn how to:

• Create player and enemy objects
• Construct a level with 3D models
• Script the camera to follow the player
• Set up the game-winning conditions
• Add collectible coins
• Build UI elements and menus

Skill level: Novice. You’ll need minimal knowledge of Unity and C#.

Duration: 2h 16m

How to access: Access the course here.

How to Make a Game – Unity Beginner Tutorial

In How to Make a Game – Unity Beginner Tutorial by Jason Weimann, viewers are taught the entire process of building a physics-based game using Unity. As mentioned many times before this is key to learning Unity in general, as it forces you to work with game assets in various ways.

What makes this course stand out is the fact it begins with a focus specifically on bringing and preparing your assets to actually be used in your game. So right up front, you know you’re learning about this aspect and how the basics work!

You’ll cover the following key topics:

• Sprites
• Importing Art
• Animation
• Background art
• Physics
• Coding
• Dragging
• Launching
• Obstacles
• Indicator
• Camera Controller
• Enemy
• Particles
• Prefabs
• Levels

Skill level: Beginner. No prior knowledge is needed.

Duration: 3h 4m

How to access: Access the course here.

Create your First 2D Game in Unity

The Create Your First 2D Game in Unity course by Zenva is similar to another entry on this list. Rather than 3D assets, however, this one focuses on 2D.

Throughout the course, you’ll work through building a 2D platformer featuring collectibles, enemies, character movement, UI systems, and more. You’ll even learn how you can manage your levels so you can easily make a multiple-level game.

Along the way, of course, you’ll master a ton of tips and tricks specifically for working with basic 2D assets, which come with their own sets of rules in comparison. Nevertheless, these are essential for preparing for certification, since these differences will be important professionally as well.

This course will teach you key coding techniques, including:

• Implementing player and enemy objects
• Scripting platformer-style movements
• Building levels with 2D tiles
• Setting up collectibles and scoring
• Controlling gameplay flow with goals
• Creating UIs for scores and menus

Skill level: Intermediate. Some basic knowledge of Unity and C# is required.

Duration: 1h 55m

How to access: Access the course here.

How to do Character Customization!

If you’re interested in something a little more advanced at this point, look no further than How to do Character Customization! by Code Monkey! This free course shows you how to build the ever-popular feature of allowing users to have a custom character for their gameplay experience.

As you can imagine, this will cover a lot about how assets are managed, changed, and rendered – all core skills you’re going to want to master in your practice to pass the User Artist Certification!

Key topics:

• Character Customization Unity Tutorial
• Sponsor
• 4 Methods to do Character Customization
• Characters with 3 different setups
• Change Material, Texture
• Change Mesh, Avatar, Keep Animations
• Add parts with SkinnedMeshRenderer
• Issues with SkinnedMeshRenderer
• Character Customization Unity Tutorial

Skill level: Novice. Some basic knowledge of Unity and C# is required.

Duration: 17m

How to access: Access the course here.

Unity User Artist Certification Wrap Up

This brings us to the end of our list of best courses for the User Artist Certification. We’ve covered a lot of ground here, and we just know these skills will open up new doors for you professionally and personally.

But… we’ve only been able to scratch the surface. There are thousands of courses out there, and what’s “best” may mean something different for you than it does for us. So, don’t be afraid to explore more Unity courses through platforms like Zenva – the more you learn, the better positioned you’ll be to pass the exam!

We wish you all the best of luck with the exam, and we hope we’ve made prepping for it just a little bit easier!

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Long story short – now is a fantastic time to learn game development – even if you intend to stay a solo indie creator. This said, for those looking to bolster their resume more professionally, you’ll need some extra “oomph” to stand out from the crowd, as plenty of other people have the same skills. Enter Unity’s User Programmer Certification, which is a quick and easy way to show you know the popular Unity engine and the programming skills needed for game creation.

As passing the exam is no walk in the park, though, in this article, we’re going to showcase our favorite Unity courses. These courses will be geared towards helping you pass that exam, and ensure you get the skills you need to be at for your career!

Let’s get started!

What is the Unity User Programmer Certification?

Unity’s User Programmer Certification is designed for aspiring game or app developers to teach them Unity’s primary capabilities and functions as a development platform. With this certification, learners are evaluated on how much they know about the fundamentals of Unity, including making projects and Prefabs and navigating the editor. Students will also be tested on C# knowledge.

The overall aim is to prove students can read, write, and understand basic code used all the time in Unity. Many receivers of the Unity User Programmer Certification go on to start postsecondary programs in game development, animation, or STEM – or alternatively, create their own successful games.

To take the exam, students must build their knowledge base of Unity and C#. Test subjects could include:

• Building projects in Unity, using C#
• Navigating the Unity interface and interpreting API basics
• Creating prototypes, debugging, and solving programming difficulties
• Programming a function state machine

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The Benefits of a Unity User Programmer Certification

The Unity game engine is used to power half of all games globally. Learning how to use and code with Unity is, therefore, not only beneficial for creating high-powered games, but breaking into the competitive game development and design industry.

The Unity User Programmer Certification is designed to help aspiring developers stand out in a busy crowd, as to receive this certification, you’ll need professional knowledge of not only Unity but programming with C#.

Here are the main benefits of receiving Unity’s User Programmer Certification.

Stand out in the job market

The game development job sector is incredibly difficult to break into. You’ll be up against hundreds (if not thousands) of applicants, all gunning for the same position. To have any chance of winning a developer position, you’ll need to stand out from the crowd and position yourself as a proven professional.

The Unity User Programmer Certification is a rare credential in the developer world and is recognized as proof that you have skills and dedication to game development – since there is significant cost and time involved in taking the exam.

In fact, many Unity-based job postings will list Unity Certifications as a (preferred) requirement, putting you in a much better hiring position.

Showcase your skill level

To qualify for the Unity User Programmer Certification, you must build a solid knowledge base of both the game engine and C#. It will allow you to not only improve your skill levels as you study to take the exam, but once you’ve obtained the certification, you can prove just how knowledgeable you are to potential employers.

Go from hobbyist to professional

Many Unity developers are self-taught gaming lovers, having fun creating their own animations and worlds. For some, the main goal is to be entertained and learn the ins and outs of Unity simultaneously.

However, teaching yourself a complicated tool can be difficult, especially without a guided learning path. While there are plenty of courses available online, it can be hard to know what to do after you’ve finished.

Unity’s User Programmer Certification allows hobbyists to follow a structured path, with certifications ranging from beginner to professional. Taking the exams in order will allow them to progress naturally, picking up the skills needed to move on to the next certification.

What courses are best to prepare for Unity’s User Programmer Certification?

Unity’s User Programmer Certification is designed to showcase an individual’s skills in Unity and C#, and it’s essential to build knowledge before taking the exam. There are many professional courses online that will teach you everything you need to know about making games with Unity.

Here are the best courses for preparing to take the User Programmer Certification.

Unity Game Development Mini-Degree

The Unity Game Development Mini-Degree, created by Zenva, is a comprehensive curriculum focused around Unity. With no experience necessary to jump in, users get the opportunity to learn a wide variety of tools. This includes basic engine functionality like object manipulation, to rarer tools such as ProBuilder and Cinemachine.

While mastering the fundamentals of Unity, students will also get the chance to build real-world projects for a professional portfolio. This includes games in popular genres like RPGs, idle clicks, and FPS games (to name a few). Plus, everything is made with expandable systems that you can practice with further to improve your skills.

Of course, for the sake of the certification exam, this curriculum has just about all the basics you’ll need in both Unity and C# to upskill yourself in preparation!

With the Unity Game Development Mini-Degree, you’ll learn topics including:

• C# coding basics
• UI systems
• Audio effects
• Cinematic cutscenes
• Special effects
• Procedural terrain
• Animation
• Genre mechanics

Skill level: Beginner and comprehensive. No prior experience is necessary.

Duration: 36h 23m

How to access: Access the curriculum here.

Intro to Game Development with Unity

If you’re looking just for a single course to start, then Zenva’s Intro to Game Development with Unity course is a great choice. This course is intended for ultra-beginners – i.e. people who have literally never touched Unity before in any capacity.

The course focuses on three major areas: the basic tools of the engine and interacting with objects, C# fundamentals for Unity, and combining everything to make a balloon popper game. Together, these cores will set you up for success in beginning your Unity education journey, as the skills will serve you as you move into more complicated projects.

Likewise, it is worth noting this course is suitable for younger users – as young as Grade 8. Thus, you don’t have to wait at all to start learning.

Lastly, if you’re a bit hesitant, you can try a free course sample by taking Unity 101 – Game Development Foundations, which covers the basics of setting up and using key tools of Unity.

Intro to Game Development by Zenva Academy covers key topics, including:

• How to install and set up Unity projects
• How to manipulate object size, position, and rotation
• Ways to change aesthetics with materials
• Code variables and operators with C#
• Combining various skills in order to create interactive games
• How to build and deploy your games

Skill level: Beginner

Duration: 2h 7m

How to access: Access the course here.

How to Program in C#

With the name being User Programmer Certification, you might imagine there’s going to be quite a lot of C# knowledge expected. So, learning to program with C# is kind of a bit point.

In the How to Program in C# series by Brackeys, you’ll focus more specifically on C# itself and learn all the principles you’ll need to apply in Unity. These videos are also designed to keep games in mind – so you don’t have to worry about it not being too divorced from Unity either.

The series includes the following topics:

• Input and output
• Variables
• Conditions
• Loops
• Array
• Functions
• Classes

Skill level: Beginner

Duration: 2h 4m

How to access: Access the series here.

Unity Mini-Projects – C# Fundamentals

Unity Mini-Projects – C# Fundamentals by Zenva is a beginner-oriented course aimed at helping users expand their Unity and C# knowledge by applying them to real-world projects. These mini-projects are designed both to build out learners’ portfolios while also teaching them a number of C# techniques.

The projects featured for the course are a balloon popper with a scoring system, an efficient object spawner, and bowling and skiing mini-games. Through these, users get the chance to play with physics and more as well, rounding out their Unity education.

This is also a great stop if you don’t feel ready to jump into full games yet, since this lets you experiment with basic interactivity first.

Broader skills will also be covered, including:

• Implementing multiple scripts in one project
• Building user interfaces
• Dealing with user inputs
• Detecting collisions between game objects
• Accessing object data through C# scripting
• Applying physics to objects.

Skill level: Novice, but some basic Unity and C# skills are required.

Duration: 1h 40m

How to access: Access the course here.

How to Make a 2D Game

Sometimes, the best way to learn Unity is just to build games and experiment with various features. As Unity is able to do both 2D and 3D games, though, it can be beneficial to learn both.

In the case of this entry, the How to Make a 2D Game series by Brackeys will cover 2D specifically. From the fundamentals of just making a game in the first place to working with Unity tools like lighting, this series has a little bit of everything. All are in line with what you’ll need for the certification exam, however, so it’s a good jack-of-all-trades series to start preparing.

With this course, you’ll learn the following key topics:

• 2D Movement
• Animation
• 2D Camera
• 2D Shooting
• Organic Levels
• Lights
• Top Down Shooting
• Melee Combat
• Making a Boss

Skill level: Beginner

Duration: 2h 9m

How to access: Access the series here.

Create Your First 3D Game in Unity

As a companion to the entry above, you don’t want to neglect 3D game development either. That’s why the Create Your First 3D Game in Unity by Zenva is an excellent next step in your journey

This course covers creating a 3D platformer project that is designed to teach you some of the most common game mechanics you’ll want to know. This includes how to craft levels through the scene editor, how to add collectibles, how to add enemies that can trigger game-overs, and how to set up a simple UI. Of course, you’ll also learn 3D player movement – which is essential knowledge to have no matter what direction you go!

With this course, you’ll learn techniques such as:

• Creating player and enemy objects
• Constructing a level with 3D models
• Scripting the camera to follow the player
• Setting up the game-winning conditions
• Adding collectible coins
• Building UI elements and menus

Skill level: Novice. You’ll need basic knowledge of Unity and C#.

Duration: 2h 16m

How to access: Access the course here.

Learn Unity Beginner/Intermediate 2023

Designed to teach users how to write high-quality code by making a complex project, the Learn Unity Beginner/Intermediate 2023 course by Code Monkey is an all around master course for covering every Unity basic. With this course, you’ll make a fun arcade game while learning the complexities of both Unity and C#. This includes everything from more intermediate C# coding to working with things like sounds.

This said, it is still relatively beginner-friendly – so perfectly suited to passing the User Programmer Certification.

With this course, you’ll learn topics such as:

• Unity Layout
• Visual Studio
• Code Style, Naming Rules
• Importing Assets
• Post Processing
• Character Controller, Visual, Rotation
• Animations & Cinemachine
• Collision Detection
• Interact Action, C# Events
• Selected Counter Visual, Singleton Pattern
• Player Pick up, Drop Objects
• Cutting, World Canvas
• Music & Sound Effects
• Main Menu, Loading

Skill level: Novice. You’ll need some basic knowledge of Unity and C#.

Duration: 10h 49m

How to access: Access the course here.

Unity User Programmer Certification Wrap Up

With these Unity courses, you should be more than prepared to take on the User Programmer Certification. While the exam sounds intimidating, do keep in mind the exam was also made to be suitable for high school students to be able to take and pass as well. Thus, as the entry-level certification, you don’t yet have to be a Unity expert!

This said, we do encourage you to explore more courses. Zenva, for instance, offers far more Unity courses than we could mention here. And the more you know about Unity, the better your opportunities will be. Plus, there are even higher-level certifications to look for after this, so more preparation won’t hurt for that either.

No matter where your path takes you, we wish you the best of luck with your game development adventures!

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If you’re looking to break into the gaming industry, having VR coding skills is a surefire way to get a foothold in the door. Of course, plenty of people already had this idea – so how do you stand out from the crowd? The answer here is Unity’s User VR Developer Certification, one of the few certifications available to showcase that you have the skills you’re boasting. However, preparing and passing the exam is a challenge in and of itself – but thankfully there are resources available to save the day.

In this article, we’re going to discuss some of our favorite resources that will help you learn the VR skills you need to not only to succeed in making VR projects in general, but in passing your User VR Developer Certification exam.

Let’s dive in!

What is the Unity User VR Developer Certification?

Unity’s User VR Developer Certification is an exam-based certification designed to show employers and postsecondary programs that you have a solid understanding of VR experiences in Unity. The focus here is on showing that you understand how to consider adaptations to games for VR.

To take this certification exam, you’ll need some foundational skills in both Unity and C# programming since this is an advanced qualification. Additionally, you’ll also need to pass Unity’s Certified User Programmer Certification first.

All Unity’s certification exams were developed through careful research and collaboration with testing specialists and game development experts. Currently, the tests are administered by Pearson VUE, a renowned educational company, meaning the certifications are regarded highly by industry professionals.

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The Benefits of a Unity User VR Developer Certification

The Unity User VR Developer Certification is designed to help professionals break into the growing VR industry. Here are the main benefits of taking this exam.

Stand out in the job market

Unity’s User VR Certification shows employers that you have the knowledge and skill levels needed to succeed in a VR developer position, giving you a competitive edge over other professionals. Since certifications are rare in the gaming industry, having a Unity Certification will help you stand out against other professionals. You’ll also have a better chance of getting a Unity-based job, which will often list a Unity Certification as a requirement.

The certification is industry-recognized and can be included on your resume and professional portfolio.

Improve your skill level

This certification showcases your abilities to create VR experiences and programs using Unity. You’ll need to put in 200 hours of Unity training before obtaining the certification, improving your skill levels over time. Naturally, preparing for the exam also improves your skills by association.

What courses are best to prepare for Unity’s User VR Developer Certification?

To be eligible for Unity’s User VR Developer Certification, you must have some base knowledge of virtual reality. Luckily, there are many courses online that will teach you the basics of VR coding, development, and design.

Here are the best online courses you can take to boost your skills, all from the comfort of your home.

Virtual Reality Mini-Degree

Zenva’s Virtual Reality Mini-Degree is a comprehensive collection of courses designed to teach you everything that you need to know about VR. You’ll start from the ground up in this curriculum – first learning the Unity engine itself and then mastering a variety of VR principles and mechanics. These include working with controllers, different styles of movement, and so on.

Throughout the courses, you’ll also get hands-on experience with projects – such as a kitchen simulator – which can also be used to build out courses.

Many courses in this set also come with supplemental material to cement your knowledge, including live coding exercises, quizzes, course files, and downloadable text summaries to help you refresh your knowledge!

Overall, this is a truly comprehensive choice whether you’re new to Unity entirely or are just ready to learn the features of VR.

You’ll also learn the following key topics:

• Coding basics with C# and Unity
• Movement options
• VR-optimized UI design
• Hand-tracked controllers
• Industry best-practices
• Simulations and games

Skill level: Comprehensive

Duration: 17h 46m

How to access: Access the curriculum here.

How to make a VR game in Unity in 2022

Valem Tutorials’ How to make a VR game in Unity in 2022 series is designed to give you the basic knowledge needed to get into VR development. With the focus specifically on VR (so assuming you know some Unity already), these videos cover a wide array of topics. This includes movements and controllers – even covering how to grab with two hands!

The series also includes some other important considerations as well, such as dealing with motion sickness – which is a very common issue for VR projects.

Various topics include:

• Introduction: how to make a VR game in Unity
• Input and Hand Presence
• Continuous Movement
• Teleportation
• Hover, grab, and user interactable
• Offset and distance grab
• User interface
• Two hand grab

Skill level: Beginner

Duration: 3h 10m

How to access: Access the playlist here.

Intro to Game Development with Unity

If you’ve literally never touched Unity before, Zenva’s Intro to Game Development with Unity course is perfect. While there’s nothing pertaining to VR in it, as it is an ultra-level beginner’s course, you will learn all about Unity as a tool itself.

This includes how to do basic things like navigate the various windows, manipulate game objects, and so forth. You’ll also dive into C# programming and learn some basic coding principles.

So, while this course isn’t about VR itself, it’s an important step on the path. You have to learn Unity itself first before you can learn VR!

If you’re on a budget – or just aren’t sure about the course – there is a free course sample available via Unity 101 – Game Development Foundations. This will give you an idea of what to expect and help you get your feet wet without investing too much here yet.

Intro to Game Development with Unity covers topics such as:

• Install and set up Unity projects
• Manipulate object size, position, and rotation
• Change aesthetics with materials
• Code variables, operators, and more with C#
• Combine various skills to create interactive games
• Build and deploy your games

Skill level: Beginner level. No prior experience is needed.

Duration: 2h 7m

How to access: Access the course here.

How to Make VR Games in 2022

How to Make VR Games in 2022 by Justin P Barnett teaches you how to set up your first VR project on the fairly recent version of Unity, including basics on how to use the “grab interactable” tool to pick up objects in VR and the locomotion system. This fairly short but straightforward course is designed to give you the very basics you need to work with VR. While there is a lot more to explore, the foundations established here will set you on the right path forward!

Key topics covered in this course include:

• How to set up a new Unity project for VR
• How to import the Unity XR Interaction Toolkit package
• How to set up an introductory VR scene
• How to set up basic VR movement
• How to pick up objects in VR
• How to test your app on PC, Mac, or Linux
• How to add our VR template to Unity

Skill level: Beginner

Duration: 26m

How to access: Access the course here.

Build a Micro-VR Game

In the Build a Micro-VR Game course, created by Zenva, you’ll explore some basic VR coding techniques while creating a small outdoor grilling VR experience. The course covers some of the most fundamental concepts – including how to grab things with controllers and how to use teleportation-style movement.

You’ll also learn how to adjust your game to be deployed on various VR devices, including Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest, Oculus Go, SteamVR, and more. All of this is to help prepare you to develop any VR rig.

Worth noting as well is that this course does not focus on Unity’s XR Interaction Toolkit. As this technology has become the predominantly covered aspect for VR, this course gives you the chance to explore other ways to create VR experiences that can be useful for the future!

Key topics covered:

• Understand the difference between virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality
• Create an environment for grilling and change the color of assets
• Set up Unity for a variety of VR devices
• Implement hand controllers that can pick up and place objects down
• Develop a teleportation system so players can move around the map

Skill level: Beginner

Duration: 1h 56m

How to access: Access the course here.

Learn Unity – Beginner’s Game Development Tutorial

Learn Unity -Beginner’s Game Development Tutorial by freeCodeCamp.org is another entry on this list that isn’t really focused much on VR. Still, as stated in a previous item, learning the fundamentals of Unity first is not only recommended, but required if you want to learn VR.

For complete beginners, this course is a good place to start as you’ll learn the foundations of using Unity. You’ll explore a ton of C# programming fundamentals not covered elsewhere as well, so if you want a full gambit for C# this is also an excellent resource.

Key topics covered:

• Downloading Unity And Unity Hub
• Camera Follow Player
• Enemy Animations, Script, Spawner, and Collision
• Unity’s UI System
• Navigating Between Scenes
• Selecting A Character
• Static Variables
• Singleton Pattern
• Events And Delegates

Skill level: Beginner

Duration: 7h 24m

How to access: Access the course here.

Discover the XR Interaction Toolkit for VR

When it comes to Unity, the XR Interaction Toolkit is considered the new standard for building VR projects. This new system basically forgoes any form of coding. Instead, everything is component based – so making an item interactable is as easy as dragging on the right components and adjusting the settings.

In Zenva’s Discover the XR Interaction Toolkit for VR course, you’ll learn just that – how to use the XR Interaction Toolkit. This course covers all the basics you’ll need to get started, including teleportation and hand-grabbing controllers. All the while, you’ll also create a nifty kitchen simulator project to add to your portfolio!

Key topics covered:

• Set up the XR Interaction Toolkit
• Create interactable objects
• Implement teleportation-style movement
• Deal with hand-grabbing controllers
• Add particle effects based on object orientation

Skill level: Beginner to intermediate – Unity skills are expected.

Duration: 59m

How to access: Access the course here.

Unity User VR Developer Certification Wrap Up

And there we have it – the best courses to prepare for getting the User VR Developer Certification from Unity.

While we’ve given you a lot of material to work with, we encourage you to explore as many courses as physically possible. Remember, you have to pass the User Programmer Certification first, so you’re going to need to ramp up your Unity skills quickly in order to even prepare for this particular exam. So please continue to browse sites like Zenva and master all that you can. The more you learn Unity, the better position you’ll be in!

We hope these courses help you start your preparations, and we wish you the best of luck in becoming a VR expert!

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Whether you’re just starting out or have been making games for a long time, this is a difficult question. However, it’s a question that comes up often in the professional world. Numerous situations will require you to show evidence you actually do know what you’re doing.

While portfolios are definitely a necessity, for Unity developers, there is another fantastic option: Unity Certification.

In this article, we will endeavor to explore what Unity Certification is, why Unity Certification is definitely worthwhile to pursue, and how you can start preparing to earn your certification.

Let’s jump in!

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An Overview of Unity Certification

In this section, we will discuss what Unity Certification is for those new to the topic. If you already have a good idea of what Unity Certification is, feel free to skip ahead to find out why Unity Certification can help you and get guidance on prepping for an exam.

What is Unity Certification?

The Unity Certification program is a set of exams aimed at testing Unity developers’ core skills in game development and the Unity engine. The exams were developed meticulously by Unity through research, and with coordination between both testing specialists and game development experts.

At current, the tests are administered by Pearson VUE, a branch of the widely-recognized educational company Pearson, which is aimed at specifically providing testing for professional certifications. As such, Unity Certifications are regarded very highly in the professional world due to the extensive work and credentials associated with them.

The exams for Unity Certification are divided between a few different specialties and different levels of experience – giving every user an opportunity to pursue certification. Likewise, this division allows the prices to vary – starting as cheap as $60 and going all the way up to $350 for experts (with some bulk purchasing options for schools).

How are the Unity Certifications Structured?

As mentioned above, the Unity Certifications consist of several different exams depending on your level of experience and your specialty in that experience level. We will briefly discuss what exams are available so you can get a grasp on what you personally may wish to pursue.

Certified User Unity Certification

This is the beginner’s level exam aimed at people who’ve just learned a little bit of Unity. To put it into better perspective, this exam was one that was made to be appropriate for high school level students as well, so there’s no expectation you’ve necessarily even made more than a couple of hobby games.

At this level, Unity offers three different certification specialties, each with a separate exam.

• Programmer: This is probably what would be considered the main certification for Unity itself at this level. In this one, users are evaluated on how well they know the fundamentals of using Unity, such as how to make projects and Prefabs, navigate the editor, and so forth. This exam will, of course, also test your basic C# knowledge – including quite a lot of focus on Unity-specific library functions and accessing components. However, the main point is to see if you’re able to read, write, understand, and debug basic code elements that will be used all the time.
• Artist: This level tests how well you know Unity’s tools in order to design 2D and 3D scenes. This includes things like importing the assets correctly and manipulating objects in the scene. You’ll also be expected to know a little bit about lighting, materials, and cameras.
• VR Developer: For this certification, users are tested specifically on how well they can adapt a Unity project for VR. This includes elements related to understanding how to even set up a VR project, how to deal with movement based on hardware, and how to optimize your elements to be VR-ready.

Certified Associate Unity Certification

This certification is primarily designed for those ready to actually start working in professional development. The general assumption is that you’ll probably already have a few simple projects under your belt, and be ready to justify the fact you can, in fact, build games.

Like the User Certification level, this level also has three different exam options to specialize in:

• Game Developer: This particular exam focuses on testing whether you can make a game with Unity. While there is some C# programming involved, of course, the major aspects are much larger in scope. You’ll be expected to understand how to take a game from idea to completion. You’ll also be expected to know, relatively well, all the tools Unity offers such as audio, animation, physics, and so forth. Another way to think of it is this exam is for those looking to make sure they understand the bigger picture of game development.
• Programmer: At the Associate-level, the Programmer Certification focuses a ton more on C# scripting. You’ll be expected to have a solid understanding of working with Unity’s API to script behaviors and objects (including UI elements). This level also starts examining code efficiency, such as if you understand best practices for data structures. There is also a strong focus on being able to debug.
• Artist: Continuing somewhat from the Artist User Certification, the Artist Associate Certification focuses on more advanced uses of the Unity tools for artistry. This includes working with tools like Shader Graph and ProBuilder, understanding different lighting effects, implementing Level of Detail, and beyond. If it has to do with presenting the assets, be prepared for it to be on this exam.

Certified Professional Unity Certification

The Professional Unity Certification is where we really start getting into more advanced users. This certification level is focusing specifically on those who have probably up to 4 years of making professional Unity games. Another way to think about it is this certification is perfect for those who are already game developers but want that coveted promotion and need something extra to prove themselves.

This level focuses on two specific specializations for its exams:

• Programmer: At this level, you’re already expected to have long since mastered the fundamentals. So, the focus on this exam turns to more advanced C# programming. You’ll be tested on things like being able to program a render pipeline, working with teams on coding, and even being able to optimize the game with how you code. There is also some focus on applications as well at this level.
• Artist: At this level, artists aren’t tested much differently than before – the only expectation difference is your level of understanding. As such, you’ll need to be a pro at being able to light scenes, work with particle systems, deal with animations, and similar. There is also a bigger focus on teamwork aspects to ensure you can work with big-budget productions.

Certified Expert Unity Certification

This is the last level of certification, and as expected, it’s focused on the bravest and most experienced game developers. In general, this certification is best for those who have worked with Unity for at least 5 years, if not more. It’s also a relatively safe assumption that if you need this certification, you’re working in the wider game industry as a whole.

At this level, there is only one certification exam for Programmer. The exam focuses on two things. The first is simple project management principles, such as being able to scope the project and review it to polish and refine the game. The second is obviously the coding part – where you’re going to have to know how to work with advanced algorithms and mathematics, as well as evaluate your code to improve it to its utmost efficiency.

Why You Should Get Unity Certification

So, why should you get Unity Certification? Is Unity Certification worth it? In this section, we’re going to discuss the three major reasons why Unity Certification may help boost your position regardless of your personal goals.

Unity Certification Helps With Job Hunting

One of the core reasons the Unity team invested in their Unity Certification program was to help Unity developers with job hunting.

Job hunting for any position, game development or not, is very tough. You’re generally up against 10s or 100s of other applicants for the same position. Even if your application is lucky enough to get past the initial resume review process, the competition will only get thicker.

As such, the key goal of any applicant is to make themselves stand out from their competition. When it comes to game development, the more you can prove you know how to make games (or provide the subspeciality the company is looking for), the better your standing.

However, almost every game development applicant will have two items: their work history (or education history for those starting out), and their game developer portfolio. So, even if you make great games, you’re going to need to find another angle to help push yourself to the top of the pile.

This is where Unity Certification comes in. In an industry where certifications are extremely rare, Unity Certification stands apart. It is widely recognized as a solid credential to prove your skills due to the exams themselves and the cost & time involved in obtaining the certification. They are so accepted in the industry that a good number of Unity-based job postings will even list Unity Certifications as a preferred requirement for the position.

To put it another way, if you were in HR, who would you hire:

1. The applicant who has previous experience and a portfolio OR…
2. The applicant who has previous experience, a portfolio, and certification proving they know Unity

The answer here is probably going to be two – so you can see how Unity Certification can be an extra boost that will help you shine compared to other job hunters. It’s just a good piece of evidence you know how to make games, and since not everyone will get certified, it can only help you professionally speaking.

Unity Certification Prepares Teachers

Teaching is a challenging skill set to develop. Not only do you have to understand the subject matter you’re teaching, but know how to tailor that content to your audience.

This second part is particularly important. If what you’re teaching is too easy for the audience, they’re going to get bored and disengage. If what you’re teaching is too difficult for the audience, they’re going to get frustrated and disengage. There is a reason we don’t teach physics and calculus to kindergartners or teach high school students the Alphabet song.

So, when it comes to Unity, how can a teacher prepare? Surprisingly, the Unity Certification process is a great answer to this.

Obviously, by preparing for a Unity Certification exam, you’ll have to fulfill that first part of actually learning Unity and proving that you do know the subject matter. Thus, this benefit speaks for itself.

However, as Unity divides its certifications by experience level, you can also choose to prepare for the exam that suits the audience you most want to teach. By forcing yourself to prepare for the proper level exam, you achieve two things. First, you make sure you’ve refreshed in your mind the materials most relevant to your audience. Second, you unintentionally use Unity to guide you on what fundamentals you actually need to convey to your students.

So, once you pass your exam, you can use the exam as an example of how you should structure your own learning materials. This helps you save tons of time, and makes sure you have the right direction for what you want students to take away.

As a side benefit, for teachers focused on self-guided learning online by providing online courses, having Unity Certification can also be a great selling point!

Unity Certification Challenges Hobbyists

The last benefit of getting Unity Certification may surprise you – as it has nothing to do with the professional world.

Plenty of Unity developers out there would qualify more as hobbyists. While the professional world may be a long-term goal, the main goal is simply to have fun, make some awesome games, and learn more Unity skills along the way.

That being said, learning more Unity skills is a big component for hobbyists, especially as many are self-taught. And, if you’ve ever tried to teach yourself a new skill, you know it can be extremely hard to plan an ideal learning path. Even with numerous courses out there, you can still often hit a wall at one point wondering, “Where to next?”

This is the sneaky way in which Unity Certification can benefit the hobbyist. As mentioned, these certification exams are divided into different levels, going from beginner to expert developer. While not required, the subtle idea here is you take the certification exams in order since it’s a designed progression.

However, this subtle idea of taking them in order also gives you a core learning path to subscribe to. By following this progression and prepping for each exam, you can challenge yourself to learn exactly what would be expected of you at each level. In this way, you don’t have to question, “What’s next?” Unity Certification guides you exactly on the skills you’ll want to learn in order to hit the next step of your Unity development journey.

Likewise, this means you can more easily choose courses to achieve those goals, plan projects that would implement elements you need to know, and so forth. Plus, if the need should arise, you’ll be ready to take the Unity Certification exams at any point.

Overall, though, Unity Certification can still play a key role for hobbyists and helps describe an ideal path for developers to follow.

How to Prepare for Unity Certification

So perhaps at this point, we’ve convinced you to obtain Unity Certification – or at least convinced you that looking into these certifications is worth your time. This is where we come to our final section: how to prepare for Unity Certification. We’re going to cover the three major steps that will be involved, though the second part of this is the most important.

Understand Unity Certification Testing Procedures

Before you jump into other prep work, you’ll first want to do a bit of research into the Unity Certifications. Even though this seems common sense, it’s also an easy step to just skip over and take the “you only live once” route.

The most important aspect here is to simply tailor your expectations to understand what is required of you when the testing day rolls around. This way you can make sure to set aside enough time to take your exam, and also just generally prepare your environment to best suit your exam-taking needs.

However, you’ll also want to be sure to use this research time to narrow down your focus as well as to which exam you’re actually going to take.

Below, we’ve made a quick list of some of the most crucial information you’ll want to know going into your exam:

• These exams are proctored – so you are going to have to deal with a person watching over your shoulder.
• While Pearson VUE does have some scatterings of on-site testing centers, the exams are primarily designed to be taken online.
• The number of questions varies by exam, ranging from as little as 40 questions up to 100 questions in total.
• With the possible exception of the User Certification level, the tests are timed. We’ve listed the time limits below, but keep in mind it’s recommended you add an extra 15 minutes to your schedule to allow time for reading instructions and so forth:
  • Associate: 90 minutes
  • Professional: 105 minutes
  • Expert: 165 minutes
• If you fail, you can retake the test. For a second attempt, you must wait 15 days. Additional attempts require a 90-day waiting period.
• Unity Certifications are only good for 3 years. You must retake the test routinely to maintain your certification.

There are more questions you might have than we answered here, so we highly suggest checking out the FAQ section from Unity’s own website for further details. Regardless, do the legwork and make sure you have a solid understanding of your specific certification aims.

Unity Certification Prep Courses

Perhaps not surprisingly, if you’re going to get a Unity Certification, you kind of have to learn Unity and game development. How much you have to learn will depend on the exam you’re taking – which is why the step above is crucial. That’s the juncture you decide what level you want to aim for, which informs which kind of coursework you want to look for.

This being said, it’s important to consider the kinds of courses you pick. There is no shortage of Unity learning material out there, as it is a very popular engine. However, some coursework is definitely better than others. Our advice? Make sure to pick courses that aren’t aimed solely at exam passing. Instead, you’ll want courses that help encourage you to fully understand game development so you can continue to expand your skills.

We also highly recommend finding courses that have a project-based focus. Not only does this force you to learn in a more practical manner, but also helps you discover different game mechanics and build a portfolio. This way, you essentially kill two birds with one stone.

As a bonus, you may wish to search for courses that are intended as a series (i.e. curriculums). It’s much easier to build your skills consistently when courses are designed around that single idea of continuity. While not required, obviously, it can be a lot easier than picking and choosing courses at random from sites like YouTube or Udemy.

For those just getting started with Unity, though, here are some fantastic resources to start your Unity education off with (all of which are beginner-friendly):

Unity Game Development Mini-Degree

This curriculum is designed around learning a little of everything that Unity has to offer. This includes things such as working with the UI, working with art tools like ProBuilder, using particle systems, building worlds, and so forth. There are also several different kinds of projects featured, including an FPS game, an idle clicker, a kart racing game, and so on.

Virtual Reality Mini-Degree

As the name suggests, this curriculum is all about VR. Of course, you’ll learn the coveted fundamentals of Unity. Past that, though, you’ll get to experience a lot of VR-specific mechanics such as how to get players to move, how to work with different controller setups, and other essential knowledge. The curriculum also covers the XR Interaction Toolkit, which has become a core focus for VR development with Unity.

Retro Game Development Academy

With this curriculum, the focus is entirely on 2D game development. Students will make a constant stream of retro-inspired games such as Pong, platformers, base defense, and more. The curriculum even covers a bit of how to implement local multiplayer as well. Given the simple nature of the projects, this curriculum is fantastic for those wanting to build up their portfolio.

2D RPG Academy & 3D RPG Academy

Although two different curriculums, these resources have the same focus of covering RPG creation (just with different kinds of assets). The courses cover a variety of skills required for these games, including action and turn-based combat styles, roguelike procedural generation, character customization, and beyond.

Strategy Game Development Academy

This course series covers strategy games and their specific mechanics. This includes RTS games, turn-based games, city-builders, and tower defense games. Along the way, students explore a good number of required features, ranging from technology trees to designing enemy AI – all fantastic skills transferable to other projects.

Survival Game Development Academy

This curriculum entry on the list is a bit unique. Instead of many small projects, this curriculum has you build one big, complex survival game project. Starting from the zero-Unity experience, you can learn player mechanics, inventory systems, crafting, base building, and enemy combat. You’ll also get to explore making a save system – a core need for many games.

EdTech Game Development Academy

Last on the list, this curriculum focuses a bit more on making educational game projects and utilizing more advanced technology. Students can learn things as simple as making quizzes with Unity or working with Cinemachine to create cutscenes. On the other end, though, students can also learn to utilize tools like Azure to make voice-commanded applications or to bring in third-party API data.

Take Unity Certification Practice Tests

Last in the preparation steps is something kind of obvious: take practice tests.

Much like any sort of certification or big test like the SATs, there are plenty of resources out there that let you practice the tests. Obviously, legitimate sites won’t have the same content exactly as the exam. However, they will give you a fantastic idea of the sorts of stuff you may have to know and a better understanding of the experience level you’ll need to reach to pass.

This being said, be aware of two things. First, this step is optional. It can definitely help if you’re nervous, but it’s not required. If you feel confident, you can go straight to the exam if you wish. The practice tests are just there if you need them, as everyone practices in different ways.

Second, there are a lot of illegitimate sites out there that offer practice tests. There are evens some shady sites that claim to offer the actual exam in advance. Obviously, this would hardcore violate the Terms for these exams, so they are not recommended.

Instead, your best bet is to actually purchase practice tests from Pearson VUE itself. After all, who better to give you practice exams than the people running the exams in the first place?

There are some free resources available as well, but your mileage will vary with them. However, if you feel they’ll help you practice, by all means, use what you can.

Unity Certification Takeaways

Despite all the big talk, we acknowledge Unity Certification isn’t for everyone. Some developers absolutely prefer going the pure portfolio route – and this is a totally valid way to go about showcasing your skills. In fact, even with Unity Certification, having a portfolio can only help (and it’s also free for the budget conscious).

However, Unity Certification is nothing to ignore either. For many Unity developers, it can be a great piece of evidence to add to one’s resume. On the other spectrum, it can also be a simple way to structure how you learn Unity to ensure the best results for your time. It’s also a very accessible certification compared to others in the tech space. So, all in all, Unity Certification can be a fantastic and worthwhile pursuit to aim at.

We hope this article has given you some essential stepping stones to choose the right path for you when it comes to Unity Certification. Good luck with your Unity game development, and we wish you the best.

• Official Unity Certifications Page
• Pearson VUE Unity Certifications Page
• Zenva’s Unity Game Development Mini-Degree

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Well, the video game industry is looking to hire. Whether you’re a programmer, artist, writer, marketer, or gamer, you can find work in the industry. Video game companies are constantly springing up, and new game projects are hiring talented individuals to bring them to life. Truly, there are many options for pursuing a game development career. However, that also means there are MANY options – so which video game companies should you know about?

In this article, we’re going to be looking at some of the biggest video game companies, their history, and what they’ve done (i.e. their top games). Some of them you’ve probably heard of, others may be a bit more obscure. In any case, these companies are ones you should at least know about if you’re seriously looking to start your game development career. With that said, let’s jump right in.

Epic Games: North Carolina, USA

Founded in 1991 by Tim Sweeny, Epic Games is a well-recognized AAA game development company. Originally named “Potomac Computer Systems,” its name was changed to “Epic MegaGames” in 1991 with the release of their first MS-DOS game, “ZZT.” Since 1991, Epic Games has gone on to produce 60 other video game titles with some of their most recognizable being Gears of War and Fortnite. Epic Games is also known in the developing community as the creators of the Unreal Engine, a powerful, publicly-available game engine. They are also a parent company to Chair Entertainment, Psyonix, and Mediatonic – game development companies responsible for other titles like Rocket League and Infinity Blade.

Notable Video Games

• Infinity Blade
• Gears of War
• Fortnite
• Rocket League

Riot Games: California, USA

Riot Games has a prominent position not only in the game development industry but also in adjacent fields such as esports. Founded in 2006 by Brandon Beck and Marc Merill, the very first game produced by the company was League of Legends for PC and Mac. After the release of League of Legends in 2009, Riot Games opted to develop and monetize the game instead of starting a brand new project. This continued development included setting up an esports league for League of Legends. In 2011, Riot Games was bought by Tencent Holdings Ltd. Between 2013 and 2016, League of Legends was the most-played PC multiplayer game in the world with monthly player counts reaching 100 million.

Notable Video Games

• Valorant
• League of Legends

Nintendo: Kyoto, Japan

Nintendo is the oldest video game company in existence. In 1889, Fusajiro Yamauchi founded Nintendo Karuta, a company that produced playing cards. Nintendo was also one of the earliest developers of the video game console. Their first console, titled “The Color-TV,” was released in 1977. Nintendo weathered a recession in the video game industry during the 1980s with the release of the iconic games The Super Mario Brothers and Legend of Zelda. A new console was released during that time as well, the Nintendo Entertainment System. The console put out by this Japanese company has gone through several evolutions resulting in the Nintendo Switch of recent times.

Notable Video Games

• The Super Mario Brothers
• The Legend of Zelda
• Pokemon
• Super Smash Bros
• Metroid
• Animal Crossing

Konami: Tokyo, Japan

Konami was founded in 1969 by Kagemasa Kōzuki, but it wasn’t until 1978 that they stepped into the video game business. From 1978 to 1991, Konami produced arcade games such as Frogger and Metal Gear. They also published games on the Nintendo Entertainment System and home computers during that time. In 1991, their name was changed from Konami Industry Co. to simply Konami Co. Ltd. In the subsequent decade, Konami grew, expanding into the newly released Playstation and into card games with the release of their Yu-Gi-Oh! collectible cards. In recent times, Konami is the name of the corporate conglomerate with their video game division being called “Konami Digital Entertainment.”

Notable Video Games

• Frogger
• Scramble
• Dance Dance Revolution
• Metal Gear

Sega: Tokyo, Japan

Sega Enterprises was formed in 1965. A photo booth company called Rosen Enterprises was acquired by Nihon Goraku Bussan in 1965 who changed the company’s name to Sega Enterprises. After the name change, the company began exclusively selling arcade games like pinball machines or arcade shooters. In 1983, Sega released their first console called the SG-1000. The console did well in its first few years but ultimately didn’t become as popular as what Sega is known for today: their successful games. Sonic the Hedgehog was a character and a video game released in 1991 that was originally developed to showcase Sega’s new console called the Genesis. Sega’s success in the video game industry is typified by Sonic the Hedgehog, one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time.

Notable Video Games

• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Dragon Force
• Golden Axe
• Kingdom Conquest

Valve: Washington, USA

Which came first, Valve as a video game publisher or Valve as a video game developer? The answer is Valve as a video game developer but they both occur very near to each other. In 1996, Valve Corporation was founded in Kirkland, Washington by two former Microsoft employees, Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington. Two years later, Valve would release their first game called Half-Life. Five years later, Valve would release the publishing platform Steam with a sequel to the first Half-Life game being released a year later. They are now a multi-billion dollar publishing and development company with several hit releases like Counter-Strike and Team Fortress.

Notable Video Games

• Half-Life
• Counter-Strike
• Team Fortress
• Dota
• Portal

HalfBrick Studios: Brisbane, Australia

Halfbrick Studios was founded in 2001 and focused almost exclusively on making licensed games for consoles and mobile devices. Their early work was often video game adaptations of TV series produced for companies like Nickelodeon. Halfbrick is mostly known for their wildly popular mobile games like Jet Pack Joyride and Fruit Ninja released in the early 2010s. Those two franchises were further developed by Halfbrick to include support for consoles and virtual reality. Even with several hit titles under their belt, Halfbrick is considered an indie company employing between 50-200 people.

Notable Video Games

• Jet Pack Joyride
• Fruit Ninja
• Dan The Man
• Battle Racing Stars
• Monster Dash

Square Enix: Tokyo, Japan

The origin of the company Square Enix centers around a merger in 2003 between the two Japanese companies “Square” and “Enix.” Square was founded in 1983 as a software division of a Japanese power line construction company. In 1987, Square published what would become their most popular role-playing game called Final Fantasy. Enix was founded in 1975 and was focused on both developing and publishing games for the consoles at the time. Enix was responsible for publishing the wildly popular Dragon Quest series, presenting Enix and Square as prominent competitors. In 2003, both companies announced the merger which brought several popular game titles together under one company.

Notable Video Games

• Final Fantasy
• Dragon Quest
• Kingdom Hearts
• Chrono Trigger
• Tomb Raider

Coffee Stain Studios: Skövde, Sweeden

Coffee Stain Studios is one of the more recent companies on this list. It was founded by students at the University of Skövde in 2010. Coffee Stain Studios published their first game, I Love Strawberries, that same year on the Apple App Store. They found early success by winning a modding competition put on by Epic Games. Their mod, called Sanctum, combined the genres of “tower defense game” and “first-person shooter.” It was released as a standalone game in 2011.

The game that rocketed the company into the spotlight and turned it into a successful video game brand was Goat Simulator, released in 2014 and generating over 10 million dollars worth of revenue by the end of 2016. In addition to Goat Simulator, Coffee Stain Studios published Satisfactory, a simulation game released near the beginning of 2019. Satisfactory garnered half a million users in its first three months of release, passing one million within a year.

Notable Video Games

• Sanctum
• Satisfactory
• Goat Simulator

Rockstar Games: New York City, USA

Rockstar Games Incorporated was formed in 1998 under the parent company “Take-Two Interactive.” Before forming Rockstar Games, Take-Two Interactive had acquired several properties from the British game development company BMG Interactive. The game Grand Theft Auto was among the properties acquired by Take-Two Interactive. Once the acquisition had been made, three employees from BMG Interactive went to work for Take-Two Interactive. These three employees, Sam Houser, Dan Houser, and Jamie King, founded Rockstar Games Inc. as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive. Rockstar Games would then go on to produce over 100 more video game titles with some of them being among the bestselling video games of all time.

Notable Video Games

• Grand Theft Auto V
• Red Dead Redemption
• Max Payne

Noodlecake Studios: Saskatchewan, Canada

Not all game development companies need to be focused on publishing to every game platform in existence. Founded in 2011, Noodlecake Studios found a niche in the mobile game arena. Their first game, Super Stickman Golf, was also published in 2011 and has over five million downloads on the Google Play Store. Several of their games gained editor’s recommendations on the Apple App Store. In addition to being a developer, Noodlecake is also an indie publisher. Some of the games published by Noodlecake include Alto’s Odyssey, Chameleon Run, and Getting Over It With Benny Foddy – all three of which were top of the charts in both Google Play and Apple App Store.

Notable Video Games

• Alto’s Odyssey
• Absolute Drift
• Getting Over It with Benny Foddy
• Flipping Legend
• Bouncy Hoops
• Chameleon Run
• Super Stickman Golf

Unknown Worlds Entertainment: California, USA

Charlie Cleveland founded Unknown Worlds Entertainment in 2001. Their first game started life as a mod for Half-Life called Natural Selection. The mod was so successful the developers planned a sequel and Unknown Worlds Entertainment was born. The sequel to Natural Selection was released in 2012 titled Natural Selection 2. Unknown Worlds then went to work on their next project called Subnautica that was eventually released in early access in 2014. The full release came out in 2018 and immediately received critical acclaim, selling five million copies in two years. Unknown Worlds then planned a sequel to Subnautica that was released in 2021. The sequel, titled Subnautica: Below Zero, also received critical acclaim for its captivating design, gameplay, and story.

Notable Video Games

• Natural Selection
• Zen of Sudoku
• Subnautica
• Subnautica: Below Zero

Naughty Dog: California, USA

Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin created Naughty Dog in 1989. At the time, Gavin and Rubin had been working together as game developers for JAM Software (a company they founded in 1984) and decided to change the name to “Naughty Dog.” The release of their 1994 game Way of the Warrior prompted Universal Interactive Studios to sign a deal with Naughty Dog that would result in the 1996 release of the game Crash Bandicoot. The game was so successful that three more Crash Bandicoot games were eventually developed. During the 2000s, Naughty Dog continued to grow its game library with prominent titles like Uncharted and The Last of Us. Naughty Dog’s games have received critical acclaim with the studio even being named “Studio of the Year” in 2013 by VGX for their gaming world accomplishments.

Notable Video Games

• Way of the Warrior
• Crash Bandicoot
• Uncharted
• The Last of Us

Mojang: Stockholm, Sweden

Markus “Notch” Persson founded the company “Mojang Specifications” in 2009. The first game put out by Mojang was Minecraft and it came out that same year. In a little over two years, Minecraft’s popularity skyrocketed to over 10 million registered accounts. The rest of Minecraft’s history is fairly well known with the game becoming the best-selling video game of all time in 2019, reaching a total of 238 million accounts created. In 2014, Mojang was bought by Microsoft but still maintained its headquarters in Sweden. After the acquisition, Persson stepped down as Mojang’s CEO and Jens Bergensten took the role that year. In addition to continuing development of Minecraft, Mojang also put out a few more games. Their game Crown and Council is a turn-based strategy game and was released in 2016. Originally called Scrolls, Mojang also released Caller’s Bane, a strategy card game, in 2018.

Notable Video Games

• Minecraft
• Minecraft Dungeons
• Caller’s Bane
• Crown and Council

Activision Blizzard: California, USA

Bobby Kotik became CEO of a company called “Mediatonic” in 1990. The following year, he changed the company’s name from “Mediatonic” to “Activision.” During the decade, Activision began acquiring several development studios and their associated video games. The biggest acquisition deal Activision made was actually a merger deal in 2008 between Activision and the French company Vivendi Games. Vivendi Games was the parent company of “Blizzard Entertainment” and, following the merger deal, the company was renamed “Activision Blizzard.” At the time, Activision had published hundreds of video games including the Call of Duty franchise. Following the deal, Activision Blizzard became the 5th largest video game producer in the world publishing AAA games such as Overwatch and Destiny 2.

Notable Video Games

• Starcraft
• Call of Duty
• Guitar Hero
• Overwatch
• World of Warcraft
• Diablo
• Hearthstone

Ending Words

We’ve covered a lot of video game companies here, but this is by no means an exhaustive list. There are many more video game companies throughout the world of various sizes and work cultures, so we definitely recommend putting in your research before applying anywhere. This is especially the case if you’re looking for non-American companies in places like the European video game market or are looking for video game publishers (such as Electronic Arts or Sony Computer Entertainment). Maybe you want something closer to home, or maybe you’re looking for a startup to help grow with a small team. Maybe you even want to consider starting your own company someday and take the gaming industry by storm.

Regardless, this is just one step in the game development career. We recommend also checking out our game developer career guide, upskilling in things like coding with sites like Zenva, as well as setting up a portfolio to showcase your work. You may also want to learn about the differences between handheld games, mobile platforms, console games, online games, and so forth, as this is actually an area that can lead to specialization that changes what companies you should even care about.

Starting a career takes work, so we wish you the best of luck with your future game dev careers – no matter which video game company you wind up working for.

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So, what is an aspiring video game maker supposed to do once they have the idea? This is where the story of game design begins, a fascinating subfield of game development that is crucial to the entire process.

In this article, we’ll explore what game design even is at the very foundation, how game design exists as a career, and help you understand why it is so critical to the world of game development at large. We’ll also provide you with a ton of resources so you can learn the “how” of game design too and apply it to your projects!

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Defining Game Design

In this first section, we’re going to take a look, first and foremost, at what game design is at the most base of levels. This will not only establish a good foundation as we explore how video game design functions as a career, but also help out beginners coming in not quite sure how to define it!

What Game Design is

Game design can be considered the planning arm of the entire process for making a video game. No video game gets made without a plan, and video game design is, more or less, the process of making that plan. The field is somewhat a hybridization of creativity and technical skills that combine into a cohesive, fleshed-out idea that people can work with using concrete and actionable tasks.

However, that is a lot to unpack, so let’s break everything down a bit more in layman’s terms.

Creative Side

As mentioned, all video games start with an idea. This idea can simply be something like:

• “I want to make a platformer where the princess is the player character.”
• “I will make a choice-based story RPG set in a Lovecraftian-inspired world.”
• “I think it’d be cool if there was a one-hit kill battle royale video game.”

What the idea is doesn’t particularly matter, but the point is that these are the sparks that kickstart the game design. From there, though, this idea is not enough yet to make a video game. Instead, we’re left with a lot of questions:

• What does the princess player character look like?
• How are “choices” presented in the video game – dialogue or implemented in the gameplay itself?
• How can a one-hit kill video game be balanced for fun rather than frustration – and is it multiplayer or singleplayer?
• What sorts of weapons and/or items are available in these video games?
• Do these video games have some deeper story?

We can certainly go on and on with these questions, yet what you may not realize is answering these questions is a large part of what game design is about! These are the exact elements that help you design the game – from the characters and plot, to the design of the levels, to the mechanics of how the video game is played, to the expression of the mechanics in a way that is fun, and even to aesthetics. Every little aspect like this must be answered, and game designers are the ones to do just that.

In essence, they take that base idea, and create a narrative out of it – just a specific one that helps elaborate on what elements need to be decided on and made piece by piece to make the whole puzzle of a video game come together.

Technical Side

However, as creative as this might all sound, we can’t neglect to elaborate on why video game design is also still a technical field.

On the one hand, most game designers are actually expected to know a bit of programming, computer science, and math. While in bigger teams they might not be expected to program at all, they do need to have the background knowledge to oversee the game’s production. After all, if a programmer on the team makes something that doesn’t test well, the game designer is going to have a hard time communicating the technical problem unless they are familiar with the game’s construction.

So, having the necessary technical background will, at the very least, make communication easier as you polish and finetune the game design.

This is not to mention that many different game genres require pretty intense math and balancing. For example, if you’re making a city-building strategy game, you need to be able to plan costs, plan resources, plan timetables for construction or resource gains, and so forth. This will need to be tested, rebalanced, tested again, rebalanced again, and so forth. In order to do these tasks, as well as make the initial formulas, a strong understanding of math is needed.

Beyond this, game design can also be a lot about some of the humdrum business aspects as well, including things like planning the game around the target audience.

For example, according to GameRefinery, while realism is the preferred graphic style in the west for mobile games, Japan prefers anime-styled art across the board for their video games. So, depending on which market you were targetting, the art style choices of the game design might change drastically given that. While definitely not the most creative, these still are important factors to consider during the planning process.

Summary

Overall, game design is one part creativity with deciding the atmosphere, story, and aesthetics of the video game, and one part technical know-how deciding game mechanics, balancing, and so forth. Game design is a robust field of study that involves just as much knowing how and why to do a certain thing as it is using your imagination to create novel possibilities.

However, no matter which side you talk about, game design is about creating the initial plan, knowing the tools and techniques to create that plan, and how that will dictate how the full game comes together as one experience. This is a concept that surpasses many other aspects of video game development, such as even what game engines to use.

Differences from Game Developer

Before we move on to talking about game designers as a professional career, let’s stop for a moment to talk about the elephant in the room. In other words, how does a game designer differ from a game developer?

This is a tricky question, as it depends on each game designer’s personal situation, some nuanced technicalities, and the exact context in which each term is used. However, we can try to break it down as best we can.

First and foremost, most game designers can be considered game developers. Rather than being entirely separate, game design can be considered a subfield of the entire video game development process. Generally, even for something like a UX/UI designer for a game, these subfields still encompass people considered to be game developers at the heart of the issue. Certainly, they have specialties, but they’re still part of the development team.

That being said, when most people are using the term “game developer”, they are generally speaking not of the specific subfields, but of the general programmers who work with the designer and plan out the super technical aspects like data structures, objects, and so forth. It’s also assumed these developers have a good grasp of computer science in comparison to other specialties.

We go more into depth on the entire field of game developer in this article, but the important point here is the context of how the terms are used generally refer to different things entirely – one about planning and one about programming.

Then again, it is worth pointing out that in the indie sector, where many video games are solo developed, the game designer can also be the sole “game developer” in charge of everything. As such, there is some huge crossover in activities. No game is made without a plan, so someone at some point has to do the game design.

All in all, though, the best way to navigate the world is to focus on game design as a specific subfield rather than focus on the differences. At the end, everyone involved in making a game is an important member of the game development process.

Game Design as a Career

Now that we understand what game design is, let’s dive into the actual practice of it as a career in the gaming industry. Even if you’re only interested in video games as a hobby, this still may be a worthwhile section to explore just to get an understanding of a game designer’s everyday life – as game design is not all fun and playing games. It may also give you some insight into what awaits you should you make that critical decision to start this career path.

Activities

To begin, we’ll start by talking about the sorts of activities a professional game designer might do in the gaming industry as a whole. With your new understanding of game design, many of these will be no surprise.

However, before proceeding, let’s establish one thing: every game designer, video game, and game development studio is different. Some activities on this list a video game designer may never touch depending on the makeup of the team and what the video game is (as different types of video games need different things), whereas others might do all of them and then some. So, be sure to consider this when deciding if this is the right career for you or not!

• Script/story writing: If a story is involved with the game, a game designer might spend a lot of time working on those aspects. This includes establishing the setting and history, establishing characters and their backstories, planning out the narrative plot, and potentially writing all the dialogue that will be used throughout the game. In larger teams, the game designer may simply coordinate with dedicated writers to get some or all of these various aspects done. Nevertheless, a game designer will often be intimately involved in getting the story off the ground.
• Planning and creating game art: Part of a game designer’s duties is to decide the game’s aesthetics. This can include creating basic character designs, environment visual designs, and so forth. Technical decisions will also be made here, such as whether to do pixel-art, 3D graphics, etc. Now in some cases, a game designer will make a basic concept, which they then turn over to a professional game artist to flesh out into a usable piece for relay to asset creators. In other cases, the game designer’s own art may serve as the final concept art from which the game assets are made.
• Designing levels/puzzles/challenges: One thing almost all video games have in common is that there are “levels” – i.e. spaces where the game is played. Even if a single-level game – for example, a fighting game stage – every block, aesthetic, and critical path will be planned out by the game designer. This can also include planning out battle encounters, puzzles, and similar should the specific game call for that. Besides planning, a game designer may also be one of the main members implementing the levels into the game by placing assets and so forth – allowing them to tweak things as they go to create the best game possible.

• Planning interfaces: If there is no dedicated UI/UX designer on the team, guess what falls to the game designer? Whether an inventory screen, some sort of video game encyclopedia, health and hunger bars, or even simply a text score, all these interfaces need to be planned to exist, placed strategically, and have their aesthetic design decided on. Game designers will spend a huge amount of time designing this aspect, as it is one of the main ways players interact and receive information from a video game.
• Developing gameplay: As mentioned earlier, one of the main things video game designers do, even more so than the activities above, is decide on the exact mechanics of the game and how it is played. Even if it’s just how fast a player character jumps, a game designer will serve a critical role in deciding these aspects. This process usually begins with a game designer writing a Game Design Document so everything is laid out, whether for just them or for a larger team. From there, a game designer will tweak the design further so every minute detail presents well and feels good as a player plays through the game.
• Collaboration and communication: Depending on team size, another activity video game designers might do in the professional world has to do with both collaboration and communication. In the previous activities, we discussed how in some cases, a video game designer may delegate certain tasks to specific specialists. When that is the case, a game designer will spend a lot of time communicating and collaborating with those team members to make sure everything created – whether that be art or the programming itself – fits the specifications of the design. GitHub is a tool that makes collaboration easily, as it allows you to communicate with your team and implement version control.
• Programming: Once again, this activity depends entirely on the situation. However, many game designers do participate at least somewhat in the programming activities of the video game. This can range from very literally doing it themselves, to simply helping out other programmers and overseeing certain technical aspects so it is a match for what the designer intended. At the very least, some programming knowledge is helpful even if you don’t do it, since some aspects of game design are reliant on the technical limitations.
• Testing and changing: Finally, and a big one for video game designers, is testing and changing the video game they’re working on. Besides being fun, video games at their heart are supposed to have a consistent, quality experience. Game designers will spend a long time testing every aspect of the video game to test how it feels to play, whether there are any mechanics that are broken or ruin the competitive nature of the video game, and so forth. Once those issues are discovered, they help tweak the game design until the final video game product is the very best it can be as far as the core design goes.

Job Outlook & Salary

While job availability will always vary depending on location and experience, game design can be a lucrative career to get into. According to Career Explorer, the United States alone has nearly 300,000 positions for game design. Their sources estimate that this will grow from 2016 to 2026 by 9.3%. Other sources, such as DegreeQuery which gathers information from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, put the job growth anywhere from 4% to 10% depending on specific data used.

These sources also indicate that game designers who specialize in mobile games will often have more ample job opportunities going forward.

On the salary front, even junior designers can expect to earn quite a bit. Without considering specializations, the job sites below reported the following salary ranges for game designers in the US:

• PayScale: $40K to $103K (Average of $66,362)
• Glassdoor: $65K to $$113K (Average of $85,772)
• CareerExplorer: $47.4K to $172.1K (Average of $90,270)

Salaries might also vary greatly by company. For example, PayScale shows Bungie having the lowest salary for game designers at $61K, while Age of Learning, Inc. and Electronic Arts both pay over $85K for their game designers. Experience can also play a big role, with developers seeing an average of $10,000 more per year for every 1-5 years more experience they possess.

As you can see, though, game design is both in-demand and a profitable field to pursue. Further, game design can be even more profitable as you specialize, especially for things like UI/UX design.

Becoming a Video Game Designer

By this point, not only should you have a good idea about what game design is, but also maybe you want to become one now – whether that means joining a professional AAA company or simply solo-developing some video games as a hobby. Whatever your ultimate goals, though, we’ve compiled some of our tips and resources to help you take the first steps on this amazing journey and master game design!

Get the Technical Skills

We’ve long since established that game design is not just about having creative ideas – it’s also about technical skills and knowing how and why to do certain game design things (not to mention knowledge of computer science).

So, obviously, the first step here is to get some technical skills and master the basics, both of game design and its many facets, and of programming. We’ve broken some helpful tutorials and online courses below to get you started on your journey.

Programming

• Best Programming Languages to Learn to Code by Lindsay Schardon
• What is Coding and Why Learn to Code?
• (Premium) Python Mini-Degree by Zenva
• (Premium) Full-Stack Web Development Mini-Degree by Zenva
• (Premium) C++ Programming Bundle by Zenva
• (Premium) Mobile App Development Mini-Degree by Zenva
• (Premium) Unity Game Development Mini-Degree by Zenva
• (Premium) Intro to Programming Bundle by Zenva
• Python Tutorial for Absolute Beginners by CS Dojo
• (Premium) Intro to Coding with Python Turtle by Zenva
• How I Would Learn Javascript FAST in 2023
• (Premium) JavaScript for Beginners by Zenva
• C# Basic Series by Allan Carlos Claudino Villa
• How to Program in C# by Brackeys
• C++ Programming All-in-One Tutorial Series by Caleb Curry
• Zero-Day Java Guide by Mohit Deshpande
• Swift Tutorial Series by Mohit Deshpande

General Game Design

• (Premium) Intro to Game Design by Zenva
• (Premium) Game Design Academy by Zenva
• (Premium) Level Design for Beginners by Zenva
• How to Make a Game by Daniel Buckley
• How to Design a Game: Game Design Documents by Tim Bonzon
• Basic Principles of Game Design – by Brackeys
• 7 Must Read Books for Game Designers
• Game Design Document Template – by Game Dev Underground
• Our 50 Favorite Game Design Tutorials by Game Designing
• The 6 Steps to Create Your First Game
• Game Design Process: Designing Your Video Game by Ask Gamedev
• 51 Game Design Tips! (In 8 Minutes) by Jonas Tyroller
• How to Improve Game Feel in Three Easy Ways by Ji-Young Kim

Game Art

• (Premium) Game Artwork Academy by Zenva
• (Premium) Intro to 3D Models with Blender by Zenva
• (Premium) Intro to Pixel Art with Photoshop by Zenva
• (Premium) 3D Models in Unity with ProBuilder by Zenva
• (Premium) Texturing models in Unity with Polybrush
• Unity Animator Tutorial – Comprehensive Guide by Tim Bonzon
• A Guide to Handling Huge Worlds in Unity by Renan Oliveira
• Unity Animation for Beginners by Tim Bonzon
• 5 Steps To Making A Gorgeous 2D Game by Thomas Brush
• Making Concept Art Character Designs for A Video Game! by The Poncho Pilgrim
• Things To Know About Game Art and College by DeepFriedPaint
• Game Design School: Character Design by Pixel Pete

Game Writing

• (Premium) Storytelling for Games by Zenva
• How to Approach Narrative Game Design by Cypress Reeves
• So You Want to Write for Video Games? by Ken Miyamoto
• How to Become a Video Game Writer
• A Practical Guide to Game Writing by Gamesutra
• The Three Pillars of Game Writing – Plot, Character, Lore by Extra Credits
• How to Write a Cinematic Story for Your Game
• Storytelling in Video Games by Brackeys
• How to Make a HIT Indie Game (Story-Driven) / “The Formula” by PieNinjaProductions

Make a Video Game

Once you have the basics down, the next step in the journey to becoming a game designer would be to simply put it in practice and make your own games (in any of the popular game engines).

This not only allows you to practice your skills, but also lets you build a portfolio which is crucial if you’re trying to get hired. Plus, as we’ve established above, game design is an expansive field that is about game mechanics, UIs, and more. So the more opportunities you put each aspect of game design into practice, the more you’ll find what works from you.

Below we’ve compiled some of our favorite resources that will help you make your first video game. Keep in mind, we’ve also included some non-computer games in this list as well, since game design principles (like good mechanics) are still as relevant to board games, card games, and so forth. Also, don’t forget to expand past these tutorials as well – game design is about experimentation!

• (Premium) Create Your First 3D Game in Unity by Zenva
• (Premium) Create Your First 2D Game in Unity by Zenva
• (Premium) 2D & 3D Games in Unity by Zenva
• (Premium) Survival Games by Zenva
• (Premium) 2D RPGs by Zenva
• (Premium) 3D RPGs by Zenva
• (Premium) Strategy Games by Zenva
• (Premium) HTML5 Games by Zenva
• (Premium) Godot Games by Zenva
• Unity 101 – Game Development Foundations by Zenva
• Build a Road Crossing Game with Unreal by Daniel Buckley
• Create a Unity FPS in 3 Hours by Zenva
• Create a Unity RPG in 4 HOURS by Zenva
• How To Create A Game Using JavaScript by Dani Krossing
• C++ Tutorial 18 – Simple Snake Game by NVitanovic
• Java Programming: Let’s Build a Zombie Game #1 by RealTutsGML
• How to Make a Game by Daniel Buckley
• Coding for Kids: Languages and Project Ideas by Lindsay Schardon

Conclusion

By this point, we hope you have a good idea of what game design is. Game design is an essential component to all games no matter how large or how small. Without game design, projects would fall through quickly. With a concrete plan, though, any developer can bring a project into reality.

Additionally, game design is recognized as an important position in larger companies, with high salaries and a need for the in-demand skillsets involved. It is not just thinking of ideas, but understanding how to logically and systematically arrange those ideas in a way that produces a fun game.

All this being said, we’ve only just scratched the surface here. There are a lot of skills involved with game design – from understanding how to guide players, to understanding high-level concepts like game loops. However, with the resources provided, you can definitely dive deep into the field and even join the video game industry. Maybe you’ll even make the next hit game.

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“Developer” is one such title we believe falls into this category. Sure, just about everyone has heard the word and probably at least knows they’re involved with computers of some sort. Yet, not everyone has sat down to consider what a developer does all day, or even what the results of their work are. Or, maybe someone has, but simply just wants more information because they think it sounds like an interesting field for work. If either describes, you’ve come to the right place.

In this article, we’re going to take a step back from the buzz phrase “become a developer” and take a more thorough look at what that even means. What does a developer do? Where does a developer work? Why development? We will answer all these questions and more, and hopefully by the end, you’ll have a greater stack of knowledge and be able to make informed decisions of whether being a developer might just be right for you!

What is a Developer?

Let us answer the question at the top of this inquiry: what is a developer? A developer is someone who creates (i.e. “develops”) programs and solutions to fulfill a need or solve a problem as is related to technology.

This statement is very broad, but as luck would have, development is very broad. It can include things like building programs to collect and analyze data, developing a game for players to enjoy, setting up a database to manage a website’s data, making an app to show the weather, and so forth. The possibilities are endless, because the tasks computers can do are essentially endless as well. Technology is the only real limiting factor in terms of the sorts of problems that can be solved with programming.

A developer is, in essence, a dream creator. Developers take our various ideas of tools, software, and the like and manipulate programming to bring them to reality – with the hope that our lives will be made better by their existence.

Of course, some of this definition does presume you know what coding is, which is a bit beyond the scope of this article. However, we do have some articles not only on what coding is, but also on the difference between coding and programming, which may be helpful to know as you dive into this topic of developers.

Typical Activities

Part of understanding what a developer is related to understanding what sorts of activities developers participate in. While activities will vary depending on the type of developer (which we’ll delve into more after), activities can be broken up into four major categories.

• Planning
  

  Part of a developer’s job is to plan not only what kind of problem they have, but also how they will solve that problem. Again, given the wide scope of development, this can vary in a lot of ways. For example, if the ultimate goal is to create an RPG, a developer will decide what sorts of mechanics are needed, what sorts of assets are needed, pick a game engine, and so forth. Meanwhile, a web developer making a website will plan out the frontend design, the architecture of their database in the backend, what frameworks are needed to provide user interaction, and more. No matter the specific field, though, planning out the program developers want coded is a primary and crucial step to their activities with lots of meetings and documentation.

• Execution
  

  Another aspect a developer is involved with on a day-to-day basis is the execution of their plan. Depending on the team set up, company, or other factors, this generally means one of two things. In one regard, the developer may simply oversee programmers and help them continually tweak the software until it actually solves the problem. However, other developers may take to the front lines and be heavily involved with the coding themselves – which is the case with solo developers. No matter what, though, some coding is definitely involved!

• Testing and Analysis

  Given developers are striving to create programs to reach a certain goal, it should be no surprise that these programs need to be tested. Does a specific game mechanic work? Is data being collected as it should be? Is a certain process performant and suitable to the target device? These are just some of the questions developers will be asking at this stage, and it is their responsibility to deal with all of them. Even if the testing itself is relegated to third parties, the developer will still be involved with analyzing feedback so they can ensure features are the best they can be before hitting a wider release.

• Updating
  

  Finally, the fourth activity you’ll usually find developers handling is updating. This can include patches for bugs, new features, upgrading third party frameworks used, and so forth. As technology is always evolving, even the most solid of solutions need to be maintained at the very least, so this an activity that keeps developers quite busy. As a subset of this process, developers will also be documenting the entire process to make sure others can continue to update their programs as well.

Kinds of Developers

While the duties involved apply very generally to all developers, when you start getting down to the details of it, each type of developer varies in what they actually do. Their goals will vary, the nature of their problems vary, and so forth. So, what kinds of developers are there anyway? In this section, we’ll take a brief look at the major development fields available, though keep in mind there are many sub-fields beyond the scope of our discussion here.

• Software Developer

  A software developer is, as the name implies, a developer focused on software for computers. Almost any single program you use on your computer is a piece of software. Even the browser you’re reading this article from is software! So, a software developer is generally focused on the tools that allow us to do things like play music, write words in a word processor, access the internet, make spreadsheets, create images, etc. The field for software is extremely wide and, of the fields, has the broadest nature in terms of what sorts of programs will be made.

• Game Developer

  Developers who specifically aim to make games are referred to as game developers. This field includes the big AAA hits like Fortnite, small indie games like Undertale, and even viral mobile games like Candy Crush. In this case, these developers are not so much “solving a problem” as they are making a piece of entertainment. Nevertheless, the process is still the same, since programming and planning are at the heart of any game. Unlike many software developers who are working from scratch, game developers often focus on specific game engines which provide many tools to make the complicated process easier!

• Mobile App Developer

  Though similar, there is a bit of a difference between a mobile app and a mobile game. You can think of mobile apps as software for your mobile device – i.e. they are focused on things like word processing, to-do lists, alarm clocks, music players, or even providing services like Netflix. Anything that can be considered a tool is more in line with mobile app development, which as you guessed, is a place for mobile app developers. Comparatively to other types of developers, these developers are the most concerned with the performance given the target device, so though the process is similar, you can expect the testing phase to be a bit more intense!

• Web Developer

  Developers who create the wonderful websites and web apps we use on a day-to-day basis are web developers. These sorts of developers are focused specifically on web languages like HTML, CSS, & JavaScript, as well as the various frameworks that help spruce up how we interact with the websites we visit. Web developers can come in a few flavors. Frontend developers will focus entirely on the appearance of the website and how users interact with it. Backend developers are more concerned about the various databases and APIs that give sites advanced functionality. In the meantime, Full-Stack developers care about both. Regardless, though, the web wouldn’t be the same without them.

• Data Scientist

  In the case of data scientists, these are developers who are focused entirely on collecting, analyzing, and manipulating data. These sorts of developers are big in the business world where data-driven solutions are at the heart of their operations. For example, a data scientist may help a business collect data on which product is selling best, create programs to auto-generate charts and other reports, and help the business decide on action items based on that data. There is a lot to the field, including database knowledge, web scraping, and more, but the gist of it still involves staring at lots of numbers!

• Machine Learning Engineer

  Last of the developers we’re going to talk about is the machine learning engineer. This is a relatively new type of developer, as AI and machine learning is still a budding industry. Nevertheless, these sorts of developers are focused entirely on programs that help make our machines smarter. For some examples, they create the technology that is behind self-driving cars, image recognition software, voice control apps, and beyond. Besides building the “brain” of the machine, machine learning engineers also focus on training the machine with tons of data, as the more accurate data, the better the program.

Why Become a Developer?

At this point, you should have a good understanding of what a developer is and the sorts of paths available to anyone who becomes a developer. That being said, why you should become a developer is an equally important question. While there are plenty of reasons to go by, we’ll talk about the major four that generally drives people to pursue this exciting industry!

In-Demand Industry

If you haven’t noticed technology’s takeover yet, you should notice it now! Every day a new piece of technology comes out, a programming framework is updated or invented, a new more powerful smartphone is planned, and so forth. As consumers and businesses alike become more and more dependent on technology, the need for developers naturally goes up.

In the US alone, the Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts software and web developers are expected to see hundreds of thousands of more jobs created in the next decade – and this is just for these two fields of development. Fields like machine learning are seeing even higher growth, with a 344% gain from 2015 – 2018 according to AINews. Additionally, popular job board site Glassdoor routinely ranks developer jobs as some of the top choices in the US. So, there is no question that these are coveted skills and positions needed right now!

Good Salary Potential

As the demand for developers is so high, you shouldn’t be surprised to hear that many developers are seeing high earning potential for their skills. While this of course ranges by subfield, skill level, and location, here are just some of the reported averages for development-related salaries (we’ll let the numbers speak for themselves):

• Machine Learning Engineer: $146,085 (AINews)
• Mobile App Developer: $120,131 (Indeed)
• Full-Stack Developer: $105,522 (Indeed)
• Software Developer: $110,140 (U.S. BLS)
• Game Developer: $101,644 (Zip Recruiter)

Future-Proofing

For some people, a job is not so much about how much you can earn or whether it’s in-demand, it’s about whether the job security is there. After all, most people do not want to be stuck constantly looking for a job every few years. Or, as some people fear, finding a job that becomes obsolete very quickly.

As the current state of affairs has shown us, though, developers are in a very secure job field. While programming does allow us to automate many tedious tasks (and unfortunately, eliminate certain types of jobs), there will be a need for programmers to make that automation in the first place for a long time to come. As such, learning the skills to become a developer will last you a long time. Even with updates to technology, some things, like older programming languages like C++, remain fairly stable without dramatic changes.

If that isn’t enough to convince, keep in mind that most fields of development are also bringing in more and more money each year. For example, gaming and mobile apps are already bringing in billions of dollars, and both are forecasted to increase their profits immensely in the next few years with little signs of a flattened curve.

With this sort of demand from consumers, businesses will be ready to meet it – and will need developers at their side to do so!

Versatile Skills Elsewhere

For those on the fence about becoming a developer, as learning anything is a time investment, rest assured that skills learned can be used in many different ways.

To start, development is not restricted to the technology industry. The medical industry, military, manufacturing, tourism, marketing, history, and many more are all are looking for developers, since programs improve their day-to-day operations as well. Even XR technologies like VR and AR have slowly started working their way into these industries for training via immersive experiences. Thus, development skills are not restricted to one industry and you will find them useful just about anywhere you could go.

Even if you find out later that you don’t like programming at all, learning the skills will still help you later.

For instance, much of development reinforces good problem-solving habits, since development is all about taking problems and breaking them down in ways that they can be solved. These are skills useful for any job or even just in general with your real-life, and they are skills you’ll keep even if development isn’t your thing. Plenty of other skills like communication come with learning to be a developer as well, so regardless of your ultimate choice, these are skills that will literally last you a lifetime.

How to Become a Developer?

Clearly, you are entirely convinced to become a developer now. The next step would be to actually learn how to do that. While we could discuss technical degrees, we recommend first starting with online resources. These will get you started with programming, understanding the development process, building a portfolio, and so forth. In some cases, this may be enough to jump-start your career into a new path! Regardless, though, these resources will still give you a boost and help you build a coding portfolio – which you will find is crucial for pursuing development in general.

Below, we’ve compiled some of our favorites just for you!

Software Development

• C++ Programming Bundle by Zenva
• C# Programming for Human Beings by Allan Carlos Claudino Villa
• Software Design Patterns and Principles by TechLead
• What is Software Development by Technology Profession
• Java Foundations by Zenva
• An Introduction to Software Design – With Python by Tech with Tim
• Python Project Create Real Software by Harshit vashisth

Web Development

• HTML5 Hive
• Full-Stack Web Development Mini-Degree by Zenva
• HTML & CSS 101 – Responsive Company Website by Zenva
• JavaScript 101 – First Programming Steps by Zenva
• Learn web development as an absolute beginner (2020) by Coder Coder
• Designing a website – The full process series by CharliMarieTV
• How to Create a Responsive Website from Scratch by Kevin Powell

Game Development

• Unity Game Development Mini-Degree by Zenva
• Unreal Game Development Mini-Degree by Zenva
• Godot Game Development Mini-Degree by Zenva
• HTML5 Game Development Mini-Degree by Zenva
• GameDev Academy
• Unity Beginner Tutorials by Brackeys
• Python Game Programming using Pygame and Python 3 series by buildwithpython
• Write a Tetris game in JavaScript by Meth Meth Method

Mobile Development

• Mobile App Development Mini-Degree by Zenva
• Mobile Games 101 – Android and iOS Development by Zenva
• Android Kennel
• Swift Ludus
• Swift 5 for Beginners (2022)
• Java Tutorial For Beginners by ProgrammingKnowledge
• How to Make an App for Beginners by CodeWithChris

Python Development

• Data Science Mini-Degree by Zenva
• Python Mini-Degree by Zenva
• Machine Learning Mini-Degree by Zenva
• Python Machine Learning Tutorials
• Python Machine Learning Tutorials by Tech With Tim
• Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence by CrashCourse
• Python for Beginners Series by Microsoft Developer
• Python Tutorial for Absolute Beginners by CS Dojo
• Python Programming: Learning Python for Beginners

Conclusion

Earlier we described developers as these mystical people who make dreams come true. Though we’ve replaced mysticism with science, we still think this holds true as to what developers exactly are. Developers are people who have mastered computers in a way that they can take ideas and make computers bring them to life.

There are many reasons to become a developer, whether it is because it’s a high-earning field or maybe just your own personal satisfaction. There is no question, though, that without developers, our lives wouldn’t be the same. Our everyday lives are painted in some way by developers, and the more developers we have in the world, the greater chance we have of seeing new improvements to our lives.

So, if you’re interested in development at this point, we hope you take those first steps, and create amazing programs that change the world!

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Given how these web marvels have affected us, there is no question many people are fascinated by the concept of web development and have considered doing it professionally. However, making a career change, or starting a career, can be an intimidating prospect for many. However, with this article, we hope to help you out by diving into the behind-the-scenes of the industry and giving you essential information for making an informed career decision. So if you’re ready to consider becoming a web developer, let’s get started.

What is a Web Developer?

The first stop on our journey is to understand what a web developer is. This is definitely important if you only have a vague understanding of the technical terminology, as there are many different kinds of developers in general – and specific sub-specialties in web development that are important to understand.

Web Development & Web Developers

The entirety of the internet is made up of websites and web applications. Everything from this blog, to YouTube, to Spotify, and even to Twitter fall under this umbrella of web development. As you can imagine just from this list, the things you can do on the web are near-infinite and constantly growing. There are sites to entertain us, sites to help bring our software functionality into the cloud, sites to help us connect, sites to help us learn, and so forth. No matter the kind of website we’re talking about though, it had to pass through the hands of a web developer to come into existence.

Behind every website is just data and instructions that tell our browsers how to render a site and how every element in the site should interact with each other. This includes easy things like image and link display, all the way to complicated features in the realm of cybersecurity that keeps our sensitive information secure. However, no matter which aspect of the web we’re talking about, it takes special skills to explain to our electronic devices how each website is supposed to work.

Web developers are the ones with those special skills. They find out how to speak the language of the computer through various programming languages, and then structure a set of instructions in those programming languages in a complicated yet sophisticated way that makes sense to the computer. It is through this work that we get the world wide web as we know it. So, more than just “building a website,” web developers are the architects that make the internet what it is.

Types of Web Developers

All the above being said, it is important to know there are a few different types of web developers that will vastly affect how you go about your career search and what sort of understanding you need to have of computer science.

Frontend Web Developers

In general, when people think of web development, this is the aspect they first consider. Frontend web developers are web developers who focus specifically on the parts the user’s see (i.e. the web design). How the website is laid out, how images display, how database items are rendered, the color schemes, and so forth all fall under the spectrum of frontend web development. Basically, every part users directly see and/or interact with is what a frontend developer works with. This also includes aspects like responsive web design as well, incorporating backend functionality, and so forth. Nevertheless, if it’s about aesthetics, these are the web developers you want to see.

Backend Web Developers

Backend web developers work on aspects that are not apparently obvious to the average user. For example, perhaps you’re one of the many people who have a Gmail account. Well, what do you think happens after you hit that sign-in button? The answer here is that the website performs a complicated set of instructions in the backend to verify your password and so forth – generally in less than a second so you’re none the wiser and can continue with your frontend user experience.

Logins, database management, server security, and so forth are just some of the aspects a backend web developer is concerned with. While these developers aren’t a necessity to every website, the bigger the website – and the more variability that website needs based on the user – the more likely the backend developer had to roll up their sleeves.

Full-Stack Web Developers

The last type of web developer we want to discuss here is the full-stack web developer. Do you see those two definitions we listed up above? Well, the full-stack web developer is someone who is capable of doing both aspects. That’s right, the total package. Whether aesthetics or just making sure your site can have users, the full-stack developer makes sure it all works!

What do Web Developers do Everyday?

So, we’ve gotten a good understanding of web development, web developers, and the sort of specialties that one can consider when joining this exciting industry. However, none of this particularly answers the question of what a web developer actually does on a day-to-day basis. So let’s talk about that. Now, keep in mind if you pursue just frontend development or just backend development things will vary a little bit. That being said, the activities below generally describe the entire overview of the web development process.

Planning

The first stage of any website or web app is the plan. Whether you’re developing something yourself or working with a client, you need to decide what the website is all about before you begin. Of course, this starts with the base idea of what the website is supposed to do – whether that means it showcases a blog or is the next video viewing site to sweep the land. Understanding the functionality needed for the website is the first step.

However, a web developer needs to go even further and plan out additional minute details to make sure all the desired functionality comes together in a cohesive whole. This includes simple things like planning how the website is going to look, and goes all the way up to understanding what sort of data structure is desired if you have a user account system in place. Every aspect of the website needs to be decided on before a web developer begins, as otherwise there is no guarantee all the systems will function properly together.

Additionally, during the planning stage, considerations must be made for longevity. For example, if you’re working for a client who just wants the footprint of the website so they themselves can update it later, you may need to work on how to incorporate a CMS so the client isn’t going to break the site with further additions. There are also considerations to be made regarding third-party tools sometimes as well (such as hosting for the database), so there are definitely a lot of steps before the website can even come into reality.

Implementation

Following planning comes the stage most people will be semi-familiar with for developers: implementation. Depending on what sort of web developer you are, the type of website you’re making, your web development speciality, and so forth, this is really where everything will be different for every project. At the heart though, this process can be considered to have two main stages.

The first stage would be the front-end development. If you’ve ever made a small website before, you’ll know that this is where you start typing out your HTML and CSS to give your website its basic appearance and layout. However, beyond the appearance, the web developer also needs to make sure to implement UI-related aspects, such as forms and buttons, and make sure their interact appropriately with the backend (whether they created that backend or not).

Another aspect to consider is more complicated website rendering as well. For example, YouTube‘s video displays are rendered entirely based on the user data for each account. In order for this happen, the web developers had to create instructions to not only tell each element where and how to render themselves on the page, but also which data to pull from the database. Without this implementation on the frontend, none of this would work. So, aspects like this are included in the frontend as well.

Moving on, the second stage of a web developer’s implementation tasks comes in the form of the backend (as you might have guessed). In order for things like user accounts to work, the developer needs to create systems and instructions that allow the backend and frontend systems to all work together. For example, login flows, password resets, creating user databases that store various bits of data, and so forth all require some really hardcore programming in order to work. So, while we can summarize this stage easily, it is no less involved than the frontend and requires much technical tweaking in order to provide all the functionality needed.

Maintenance

Last on the list of main duties for the web developer is maintenance. Again, similarly to implementation, this will be dependent on the situation the web developer finds themselves in. For those working long-term jobs with companies or clients though, this duty will be immensely important, though.

Of course, the first aspect of maintenance here is bugs. From small UI bugs to huge server outages, there’s generally always something to fix no matter the size of the website. There are tons of ways that a site can essentially be broken, and if that way exists, you can bet users will find it. So, web developers will spend quite a bit of time fixing issues here or there.

A second aspect to maintenance, though, is updating. Many modern websites use a variety of third-party tools and libraries. This can range from front-end frameworks like React, backend libraries like Passport.js, or even plugins for CMSes like WordPress. Technology is constantly changing, and because of this, these third-parties are usually hard at work updating these tools. When the tools update, this can result in a variety of deprecated code for your own website, or even bug-fixes for issues that were part of the tools in the first place. This being the case, web developers generally spend a lot of time updating to the latest versions to gain the benefits of the updates, as well as increase the website’s longevity.

This is not to mention client-requested updates as well – as many website owners will toy around with new features or improvements to keep their site’s fresh and relevant to the user experience. So a lot of time does also go into developing these features as well – which brings in the other duties above in again.

Are Web Developers In-Demand?

We’ve established just what’s in store for you as a developer, so naturally, the next question is about the demand. After all, pursuing a career that isn’t in-demand can be difficult, and everyone wants a little bit of job security.

Fortunately, web development is not only growing as an industry, but the need for web developers increases with each year. Using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are expected to be 19,000 more web developer jobs in just the U.S. by 2029. Statistically, this is an 8% job growth, which the BLS indicates is faster than average compared to a variety of other industries, particularly due to the growth of e-commerce. As such, it can be expected other countries around the world will see similar job growth in the years to come for this field.

In terms of specialties, LinkedIn shows the best prospects for web developers who pursue the entirety of full-stack development, with an expected 40% job increase. Checking other data, Hackernoon’s predictions claim that by 2024, jobs for full-stack developers will increase from 135,000 to 853,000 – an even more optimistic answer than the BLS.

Inevitably, the short answer here is that web development is absolutely in demand, and with the expansion of the internet, is expected to continue to become a growing field for a long time.

What is a Web Developer’s Salary?

Next on our list: salaries. How much are web developers worth these days? While this depends widely on the company, project, your personal skill-set, location, and a myriad of other factors, some of the average salaries per year for web developers in the U.S. are:

• ZipRecruiter: $75,073
• Glassdoor: $68,524
• Economic Research Institute: $91,764
• PayScale: $59,898
• Indeed: $76,726
• U.S. News: $73,760
• CareerExplorer: $69,038
• SimplyHired: $74,123

Averaging all sources above, we wind up with $73,613 as a better estimate, meaning you can expect ample compensation for your skills. Remember again, however, that web development specialties can influence your salary greatly, and the more skills you have the better salary negotiation position you’ll be in around the world.

What are the Required Skills for a Web Developer?

At this point, we’ve established quite a bit about why web development is a fantastic field, and you may be inclined to think it’s the career path for you. So, the next step would obviously be to assess or gain the skills you need to take this leap into becoming a web developer. Below, we’ve listed out the most common skill requirements for web developers, but keep in mind each company and specialty for web development will have some variation.

• Strong verbal and written communication skills: A lot of time will be spent not only communicating with clients to find out what they want, but also dealing with testing, bug-tracking, and similar. As such, being able to convey the technical aspects of the website back-and-forth is a must to ensure the website comes together and remains functional.
• Coding experience using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript: Whether you work with the front-end of a website or the backend, at some point you’ll need to work with the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript of a website – the three cores of all web development. As such, knowing how to program with these three markup languages is a MUST from the most basic website to the most complicated.
• Responsive design experience: Much of the internet has already switched to a mobile-first philosophy, meaning websites need to look just as good on mobile as they do on a desktop. Thus, for any web developer who is interested in a good front-end experience, understanding not only how to design a site for mobile but actually execute it is truly an essential skillset.
• Programming experience with back end programming languages: While a website’s frontend can be made with just HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, backends often require a bit more programming knowledge. Popular programming languages like PHP or database programming languages like SQL see wide-spread use when it comes to backend development for websites. As such, for the web developer who is inclined to the backend processes, knowing how to program with these programming languages, and in particular use SQL, can be a great boon to how competitive you are in the field.
• Experience with servers and databases: Again, for the backend, knowing how to work with servers and databases is essential. This is especially the case if you want to work on websites that have user accounts, as these almost always require a database to function and store that data. The more skills you have here, the easier it will be to find a position with backend requirements.
• Knowledge of version control tools: The final major skill for the web developer is experience with version control tools. As websites are constantly available to users, it is important that changes made don’t break a website’s functionality. This is where version control comes in, since developers can quickly backtrack in case some coding changing had unintended consequences. So whether you want to learn Git and GitHub, or explore another version control system, these skills will prove a necessity for professional work.

Web Developer Learning Resources

If you’ve been reading through this article, you may have decided web development is for you. In which case, congratulations! However, if you don’t have the necessary skills already, you’re going to need to learn them. While there is something to be said about formal education, for those on a budget for time, money, or similar, the internet offers a plethora of free and paid resources you can use to start your web development career.

Below, we’ve collected some of our favorite learning resources to help you keep started on your journey.

Paid Resources

• Full-Stack Web Development Mini-Degree by Zenva
• One-Hour Coder Academy by Zenva

Free Resources

• HTML & CSS 101 – Web Development Fundamentals by Zenva
• JavaScript 101 – First Programming Steps by Zenva
• How to Build a Coding Portfolio by Daniel Buckley
• HTML5 Hive
• Responsive Web Design Tutorials by The Net Ninja
• JavaScript Tutorial For Beginners by The Net Ninja
• Learn web development as an absolute beginner (2020) by Coder Coder
• Designing a website – The full process series by CharliMarieTV
• What Is a Full Stack Developer & How To Become a Full Stack Developer in 1 Year by PixemWeb
• PHP Tutorial for Absolute Beginners by The Codeholic
• How to Create a Responsive Website from Scratch by Kevin Powell
• Back-end Development by Programming with Mosh
• JavaScript Programming All-in-One Tutorial Series by Caleb Curry
• JavaScript Tutorial Beginners by Dani Krossing
• Procedural PHP Tutorial For Beginners by Dani Krossing
• Learn PHP in 15 minutes by Jake Wright

Conclusion

There is no question that web development is an amazing field. With plenty of industry growth, many businesses who have yet to convert to the web, and ample salary opportunities, both the job security and earning potential are present for any career-minded individuals. Plus, the internet isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, so the demand for web developers is unlikely to shrink.

If you love the internet or computer science, think you can make a website both look good and function amazingly, and want a field where you have more to learn all the time, then becoming a web developer may be the career for you. Whatever you decide, we wish you the best of luck with your career choices, and we hope to see some new web developers out there!

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