Come to the job armed with the right skills.
With average salaries of about $180,000 annually, a career in AR/VR can be quite profitable. However, if you are looking to change careers or are a student in college, you might be wondering what skills you’ll need to learn. This article discusses 7 must-have skills if you want to work in the augmented, virtual, and mixed reality industry.
Skills You Will Need for a Career in AR/VR
Here are 7 skills most recruiters look for in candidates that want to start a career in AR/VR:
1. A Computer Science or Related Degree
While this isn’t a necessity, a degree in computer science or any related field can help enhance your resume and help you stand out from the crowd. It should be noted that a degree alone might not be enough. That said, a Bachelor’s degree can be sufficient, but if you decide to go for a Master’s or Ph.D. you’ll be helping your chances.
2. Programming Skills
AR and VR environments are powered by scripts designed using programming languages, so if you’d like to have a go at a career in this industry, you might want to consider developing your programming skill. C#, Java, Python, and JavaScript are just a few of the programming languages you might want to learn.
While learning a programming language, make sure to understand concepts such as object-oriented programming, Big O notation, abstraction, and other important concepts such as writing clean code. This would be important as you’ll likely be working in a team, so you might want to make sure your code is clear and can be easily understood by others.
3. Experience With Building Solutions
Whether you have a degree in computer science or you have learned to code on your own using online learning platforms, it’s important you build up your experience with software development by working on a project or two.
By building a portfolio of projects, it will help improve your understanding of the main industry-related concepts and also help show potential recruiters what you have to offer. You might decide to start small with simple projects, but don’t feel intimidated of trying more challenging projects as you progress. Platforms like GitHub can be quite useful for building your portfolio.
4. A Basic Understanding of Extended Reality
Extended Reality, also called XR, refers to all real-and-virtual world environments that are generated by computer graphics. It is also the umbrella term used to refer to AR and VR. As the industry is governed by XR, it might be useful to have core knowledge of the concepts and terminologies so you can find ways to contribute.
5. An Understanding of Good User Experience Design
AR/VR environments often require good design and usability solutions to be fully appreciated. For users to have a good experience, time and effort are needed in the design process. A proper understanding of UI/UX, also referred to as User Interface and User Experience can be very useful in designing comfortable and efficient AR/VR headsets for users to enjoy. So aspects such as usability, accessibility, and interactions should be considered important.
6. 3D Animation and Modeling Skills
Blender, Unity, and Unreal Engine are just a few of the 3D software solutions you might want to learn as they are very useful in the design of Augmented and Virtual reality environments. You can use these types of software to create prototypes to show to potential employers or clients—this can be very helpful, as some design concepts can be difficult to explain with mere words or drawings.
7. A Constantly-Updated View on Trends
No matter the field you find yourself in, it can be very helpful to stay updated on recent trends. This can help you figure out what is quickly becoming outdated and skills you might want to start learning now or in the near future.
One easy way of doing this is by using social media. Platforms such as Twitter have users that offer updates to different fields such as AR/VR. By liking, commenting, and sharing tweets related to AR/VR, the algorithm which is designed to show you content you prefer, will likely start to display more information as it is related to AR/VR. You might also want to attend webinars for a more academic view on trends.
Final Thoughts
The AR/VR industry, while fairly recent, is constantly making advancements. For you to have a career in this field, the skills listed in this article might prove useful. If you don’t have a programming background, some skills might be a bit difficult to master, but as long as you have the passion and time, you have a good chance of getting to where you need to be.
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