Next Steps - Introduction

Lesson 6.1 - Project Optimization

Lesson 6.2 - Research and Troubleshooting

Lesson 6.3 - Sharing your Projects

ECS Survival Guide

Career research and preparation

Introduction to portfolios

Debug the App

Counting Prototype

Quiz: Create with Code 2

Prepare to continue developing your Unity and C# skills independently, including learning how to complete your personal project.

In this Mission, you'll prepare to continue developing your Unity and C# skills independently, including learning how to complete your personal project and how to prepare for the Unity Certified User: Programming exam, which you can take through your school program, if available.

Publishing Your Project

Unity Junior Programmer

Kickstart your programming career with Unity's Junior Programmer Pathway. Learn coding fundamentals, C#, and game development to create your first interactive projects. Start learning for free!

Junior Programmer Pathway - Learn Coding & Game Development | Unity Learn

We recommend that you have basic knowledge of Unity or complete 

Ready to code? This guided learning Pathway will take you from zero to job-ready!

Welcome to Junior Programmer! Designed for anyone interested in learning to code or obtaining an entry-level Unity role, this pathway assumes a basic knowledge of Unity and has no math prerequisites. Junior Programmer prepares you to get Unity Certified so that you can demonstrate your job-readiness to employers.

Junior Programmer

Course Introduction

Install Unity Software

Unit 1 - Introduction

Lesson 1.1 - Start your 3D Engines

Lesson 1.2 - Pedal to the Metal

Lesson 1.3 - High Speed Chase

Lesson 1.4 - Step into the Driver's Seat

Challenge 1 - Plane Programming

Lab 1 - Project Design Document

Introduction to project management and teamwork

Quiz 1

Learn how to create new C# scripts, call basic functions, and use variables to modify the results of those functions.

In this first mission in the Junior Programmer pathway, you will program a car moving side-to-side on a floating road, trying to avoid (or hit) obstacles in the way. In addition to becoming familiar with the Unity editor and workflow, you will learn how to create new C# scripts and do some simple programming. By the end of the Unit, you will be able to call basic functions, then declare and tweak new variables to modify the results of those functions.

Player Control

Unit 2 - Introduction

Lesson 2.1 - Player Positioning

Lesson 2.2 - Food Flight

Lesson 2.3 - Random Animal Stampede

Lesson 2.4 - Collision Decisions

Challenge 2 - Play Fetch

Lab 2 - New Project with Primitives

Quiz 2

Mod the Cube

Quiz: Create with Code 1

Gain familiarity with some of the most important programming and Unity concepts, including if-then statements, random value generation, arrays, collision detection, prefabs, and instantiation.

In this Mission, you will program a top-down game with the objective of throwing food to hungry animals - who are stampeding towards you - before they can run past you. In order to do this, you will become much more familiar with some of the most important programming and Unity concepts, including if-then statements, random value generation, arrays, collision detection, prefabs, and instantiation. In completing this Unit, you will learn how to program a basic game with the ability to launch projectiles and maneuver the player to keep the game alive.

Basic Gameplay

Unit 3 - Introduction

Lesson 3.1 - Jump Force

Lesson 3.2 - Make the World Whiz By

Lesson 3.3 - Don't Just Stand There

Lesson 3.4 - Particles and Sound Effects

Challenge 3 - Balloons, Bombs, & Booleans

Lab 3 - Player Control

Quiz 3

Learn how to add music, sound effects, and visual particle effects to transform the experience of your project.

In this Mission, you will program a fast-paced endless side-scrolling runner game where the player needs to time jumps over oncoming obstacles to avoid crashing. In creating this prototype, you will learn how to add music and sound effects, completely transforming the experience of your projects. You will also learn how to create dynamic endless repeating backgrounds, which are critical for any side-scrolling games. Finally, you will learn to incorporate particle effects like splatters and explosions, which make your games so much more satisfying to play.

Sound and Effects

Unit 4 - Introduction

Lesson 4.1 - Watch Where You’re Going

Lesson 4.2 - Follow the Player

Lesson 4.3 - PowerUp and CountDown

Lesson 4.4 - For-Loops For Waves

Challenge 4 - Soccer Scripting

Lab 4 - Basic Gameplay

Quiz 4

Learn how to implement new gameplay mechanics including powerups and increasing difficulty.

In this Mission, you will program an arcade-style Sumo battle with the objective of knocking increasingly difficult waves of enemies off of a floating island, using power ups to help defeat them. In creating this prototype, you will learn how to implement new gameplay mechanics into your projects, which are new rules or systems that make the game more interesting to play. On one hand, you will learn to program a powerup, which give the player a temporary advantage. On the other hand, you will learn to program increasingly difficult enemy waves, which make survival more challenging for the player. A good balance of powerups and increasing difficulty make for a much more interesting gameplay experience.

Gameplay Mechanics

Unit 5 - Introduction

Lesson 5.1 - Clicky Mouse

Lesson 5.2 - Keeping Score

Lesson 5.3 - Game Over

Lesson 5.4 - What’s the Difficulty?

Challenge 5 - Whack-a-Food

Lab 5 - Swap out your Assets

Quiz 5

Introduction to user feedback and testing

Learn how to implement a User Interface - or UI - into your projects, such as a title screen and score display.

In this Mission, you will program a game to test the player’s reflexes, where the goal is to click and destroy objects randomly tossed in the air before they can fall off the screen. In creating this prototype, you will learn how to implement a User Interface - or UI - into your projects. You will add a title screen with a difficulty select menu that will control how challenging the gameplay is, you will add a score display that will track how many points the player has earned, and you will add a Game Over screen, which will allow the player to restart and try again. In learning these skills, you will be able to create a fully “playable” experience that the user can enjoy from start to finish without having to restart the application to try it again.

User Interface

Introduction to real-time 3D experience design

Set up version control

Explore the sample project

Principles of object-oriented programming

Create a scene flow

Implement data persistence between scenes

Implement data persistence between sessions

Quiz: Manage scene flow and data

Submission: Data persistence in a new repo

Learn about data persistence and an introduction to the core pillars of object-oriented programming.

In this mission, you’ll learn about data persistence, or how to manage the loading and unloading of data between both scenes and sessions. Along the way, you will be introduced to the core pillars of object-oriented programming, which will help you structure your code throughout the mission. There will only be one practical example throughout the mission, which will build on the new functionality you create with each tutorial. At the end of this mission, you’ll take everything you learned and apply it to a new project by building a persistent score system for a small game.

Manage Scene Flow and Data

Abstraction in object-oriented programming

Inheritance and polymorphism in object-oriented programming

Encapsulation in object-oriented programming

Profile code to identify issues

Job preparation: Junior Programmer

Quiz: Apply object-oriented principles

Submission: Programming theory in action

Deep-dive into the pillars of object-oriented programming and their application, then learn how to profile and optimize code.

In this mission, you’ll refactor the inventory project you completed in the previous mission using the pillars of object-oriented programming as a guide. You’ll deep dive into the inner workings of each pillar individually, so you can better understand its value in developing applications. Next, you’ll learn how to profile your code to identify any optimization bottlenecks that would slow down the final build of your application. To close out this mission, you’ll develop a small application for your portfolio that uses fully optimized code built on OOP principles. 

When you complete this mission you will complete the Junior Programmer pathway - CONGRATULATIONS!

Apply Object-Oriented Principles

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Overview

Review portfolio types and tools

What goes in a portfolio?

Selecting examples for your portfolio

Organizing content

Creating your portfolio

Next steps

Take an active role in choosing, achieving, and demonstrating competency in their learning goals and using that knowledge to prepare for work.

Level 1 Job Preparation

Ellen Flaherty

Senior Learning Architect - Unity

Review the goals and uses of a portfolio.

Plan your own portfolio using a flowchart. 

Games

Film

Automotive

Describe the goals, purposes, and uses of a portfolio

Explain what goes into a professional portfolio

Describe various types of portfolios

Describe tools for building a portfolio

Plan a portfolio by using a flowchart

Organize content in a portfolio

Create a portfolio, enabling you to pursue a job in real-time development

Junior Programmer: Create with Code 2

VR Curricular Framework Resources

AR Curricular Framework Resources 

Game Design Curricular Framework Resources  

Architecture, Engineering and Construction Curricular Framework Resources

Unity for Artists Curricular Framework Resources

AI, ML Curricular Framework Resources 

Portfolios communicate accomplishments, works in progress, or personal history. You can use a portfolio when applying for a job, pitching to clients, or applying for higher education. By the end of this tutorial, you will have a portfolio ready to showcase your work.

Historically, portfolios were physical books containing samples of an artist’s work. Portfolios are now mostly electronic and web-based, easily and quickly shared with anyone in the world. An online portfolio makes it easy to frequently update your content as you learn and create. 

Depending on the audience for the portfolio, your goals, and the length of your career, there are different approaches you can take to portfolios. The two most common approaches are: 


Showcase portfolios, which highlight expertise by showing examples of the creator’s best work. These often include a selection of finished images, designs, and projects. They might also include reflections on the work, or documentation of the process.



Skill growth portfolios, which show multiple samples of work in the same project to demonstrate increasing skill. For example, you could include several versions of a project to show how it evolved. This type of portfolio can also include reflection and discussion of redesigns.

There are lots of online portfolio services that make it easy for you to create and host your portfolio. You can also create your own custom website. Options for you to consider include:


Community portfolios: Services such as Behance, ArtStation, and Sketchfab allow you to quickly create a portfolio of projects and get feedback from the community. Community portfolios allow for direct networking with potential collaborators, clients, and employers.



Custom portfolios: You can create a website where you can post your projects, specific information about the project, and your contact information. Integrating your social media presence into your portfolio is an ideal way to market yourself. Portfolio websites can be as simple as a customized blog (utilizing a platform like Squarespace) or as complex as a fully custom-coded website.



For programmers, your github.com push/pull history can be enough to show your code as well as your engagement, commitment, and time management

For game developers, itch.io can be seen as a portfolio page where you upload all the various games you've made and share the game jams you have participated in. 

Most portfolios share similar features: 


A portfolio introduction provides an overview of your skills, training, career interests, goals, and relevant professional experience. It also outlines the projects included in the portfolio.

An image or representative visual is featured on the welcome page of the portfolio.

Narrative introductions to each project explain the ways the work demonstrates the critical skills for your chosen career areas.

If the portfolio is focused on skill-growth, a learning plan identifies skills or concepts you might be lacking now,  but want to gain in the near future.

A download option is helpful, for either the full portfolio or an abridged version, in case potential employers, investors, or educators want to share your work with others.

Now that you know more about portfolios, take some time to search online and review other portfolios, especially in the career areas you are interested in. Evaluate:

The target job role — is it clear what job role(s) the creator is qualified for?

How well the projects and narrative highlight the creator’s relevant skillsets.

Bookmark some portfolios you think are especially good. As you build your portfolio, return to them for inspiration. 


Tip: To get to you started, explore the portfolios of some Unity Creators: 

Maarten Braaksma, a programmer and Agile Scrum Master

Next, take a moment to consider the work you’ve done in this Pathway, other projects you’ve created, and the career research you’ve completed to determine your areas of interest. 

With this in mind, start to think about the type of portfolio that would best suit your needs:

What is your portfolio goal? Is the purpose to provide evidence that you are ready for a job role, or to create a shareable record of progress so far?

Do you want to use a community portfolio tool or create a custom one?

At this stage in your journey, is a showcase or a skill-growth portfolio the best fit?

Take some time to consider the projects you’ve completed that represent your best work and highlight your skills. 

Let’s start to plan your portfolio content, design, and flow. Using a document, paper, or sticky notes to organize your thoughts:

Create a list of the files and assets the portfolio will contain, and organize these into categories (for example, by skill, career or industry).



Determine the design and navigation style of your portfolio. 



Draft an introduction or mission statement for your portfolio.



Identify the additional content you’ll need to create or curate for the portfolio. For example:

Text descriptions and reflections for each piece in your portfolio

A learning plan that identifies skills or concepts you might be lacking now,  but want to gain moving forward

A slideshow on the front page or as part of the menu that briefly highlights the portfolio content

Now that you’ve identified content you want to include in your portfolio, plan how you’ll organize it using the categories you defined. You can use pen and paper, sticky notes, or a digital tool such as Lucidchart, Mindmeister, or Figma. 

Take some time to:

Model possible ways to organize the content, showing where everything links.

Consider the user journey and how viewers will be able to navigate through the information in the portfolio.

Create organized lists of content and how it connects. 

Using your flowchart, organize all of your files and assets and start to create your portfolio. In addition to the flowchart, you might consider using some of the project management strategies you explored in Introduction to project management and teamwork, and create a design document and project plan for your portfolio.


Use the following questions to help you create, review and refine your portfolio.

What is the purpose of the portfolio? How does the purpose affect the type of content you should include?



Who is the intended audience for the portfolio? How does the audience affect the type of content you should include? 



Can you identify any gaps in the available content?



Consider how you expect a portfolio to change over time or how you might create several versions of the portfolio to accommodate different audiences. 



If you have an existing portfolio, is the current content relevant to the purpose and audience? If not, what should you remove, and what other projects should you include?



Will your portfolio have a narrative? What story is this collection of projects, media, and content trying to tell? Should content be presented in a particular order?



Where will the portfolio live? If the portfolio will be posted to a website that can be accessed publicly by anyone, take into account government regulations, school policies, and best practices with regard to your personal identification and information. It’s appropriate to consider what personal information to include or exclude, since a portfolio may be forwarded to unknown individuals. 



Is the language level appropriate for your intended audience?



Does the portfolio’ written content have any spelling errors, punctuation errors, or grammatical errors?



Uniformity and Consistency: Are elements repeated on content pages to help identify the portfolio as complete? What attributes of the portfolio maintain or violate consistency?



Universal navigation: Where is the main navigation for the portfolio located, and does it appear universally?



Layout: Is the layout logical, or do elements appear to be placed randomly?



Usability: Are portfolio visitors able to find information easily? If online, does the portfolio load quickly?



Readability: Is there formatting that improves or reduces readability?



Accessibility: Are all images labeled with alternative text (alt-text)? Are the text and titles clear and easy to read for all viewers (color, size, and so on)? What features can or cannot be read by screen readers?



Because a portfolio constantly evolves, be sure you plan the portfolio structure to allow for easy changes and additions.

Now that you’ve created your portfolio, ask your friends, classmates, or colleagues to review it for you and give you some feedback and give yourself time to make any revisions required to improve it. 

Once you think it is ready, publish it and start sharing it with the world!

Introduction to portfolios

1. Overview

2. Review portfolio types and tools

3. What goes in a portfolio?

4. Selecting examples for your portfolio

5. Organizing content

6. Creating your portfolio

7. Next steps

Complete this tutorial