Final Cut Pro certification classes

[Lensmith]

I was shooting a story at some corporate event and they'd hired a local still guy to shoot up the event for them. Don't know why...but the guy had a lot of animosity towards those of us who shoot video. Especially for local news. Anyway...during my attempts at being friendly and professional with the guy, he gets smug and starts asking me about editing NLE. When I told him my employer is in the Final Cut Pro camp he asks me how much I paid for training. Smiling, I admitted all my training was "on the job" but I was being taught by some pretty talented folks. I also mentioned several of my friends had made the extra effort to take Apple FCP certification courses, paying quite a bit of money to do so. This, for some reason, made him puff up and begin bragging that we didn't know what we were doing. That he was taking classes for 89 cents each...yes cents...on the internet from Apple. Some kind of extra that Apple offers to those buying the program. But I can't believe it's much more than a very basic learning experience.

OK...good for him...but I explained a lot of the high end editing jobs were asking for Apple certification from the people they were interviewing for jobs. Again...another smug look...then a laugh. "All they need to see is a demo reel. Certification is a waste of time and money." At this point, even my slow to burn personality had enough. I smiled and moved on. Arguing with goof balls, either in person or the internet, is a no-win situation. Explaining that anyone can hand in a reel of someone else's work, claiming it as their own to get hired is something all too common in our business and the certification, to me, is a better way of proving a person's ability and training apart from just a demo reel.

Am I wrong? I don't go for the editing jobs. I shoot. But a few of the good editors I know, and even some photog buddies, have taken the FCP courses at their own expense and said it was worth the extra money and effort for their careers. Wondered if others had taken the courses...or not taken them...and how they felt about it.

 

[Amnesiac]

I took the class a couple of weeks ago in Las Vegas. It was great. It taught me a lot of things about FCP that I'll probably never use, but it was still a great class. Unfortunately I failed the certification exam on the first try. Apparently it only has a 50% pass rate. Apple wants you to know the software backwards and forwards to get certified. The test was multiple choice, and asked some really mundane questions about things that I'll never use. Not sure if the certification really helps. I posted on here after I took the class looking for some advise about whether or not I should bother to take the test again. The responses ere half and half. I think in the news business, the certification is probably worthless. If I were to apply for a staff editor job at a post production house in LA or New York, it would probably help me if I'm up against someone with similar experience and no certification. So since I'm currently looking for jobs both in and out of tv news, I'm actually retaking the exam today. Wish me luck!

Long story short.....the class is expensive, but I think it's worth it if you can afford it. They teach you EVERYTHING the program can do. Stuff that you probably won't ever figure out learning it yourself.

 

[adam]

I will maintain until I die (or change my mind) that certification is a big deal for the minimal effort it takes to get it. By "minimal" I mean if you're already editing and know the system you just need to add a few skills probably and you're up to speed.
If that guy was shooting a corporate deal he should know better. Corporations don't hire people with great reels they hire based on qualifications, billing and client history. I (like most of us) have some good friends who do corporate communications (for really, really big companies) and they know good work when they see it and they know that great creativity and successful projects don't necessarily go hand in hand. They hire on proficiency, delivering the desired images/audio, gear and ability to move the paperwork and project through on time. A great reel is terrific but a project manager who is putting together talking heads and file of a production line knows that he just needs someone who can deal with multiple formats or cameras. A PM might want some input about music etc. but it's corporate not a narrative film, they don't need help finding the emotion in a moment.
If I were hiring for a big corporate deal I would go to a full time editor with certification and a great reel.
If you miss out on one edit then NOT getting certified was a mistake.

And... breath in.

 

[AlexLucas]

I'm working on it.

I'll be certified in a few months. I'm woking on it.

We get people, all the time, that act like jackasses to the ENG shooters out there.
Production people, like movie people, think that because they work on something where they work ALL DAY to get one shot, that those standards should be translated to their industry. I can tell by their attitude right off the bat if they've ever been an ENG.

I too have been talked to like I'm an idiot, by the occasional HVX200 shooter that rolls an interview to the edge of the lens to get that 'great look.' Had someone tell me, to my face, that his little personal XL2 has a better look than my news BetaSX. After about five minutes of his intellectual prattle, I just cut him off and said, 'Someday, when you actually sit down, read a book on your chosen profession, and learn it, you'll never say those words again.'

As Barney Fife says, you got to 'NIP IT IN THE BUD! NIP IT!'

Simply put, when I've been shooting 'ENG style' for network shows, most of the field directors say, "Gosh, your handheld is great!" One said, "I can't believe this, we're going to be able to take a two hour lunch. Usually we don't get a lunch." I think, after all of these years, my handheld is mediocre. I am fast, though. But hey, we're ALL quick.

Don't let those bastards get you down. You can shoot circles around them.
The hardest part is to NOT be a jerk back to them.