AR/VR TECHNOLOGY: What Does it Mean for Tech Jobs By Lisa M Watts
R / VR technolog y is a rapidly-evolving
VISUAL ARTISTS AND STORY TELLING WRITERS
field with the potential to create new
Ar tists create 3D models, textures, and animations and
and exciting job oppor tunities. Zippia.
are in ver y high demand. They use tools such as Maya,
com repor ts that the number of U.S.
Blender, Procreate and Photoshop to create and design the
jobs that will use AR / VR will be around
various t ypes of content needed for AR / VR experiences as
2.32 million by the year 2030. As digital
well as traditional 2D games and even movies. Being able
content continues to move from 2D flat screens to 3D
to create in 3D is extremely impor tant. Did you know that
holographic displays, companies are in great need of
even though a game may not run in AR or VR, it still is
sof t ware developers, designers, 3D ar tists, animators and
designed fully in 3D?
engineers who are knowledgeable about AR / VR technolog y to create these applications and experiences for their
In addition to visual ar tists, writers and stor y tellers are
workers. And as more people buy headsets like the Meta
needed. Like movies, any great game has a strong stor yline,
Quest 2, more games are being developed natively in VR.
a script and narrative. I’m sure you of ten think that careers
If you have experience as a gamer or a digital ar tist, this
in tech require background in math, science or computers
could be a par ticularly exciting time to really hone your
but that is actually not the case. For technolog y to be
skills. Let ’s take a look at just a few of the careers in this
great, it requires people from all dif ferent backgrounds
exciting market.
as par t of the design and development process.
DEVELOPERS
ENGINEERS
Developers create sof t ware and applications for AR / VR
If you are interested in computer or electrical engineering
devices, such as headsets, smar tphones, and tablets. They
or computer programming, learning more about AR / VR
use programming languages such as Unit y, UnrealScript,
can open up exciting career oppor tunities. Engineers
and C# to design and develop AR / VR content. In addition
working on AR / VR-related hardware and sof t ware work
to computer science classes that you may have access to
on integrating with other systems, such as sensors and
before college, there are great resources and tutorials
cameras. The area of optics is par ticularly exciting as
online that can help you get star ted. Unit y and Unreal
many companies are investing big as they tr y to invent
game engines both have free versions for students, great
ways to make wearable displays smaller and cheaper.
learning content and sample projects (see resources below).
LEARNING DESIGNERS Learning Designers use AR / VR technolog y to create
UX /UI DESIGNERS
immersive training and educational experiences. They
Designers create and design the user inter face (UI) and
work with developers, designers, and ar tists to create
user experience (UX) for all kinds of digital sof t ware
programs and simulations to train individuals in various
and experiences, including AR / VR. If you are interested
industries, such as healthcare and manufacturing. Based
in becoming a designer, you may want to study UX
in game theor y, we of ten call these sor ts of training
design principles and techniques to create user-friendly
experiences as “serious games” or the “gamification” of
inter faces and game mechanics that are intuitive and easy
learning. You may have experienced this t ype of training
to learn.
in VR at your school already.
2023 TeenLife Guide to Your Future In STEM
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