Dive Brief:
- Job posts seeking augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) engineers jumped 1,400% in 2019, according to Hired.com's 2020 State of Software Engineers report. Hiring demand for gaming engineers swelled 146% in 2019.
- Almost three-quarters of software engineers predict the enterprise sector will see the full impact of AR/VR technologies in the next 5 years. Another 46% of engineers place AR/VR among the top three technologies they would most like to learn in 2020, second only to machine learning.
- Salaries ranges for engineers in these fields can range from $135,000 to $150,000 in cities such as New York and the San Francisco Bay Area, according to the report.
Dive Insight:
The enhancement of customer experience comes at a cost. The higher the interest in one specific technology, the more companies need to build internal skills.
KPMG included virtual reality among the top 10 technologies driving business transformation and value in 2019. Augmented reality, according to Gartner, will become part of the standard tech arsenal in the coming years, letting enterprises reshape the way they face consumers and do business.
Without key talent in these fields, companies may need to turn to third-party contractors for help.
To keep up with hiring demand, managers should sharpen their focus on a candidate's skills rather than their education, said Hired CEO Mehul Patel, in the report.
"While 50% of software engineers have a computer science degree, another 32% either taught themselves to code or learned through a coding bootcamp," said Patel. Virtual or augmented reality deployments usually take place at scale. In 2018, Walmart began providing Oculus VR headsets to its U.S. stores to help train 1 million associates.
