Generally, that's enough to talk your way through an interview. Doing the whole book should take 40-60 hours. I am going to assume you will do the basics first : get access to civil 3d, get a how to guide, go through all the exercises.

I would also like some kind of certificate that I could show to a potential employer to say 'Hey, look, I know I haven't used Civil 3D on the job but here is something that says I at least kind of know my way around.' Any suggestions would be appreciated. Is my best bet to find a community college that offers a class and hope I can get a software discount thru them or have access to a computer lab that has it? There has to be something better than watching youtube videos out there.

This is for a potential job change anyway. I am willing to pay, but probably can't afford a full license for my own personal use and my employer has no interested in getting it for me. I don't need a super intro class where they teach me how to draw a freaking line but want to start with learning the 3D functions. I still remember the basics of line manipulation and paper/model space but I want to learn how to create alignments and use the 3D functions. I only had AutoCAD 2012 (I think) then, and it wasn't 3D. Does anyone have any ideas how I can learn Civil 3D without having access to the actual software? I have 10 years experience and a PE but do to working for government and in some PM roles, I have not actually used any AutoCAD products in almost 5 years.

Civil 3d subscription