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Final Cut Pro X Certification and Exam
So as of this morning I’m an Apple Certified Professional in Final Cut Pro X. Certification has been a goal of mine since I started with FCP back in the 4HD days. Considering what the experience was like this morning, I wish I would have just gone ahead and taken the exam a few years ago. I didn’t have time today, but in two weeks I go back for the second level exam.
The reason I’m posting this is to start a discussion on certification, both FCPX and other platforms. How many of you have been certified? Did you continue with recertification after updates? What advice do you have for those looking to get certified? Did you take the official course, or train yourself? Why did you get certified? What certifications have really helped you, and what didn’t?
Personally, I mainly got it for two reasons: To achieve a goal, and to use it on my business card (which I was already updating). I didn’t take the official course (or even use the official book), but instead started on Lynda.com, then RippleTraining.com. During the last year I’ve done about 30 pieces in X, including two short films and a film race. I’ve actually learned a lot in the last week though, by going over the exam practice review. Lots of little things that I didn’t realize were going on under my nose, or features that were right in front of my face that I almost never use. At the moment I’m debating whether or not to get certified in Media Composer. Considering I’m moving to LA in January, this may be a good idea. However I consider myself more of a filmmaker than an editor, and most of what I freelance is for extra spending money, not as a primary gig.
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Avid MC, PPro CS6, FCP7 – wasting away on my SSD.
I just can’t quit X.
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6 Replies
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It doesn’t hurt to have certifications when you are interviewing for work.
You remind me of a funny thing that happened several years ago. I had an editor interviewing for a low level position and she put her name with ACE after it on the header of her resume. I had to ask. “Wow, that’s quite an accomplishment to be accepted into the ACE (american cinema editors) at such a young age, without any film credits!” She was like, “Yeah, I’m an Apple Certified Editor…”
That was the best.
Keith Koby
Sr. Director Post-Production Engineering
iNDEMAND
Howard TV!/Movies On Demand/iNDEMAND Pay-Per-View/iNDEMAND 3D -
[Nicholas Zimmerman] “but instead started on Lynda.com, then RippleTraining.com”
OT, but how do you compare the two in terms of quality of instruction and ease of use for learning?
Thanks,
Dave -
I really like them both. I’d say Lynda.com is better for general training, and has an pretty good color correction course. Ripple Training has much more advanced and focused courses that are useful once you’ve got a very good grasp of the application.
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Avid MC, PPro CS6, FCP7 – wasting away on my SSD.
I just can’t quit X.
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[Nicholas Zimmerman] “I really like them both.”
My interest is more in your user experience with these two businesses and not so much the content. It doesn’t involve video, but I also have a subscription website and have mostly heard good things about both as a business models. Any negatives to your user experience with either?
Thanks again,
Dave -
Checked out your website, pretty cool. I’ve always wanted to learn harmonica, might have to subscribe at some point.
I’m really happy with both sites in all honesty. They’re fundamentally very different though. As a subscriber I haven’t been super happy with Lynda’s courses lately, as they’ve been really busy updating all of their Adobe training to CC. Things like Logic Pro X aren’t getting the attention that they deserve. They did have a day one “new features” course on Logic X, but that’s it. As a subscription service you really hope that new courses will be added that are in your interest so that it’s worthwhile.
With RippleTraining, I can take or leave what I want. Without the subscription fees I don’t mind if their courses aren’t in my zone of interests. Their training also feels more in depth, with Lynda courses I feel like I’m watching a bare bones demonstration of techniques, with Ripple it seems to be more like a proper in-depth tutorial on every function they cover.
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Avid MC, PPro CS6, FCP7 – wasting away on my SSD.
I just can’t quit X.
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Nicholas,
[Nicholas Zimmerman] “As a subscriber I haven’t been super happy with Lynda’s courses lately, as they’ve been really busy updating all of their Adobe training to CC.”
[Nicholas Zimmerman] “With RippleTraining, I can take or leave what I want. Without the subscription fees I don’t mind if their courses aren’t in my zone of interests. Their training also feels more in depth, with Lynda courses I feel like I’m watching a bare bones demonstration of techniques, with Ripple it seems to be more like a proper in-depth tutorial on every function they cover.”
Thanks, that’s the kind of feed back I was looking for.[Nicholas Zimmerman] ” Checked out your website, pretty cool. I’ve always wanted to learn harmonica, might have to subscribe at some point.”
If you want to email me from the website with a username and password, I’ll be happy to set you up with a month membership to check it out. While you’re in there, I’d love to get some feedback about what you like and think could be improved with my instructional videos. They were of course edited in FCPX.Thanks,
DaveP.S. Any Cow regulars that would like a similar free membership to take a look, I’ll be happy to set it up for you also
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