As the Spark AR ecosystem continues to grow, an early but thriving marketplace for professional talent is also taking shape: today, more agencies and brands are seeking skilled creators to build AR experiences for Facebook and Instagram, and more creators are specializing in Spark AR to advance their careers and compete for paid opportunities.

With this growing marketplace in mind, earlier this year we introduced the Spark AR Curriculum, a free, online learning program designed to help teach beginner-level creators how to build AR experiences using the Spark AR platform. To date, more than 22,000 creators have enrolled in our AR Fundamentals course, making it one of the most in-demand courses available via Facebook Blueprint.

And today, at Facebook Connect, we’re excited to preview several updates coming to the AR Curriculum for professional creators, including the introduction of Facebook’s first Certified Spark AR Creator program, as well as a new AR Professional course that teaches advanced concepts and tooling techniques. Additionally, if you’re new to Spark AR, we have some course updates coming that you might find helpful.

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For Professional AR Creators

Distinguish Your AR Skills
Become a Facebook Certified Spark AR Creator

For the first time, we’re providing AR creators with a formal program to demonstrate their knowledge and proficiency with Spark AR, and to earn a Facebook Certified Spark AR Creator badge.

The certification program is designed for advanced-level AR creators who are seeking to distinguish their AR skills in the marketplace, either to help boost their careers or to pursue more creator-for-hire opportunities with brands and agencies.

To earn certification, you must pass a proctored, virtual exam, offered through Facebook Blueprint. This exam is the culmination of a year-long collaboration with multiple Spark AR partners and creators, to identify and define the critical criteria (e.g., knowledge, skills, experience) needed to fairly evaluate and recognize Spark AR expertise.

Additionally, to help creators prepare for the certification exam, we will be providing an online practice test that you can use to determine if you’re ready to take the certification exam, or where you may want to invest more time to prepare.

After successfully passing the exam, creators will earn a Facebook Certified Spark AR Creator badge, which acts as both a credential that can be shared where you choose, like social media, a portfolio or a resume, and it’s also a digital record of certification which can be reliably verified online.

The cost of the certification exam will be $150 USD, however, Facebook is providing vouchers to cover the full exam cost for the first 2,000 creators who join our interest list. Please sign up today and we’ll notify you as soon as the certification program opens up in November.

Expand Your AR Skills
New Spark AR Professional Course

If you’re a creator with intermediate-level AR skills and aspire to do more AR work to advance your career, we have a new offering — the Spark AR Professional course. Enrolling in this new course is a great first step for any creator that would like to round out their Spark AR knowledge, before diving into certification.

The AR Professional course offers 5+ hours of new instructional content with multiple hands-on projects, taught by Spark AR experts, including Luke Hurd, Ommy Akhigbe and Noland Chaliha, and is designed to teach advanced AR concepts and the latest Spark AR Studio tooling techniques.

The AR Professional course will be added to the Spark AR Curriculum in conjunction with the Spark AR Certification rollout in early November, and like all of our AR learning content, this course will be freely available to all creators.

Discover AR Jobs
Facebook Job Search Platform Opens to Certified Creators

Starting later this year, any creator that successfully earns a Spark AR Certification will automatically be invited to join the Facebook Certification Career Network. This job search platform currently features 100+ brands and agencies looking to source skilled digital talent, including AR creators.

The Facebook Certified Career Network is just one initial way Spark AR Certification can help to unlock opportunities for professional creators. We’re working on additional programs to help certified creators monetize their AR skills and look forward to sharing more soon.

For New AR Creators

In addition to these professional creator-focused courses and programs we’re previewing today, we’re also sharing a few updates that are coming for new and beginner-level creators.

Build Beginner AR Skills
Updates for AR Fundamentals Course Coming

We’re updating the AR Fundamentals course to reflect new Spark AR features and capabilities, with beginner-level demos and coaching from our talented team of expert instructors. This course remains the best entry point for new creators that are eager to explore the basics of AR design and dive deeper into practical AR creation and effect publishing on Facebook and Instagram.

Easy Introduction to AR
Quick Start Course Helps Onboard & Orient New Creators

This short 90-minute short course, provides new AR creators with an introduction to augmented reality, including key concepts, common workflows and practical tips to help creators confidently build their own effects using Spark AR.

Define your future

Whether you’re a professional creator pursuing certification, or a beginner that’s just discovering AR, all of us are at different stages of our learning journey. And regardless of what your end goal may be, our hope is that the Spark AR Curriculum will help you learn and grow into a stronger AR creator.

If you’d like to be notified as soon as updates are available for the Spark AR certification, please sign up today. You can also learn more about the Spark AR Curriculum at: https://sparkar.facebookblueprint.com.

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