Hired’s State of Software Engineers Report Highlights Huge Demand for AR/VR Engineers

The virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) industries are no longer being considered niche tech markets as global companies continue to invest and discover the use case possibilities. Of course, this means they need employees to help develop this critical technology and demand is continuing to grow. Today, job marketplace Hired has released its second annual State of Software Engineers report highlighting the need for more VR/AR engineers.

There’s a big emphasis in Hired’s report on VR/AR engineers, with the most striking figure being that demand growth has soared by 1400%, way more than any other engineering role. When talking to engineers Hired found that 46% ranked VR/AR as one of the top three technologies they’d like to learn in 2020, while 74% expected to see the full impact of AR & VR in the next five years.

And these roles pay well too. On average, a VR/AR engineer working in San Francisco will take home $150,000 USD per year – in London, UK the figure was £82k.

“We see the growth in AR/VR demand as a direct reflection of the technology itself coming of age for a broader swathe of business outside of gaming. From beauty companies like Sephora to furniture retailers like Wayfair, many different types of companies are embracing the capabilities of these world building and enhancing technologies,” states Hired in its report.

VRFocus continually sees this demand on its weekly VR Job Hub feature, with engineering posts normally outweighing other vacancies.

For those interested in this career, it seems as though there are several avenues to success. The most popular way was through a Computer Science degree with 50% of respondents selecting this route. Others included relevant college degree 19%, self-taught 22% and boot camp 10%.

So if you love technology and can’t decide what to study, at least you know there are plenty of roles available as a software engineer. VRFocus will continue to report on the latest VR/AR industry news as it continues to grow.

https://www.vrfocus.com/2020/02/hireds-state-of-software-engineers-report-highlights-huge-demand-for-ar-vr-engineers/