[Bf-education] Terminating the Certified Trainer program...

Mon Sep 23 22:38:00 CEST 2019

 Hi Ton. Thank you for making the marvelous software Blender is today.

You mention BFCT status could potentially terminate. I would like to
present some considerations before, please:

BFCT has been enormous help for me as well as other trainers. Many studios
will not hire or consider solutions from a hobbyist or a CG artists who is
not directly endorsed with an official profile page like Blendernetwork.org
has done with all BFCT professionals enrolled in it. The profile hits (page
searches) alone should give a good *healthy report* on how often *top-industry
jobs search for specialized Blender trainers/professionals*. Terminating
the BFCT is cutting out the possibility for an already healthy community
growing for the next wave in the 3D industry: *realtime graphics and VR
operative interfaces* for 3D creation. Blender has taken the right steps
towards the future implementing -even beyond implementing- other scientific
and robotic areas surpassing 3D vfx and animation renders.

I have been invited to many organizations to do *live workshops* because
they trust that I have done a lot of Blender presentations online and
offline driving the edge of techniques and tools from version 2.79 onwards
, endorsed by *being BFCT*. It required me to give *straight answer to deep
technical problems* on studios using Blender or implementing solutions on
their own pipelines with other proprietary software and so their trust is
confirmed on how the certified trainers are endorsed by the Blender
Foundation, thus bringing prestige and confidence using the software.

I have been given the opportunity to work with such venturous software
developers exploring creativity and seeing Blender has stand the tests,
addons and new implementations, thus *giving these 3d
industry-professionals confidence when they work along side a BFCT*. I can
only speak for my cases, but I´m mostly sure many others will be in this
position through out the world as certified trainers.

Training studios has been my main goal, and BFCT helped me through these
years to walk in those presentations and be aware to what the Blender
Foundation was doing in progress of Blender and communicate that clearly
with expectations met from everyone in the room.

Without BFCT certification, anyone stands with under qualified users in
many areas *not knowing what representation Blender would officially have
to showcase as a solution* for a* studio pipeline or creatively using it
for new break through* artistic styles for movies, games or commercial
advertisement...

Having 20+ years in the advertisement industry, terminating the BFCT would
rather hurt the solid commitment that all BFCT pursue: *The efficient
implementation of Blender for studio production across all platforms and
media.*

This is my line of work and I would love to know more information to
re-apply for Blender 2.81 BFCT whenever possible.

*Ultimately, there should be "specialized" training like the Blender
Foundation was offering back in March 2018. For example: "Migrating from
3DsMax to Blender", "Using Particles for physics simulations", among
others; and have those programs expand upon review from the BFCT applicant.
This is a way to search for specialized trainer, rather than an average 3d
generalist.*

*The BFCT applicant submits his specialized trainer program and the Blender
Foundation evaluates the trainer and his program to emit official
certification.*
This is my proposal.

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,

David Rivera.

On Mon, Sep 23, 2019 at 3:01 PM Carlos Santana <csantanad at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello there
>
> I have been for many years outspoken about the fact that certifications
> should be extremely more widely available than they are right now
>
> Like any other certification from CCNA to brain surgeon, the important
> thing it to licence to institutions, not individuals, it is then the
> institutions turn to uphold the quality of the certifiable persons
> acumen in the field.
>
> Under this scheme, Blender foundation remains the sole giver of
> certifications, but it does so to accredited institutes and universities,
> not individuals.
>
> I have already gone all the way to Amsterdam and talked with a few of the
> people involved in the main teachers effort, and have already laid out a
> plan of action to implement such a scheme in the light of the actual
> CG-FX-Studio interest in the talent Blender attracts.
>
> I could turn this into a solid certification path that is direly required
> in order to keep lowering barrier for the large scale adoption of blender
> in the other visual fields not related to the entertainment industry.
>
> In turn the entertainment industry sure wold love it if we gave them some
> tools to remove the guesswork out of hiring Blender bound talent.
>
> There is an alternative, are there people willing to accept it has been my
> question in the last 7 or so years
>
> Regards,
> Carlos
>
>
>
> On Mon, Sep 23, 2019 at 1:07 PM Chris Mcfall <chris at unitedfilmdom.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Personally i always found the blender certification gave clients,
>> particularly universities confidence in hiring me.
>>
>>  In  a community like blenders where there are far more beginner level
>> users than experienced professionals (particularly ones capable of
>> imparting training in a digestible manner) a certification needs to exist,
>> or institutions looking for training are going to wind up disillusioned
>> hiring under-experienced users who misrepresent blenders capability’s and
>> this may negatively impact the uptake of institutions and pro studios.   As
>> someone who has taught blender at a number of prestigious universities,
>> schools, and professional institutions.  I believe a tier of quality
>> trainers for blender is invaluable. Perhaps charging for the certification
>> again and using that fee to manage pay for the infrastructure would be
>> worth while.
>>
>> On Mon, 23 Sep 2019 at 18:32, Gossett, Evalyn J <egossett at iun.edu> wrote:
>>
>>> Hello everyone
>>>
>>> Thank you for the update.
>>> I need training maybe not certification.
>>>
>>> Thank you
>>>
>>> Evalyn J. Gossett
>>> DNP, RN
>>>
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>
>>> On Sep 23, 2019, at 12:04 PM, Ton Roosendaal <ton at blender.org> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi everyone,
>>>
>>> The certified trainer program is dwindling and doesn't get much
>>> attention nor enthusiasm from trainers really.
>>> This email is to open the discussion on stopping with the certification
>>> program, and to provide an alternative.
>>>
>>> https://www.blender.org/certification/
>>> We installed the certification program in 2007 on popular request,
>>> provided that:
>>>
>>> - there would be a clear process in place to validate trainers
>>> - it would be managed well, preferably by trainers themselves.
>>> I always had mixed feelings about providing official certification. A
>>> certificate's value is fully determined by the quality of the validation
>>> procedure and to have a decent examination process. The process we had in
>>> place for validating trainers was very minimal.
>>>
>>> Yet we accepted to do this, because in 2007 many trainers said it would
>>> help them to get in business. Their clients or universities demanded that.
>>> Unfortunately that has been true for very few people only.
>>>
>>> Currently there are only 12 active certifications.
>>>
>>> I propose to stop with certification now. Not only because of lack of
>>> interest, lack of quality in the program, but especially because it does
>>> not support the Blender Foundation's goal - which is about supporting
>>> projects on blender.org related to making Blender.
>>>
>>> What I then rather do instead is to re-activate this mailing list, and
>>> discuss with educators what Blender Foundation can do to help everyone here
>>> better. For example with a section on blender.org where educators and
>>> trainers can meet and exchange useful information and share or download
>>> training material. The Blender Foundation could add also add staff efforts
>>> to coordinate this.
>>> I know this mailing list hasn't been very active. Hope the mail arrives,
>>> and I'm curious to read your reactions.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> -Ton-
>>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> Ton Roosendaal - ton at blender.org - www.blender.org
>>> Chairman Blender Foundation, Director Blender Institute
>>> Buikslotermeerplein 161, 1025 ET Amsterdam, the Netherlands
>>> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/Buikslotermeerplein+161,+1025+ET+Amsterdam,+the+Netherlands?entry=gmail&source=g>
>>>
>>>
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