Certified Demo Coder (CDD)
Democoding-certification?
Some months ago I was learning for one of the exams of the MCSE 2003 certification. While I was studying the not so interesting details of the Windows Server 2003 operating system software I thought about how interesting it might be to get certified in something that me and many others really interests: the hardware of the computer itself and the knowledge to take the max out of it. I know I can buy a book about programming assembly in a bookstore, but almost never they go into great detail concerning programming great things like demos.
I know that most of today's demos are made by not one but a group of people – a coder, a musician, a graphic artist etc. – but the core of the demo is always the coding part behind the demo. In the internet there are many places where you can find stuff about certain techniques used in demos (vectors, 3D etc) but for most of the people that enjoy demos (not being coders themselves) it is very hard to put all these pieces together and end up with something really useful. Wouldn't be great to have one or more certifications that deal primarly with democoding?
In today's world you have even Certified Ethical Hacking (CEH) certifications, why no Certified Demo Coder (CDD) certifications?
I know apart from coding, there is also a big part of creativity needed to get a nice demo, but there are also jobs/projects in which you have to make something the way your boss instructs you to do.
I know there are famous democoders that got a job in the "real" world, but for some of us who are not in a demogroup already - or don’t have friends who stand out in composing music for demos, the step from democoding to a real job is hard, because how do you convince a boss with your democoding skills when he only sees the demo you made with some other guys together? When the graphics are bad or the music is aweful will the demo you made with your friends still be enough to convince a boss of your demoskills? I don't think so.
In such a case a democoding-certification would come in very handy. It tells the guy who hires you that you have a certain knowledge and it also proves yourself that you at the least the minimum skills for a democoder.
A democoding-certification would first and for all need to consist of certain modules of which the students can choose the ones they need or are most talented in. Of course it shouldn't be all fun, there should be parts that everyone has to take to get the CDD-certification. The certification track should at least consist of the basics of democoding: programming. In particular: assembly, Java, VB.NET in relation to democoding. Also there should be one or more exams to show that you have a decent knowledge of using maths in getting nice graphics in demos.
Maybe it sounds very odd to some of you to have a certification track for democoders, but for me it would be a nice addition to the already dozens of certifications that you can get in Information Technology-world.