FCPX Certification a SCAM

[Mark Suszko]

I think it may not be a question of bad training so much as that your expectations were not in line with what was presented. If you’ve only been editing a month, as an extreme example, or have edited before but only worked with FCPX for a month, you probably are not ready to take a certification-level course, which is for turning general users into Power Users and Instructors. That could be why you and your classmates felt “overwhelmed”. And I’ll tell you a secret; anybody who is “certified” in a software app still probably needs to look something up from time to time. Certification by itself doesn’t confer magical properties on the person being certified: you read stories every other month about younger and younger children, as young as 9, passing a Microsoft certification test for something or other.

Certification means you know what every button does and where to find it. It doesn’t necessarily tell you WHEN or WHY to push that button to achieve a desired result. And it doesn’t, by itself, make you a better editor. Maybe a little faster, because you know where the buttons are. Some of the best editors in the world never were
“certified” on the platform they used; they were highly motivated autodidacts.

I’m NOT saying Certification is rubbish. It can have a value within a certain context.

I’m saying that you seem to think it could make you Walter Murch in three days. Or something like this guy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d47MlrhUtvc

I have no idea if Dov is legit. He’s certainly prolific at whatever it is he does. I do think he over-simplifies things a tad.

So what’s YOUR solution? I think what you probably need is one of the canned courses from Larry Jordan, Ripple Training, or Linda.com and similar sources, as a basis, then a period of practice and experimentation, and only after that, if you feel like you’re ready to approach “mastery”, take a “certification” course, which becomes a handy way to “prove” to a non-industry person like an H.R. department interviewer, that you have documented skill sets.

I can tell you with some confidence though, that the guy or gal that will be your boss will not hire you just on if you are certified or not certified. They look first at your reel. Then at you as a person, to see if you can work with humans. Then at your other “paperwork”.

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[Tim Wilson]

I’ll also add that certification tests typically target a specific failure rate. The goal is to triangulate between thoroughness of the training and the difficulty of the test in order for it to denote an actual accomplishment.

I have no idea what the target failure rate for your test was. I’ve seen the target be as high as 50%, although in that particular test, retakes were free…but they were very serious about making sure it was hard enough to be an actual barrier to be climbed.

Again, I’m not passing any judgement on either you or the setup you participated in. Maybe it’s working exactly as the training facility planned it, maybe it’s not. But if your employer hasn’t had a chat with the training facility, they definitely need to. Whatever the facility’s goals, if they weren’t clear about their alignment with your goals, that’s a problem.

I’d start by asking flat out, how many people they typically expect to see fail the test, and why, and what that means for the employer’s ability to get their money’s worth out of the proceedings.

Maybe somebody here has been through the specific training you have, and can speak to it more directly I can, but my hunch is that until your employer has had that conversation with the training center, it might be premature to blame Apple. Maybe not. But maybe.

In addition to the resources Mark mentions, please ask questions directly in the FCPX Techniques forum here at Creative COW. You’ll find some of the sharpest FCPX pros in the world there (and here of course), including some folks who do indeed train people in this stuff for a living.

I’m sorry to hear this, though, Eric. It sounds like a mighty drag. Best wishes for happier outcomes.

[Neil Goodman]

IMO all “certification” is scam. Pay money so someone can tell me I’m certified? For what?

Ive never seen this as job requirement or lost a job to someone who was certified.

[Eric Karie]

Thank You! And thank you to the others who have posted here also in response to my post. I experience the posts as very knowledgable and neutral in a good way. I went into this certification training wanting an external source to validate my worth. I do feel that it was misleading that it was not clearly stated to have a solid foundation with FCPX in order to pass the exam before even beginning the course. I learned a ton in this class beyond the certification – both in working with FCPX and in life lessons. Whew, Major learning curve for sure!!! Again, thank you for the replies as they are Very helpful.

[Andrew Kimery]

[Mark Suszko] “I think it may not be a question of bad training so much as that your expectations were not in line with what was presented. If you’ve only been editing a month, as an extreme example, or have edited before but only worked with FCPX for a month, you probably are not ready to take a certification-level course, which is for turning general users into Power Users and Instructor”

To Eric’s point though, that’s not how Apple advertises the program. Below is a list of all the prerequisites Apple says you need before taking the class:

• Knowledge of OS X and basic computer navigation
• Basic knowledge of video editing terminology is highly recommended

[Mark Suszko]

Let’s take the exam together:

https://training.apple.com/pdf/fcpx-exam-prep-pro.pdf

I’m sure I would not get an 80 percent or better on this, yet. With time, though, I think I could do it. A bella or logic keyboard with the buttons all marked would help.

OTOH, nothing in that review material actually shows you how to edit a program together in any meaningful way. It demonstrates you’ve memorized all the shortcut keys and typical settings for things.

[Bret Williams]

Boy that leaves it quite vague does’t it? How long does it take to have basic knowledge of video editing terminology? I’d say a lot more than a month, but it’s quite a subjective little phrase.

[Noah Kadner]

I’m not sure that the OP’s expectations/goals were entirely realistic about the FCPX certification. Or perhaps he didn’t have the time to research the program in depth.

If the goal was to earn a certificate that your passed the course, well it’s no secret the FCPX/ProApps exams are not at all easy to pass and require thorough knowledge of the book to pass. If it were something anyone could pick up in 3 days cold, it wouldn’t have much value as a distinction. You can join the Apple Trainer’s group on Facebook and you’ll find that even longtime trainers with years of experience with FCPX don’t find the certification a walk in the park without extensively studying the book and the practice exam.

That said, I’d want to know some specifics about this particular AATC you went to and how they are training. Because if not a single person in your class passed that sounds like they potentially have some other issues.

On that note, why travel all the way from Colorado to Florida when solid AATC’s in California and Texas are closer.

If the goal was to learn FCPX more in depth, I’d suggest one of the many available online training courses such as the Ripple Training Series. They do not offer certificates but the will definitely significantly improve your FCPX skillset. Which is what I would imagine your employer is more interested in with funding your education.

Noah

FCPWORKS – FCPX Workflow
Call Box Training

[Andrew Kimery]

[Mark Suszko] “Let’s take the exam together:
“

I’m not sure what you are getting at, Mark.

According to Apple’s documents if you know how to use a Mac, and know some basic editing terms, then you have a suitable knowledge base to take the FCP X certification course. Eric’s upset because he feels that is very misleading given the breadth and depth of what’s covered by the course. Your opinion seems to mesh with Eric’s (that this is not an entry-level course), but you are saying Eric had unrealistic expectations going in even though Eric’s expectations were based on Apple’s documentation that basically says if you can use a Mac you are qualified to take this course.

[Mark Suszko] “It demonstrates you’ve memorized all the shortcut keys and typical settings for things.”

Has anyone here made the case that certification does anything beyond making sure you know commands and settings?

What that being said, I’ve never taken any certification course but I know some editors that have and say it really helped them become better at editing. Not better in a storytelling sense, but better at quickly and efficiently using the NLE so they spent more time ‘in the zone’ and less time wrestling with the software. I think that’s a viable point.

Given the increasing amount of online tutorials and forums with helpful members (such as the COW) I’m sure much of the same lessons and experience can be accessed for much less money than an official course costs, but at the cost of the individual having to do a lot more leg work. The individual also needs to be at a point of knowledge and experience where they know enough to know what questions they need to be asking. A course, on the other hand, gives you access to an instruction and a pre-made curriculum but it won’t be cheap. I don’t think there is any ‘right’ answer as it’s up to the individual to determine how they want to spend their time and money.

-Andrew

[Bill Davis]

Basically you’re saying that certification is hard.

Yep it is. It’s absolutely no cakewalk.

Nor should it be. A program you can learn thoroughly in a single 3 days session is an awfully simple program – and X while sometimes appears relatively easy for newcomers, is NOT a simple program when you get deep inside it.

I had nearly 3 years experience using X – then I proctored the test for an AATC program which let me sit in on the entire 3 day curriculum – THEN I studied the Apple material for a full six weeks – and after all that, I didn’t get up to a 90% score! (I did pass and get certified, but I didn’t ACE it.) I did that for the old Level 1 FCP X test, then the the old Level 2 test (which are now obsolete) and finally the new Professional Post certifications.

So yes, it’s very comprehensive and designed not to test just factual knowledge, but a pretty deep understanding of how the program really works.

That you paid for a 3 day intensive and didn’t “get it” fully, is not surprising to me at all. I’ve spent 3 years immersed in X – did formal and personal study for weeks – and still got 10%+ of the certification test answers wrong.

That doesn’t make anything a scam. It just means you very much underestimated what it takes to become Certified in X.

That’s all.

Also, I’m not sure why anyone thinks this is any different from, say, a Certified Public Accountant exam? There are tons of CPA training programs that give you a 3 day intensive course in THAT to brush up before you take the exam. But nobody expects those programs to INSURE that you’ll become a CPA with nothing but the course and 30 days experience. And I don’t recall that the CPA exams bother to tell the people seeking to take them what kind of training they need to have as prerequisites.

It was harder than you thought. Sorry. Now you have two choices. Up your game, do the hard work to study more, and re-take it. Or content yourself without certification. That’s about it.

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