As of 2023, the game development industry is projected to reach $372bn this year. Because of this, programming professionals are highly sought after to meet the continued demand for video games.
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 (such as Zenva’s Unity Associate Programmer Certification Pathway). 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!
Table of contents
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.
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 Associate Programmer Certification Pathway
What if you could have a guided curriculum that basically gave you everything you need to prepare for the certification exam?
Look no further than Zenva’s Unity Associate Programmer Certification Pathway. This collection of courses is designed specifically with the Associate Programmer Certification in mind. You’ll learn the exact things needed for the exam, whether that’s techniques for debugging or how to work with UIs.
You’ll also practice many of the fundamentals with projects that can be added to your portfolio while also cementing your fundamentals for the exam. This makes it a fantastic resource for those just starting out and for experienced developers who just need to fill in the gaps for the exam.
The curriculum also offers a practice exam so you can make sure you understand exactly what you’ll be tested on come time for the real exam! All in all, this is a fantastic solution for specifically the task at hand!
You’ll learn:
- Managing 2D & 3D assets
- Working with UIs
- Techniques for debugging
- C# programming principles
- Full game creation process
- Using audio
Skill level: Beginner. You don’t need prior experience in Unity or C#.
Duration: 19h 5m
How to access: Access the curriculum here.
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.
Unity Associate Game Developer Certification Pathway
While not focused on the entire scope of programming outcomes, Zenva’s Unity Associate Game Developer Certification Pathway can still help immensely when prepping for the Associate Programmer Exam.
With a huge focus on the game development process as a whole, this curriculum covers a huge range of topics you’ll need to know to create your own video games. This includes programming principles, working with various Unity systems (physics, lighting, Unity Services), preparing and utilizing assets, and even applying game design principles. Much like the Unity Associate Programmer Certification Pathway above, this curriculum also includes a ton of projects as well so you can apply your knowledge with practical examples.
Once again, as well, you’ll be treated at the end to a practice exam that can help ensure you’re ready for the real deal. Thus, you can save your hard-earned cash and make sure you’re ready to pass the first time.
You’ll go over key topics including:
- Using Unity from zero experience
- Project construction for platformers, action RPGs, and more
- The function of the game industry as a whole
- How to utilize Unity Services
- Audio and materials
- Game design foundations
Skill level: Beginner. You don’t need prior experience in Unity or C#.
Duration: 13h 34m
How to access: Access the curriculum 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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