A walk-in Internet with many possibilities for leisure and work environments: The Metaverse should become our Web 3.0. But which technical specialists are needed for this and what can they gain? How much money does “game developer’s dream” really cost.
Tech professionals with different skills are needed for the Metaverse.
Photo: panthermedia.net/realinemedia
Work out together then take a fitness class – this and much more should not be limited in the metaverse be possible. However, these applications must also be programmed and designed. Tech talent is rushing Meta and often let themselves be lured by competitors like Apple for even higher wages.
There are some very good offers for developers and engineers, especially in the United States. Does this coincide with the German market or are we sitting on hype here? We spoke to an enterprise IT specialist about the real possibilities of the Metaverse job market.
What is the Metaverse?
According to Mark Zuckerberg, the Metaverse is the next big thing – hence Facebook’s Meta now too. Internet is not enough. “You participate in it, you evolve in it,” says Zuckerberg. The metaverse is therefore a virtual place where people meet and interact with each other. Participants must physically immerse themselves in the 3D digital world “Metaverse”.
You can actually imagine it as in the real world. With an avatar you move around the metaverse and can do everything that is also possible in “normal life”. Meet friends, shop, work, watch movies, or start your own business.
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Skilled Workers Wanted: Who Creates the Metaverse?
Gamers and young people in particular are enthusiastic about augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). Using special glasses, users move through virtual worlds that look and feel deceptively real. According to Sibylle Kunz, a professor of media computing at IU International University, creating this experience requires more than typical developers.
“First, we have the developer who develops applications on three-dimensional graphics development platforms. These skilled workers come from the traditional development stream. Developers are currently in high demand and well paid,” she says, adding, “Designers create the exterior of these worlds in the metaverse. For example, they create the landscapes and spaces in which I find myself. Avatars are designed and sound design is also part of it.
In addition to design and development, the metaverse also requires content. Filling the parallel digital universe as a content manager? Not at all extravagant.
“We also need people to create content. What are the objects, assets and avatars supposed to do in the Metaverse application? Kunz intervenes.
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Engineers as a key metaverse interface
AR and VR have long arrived in games. Immerse yourself in alien worlds and completely lose yourself in them or travel virtually to your favorite destinations with VR glasses. The possibilities seem endless – potential for a “second life” in the metaverse.
“Gaming is most popular in the AR and VR space. This has already happened in the consumer sector. But there are also other areas such as medicine, engineering, industry 4.0 or the education that are suitable for working in the metaverse. We need people who understand the connections to the real world and can translate them into content created virtually,” says media expert Kunz.
Translate real contexts? The business IT specialist explains what this means at ingenieur.de.
“Here I have a concrete example: a customer needs a medical training system. It can be difficult for the doctor to speak directly to the developer. An interface that someone with medical expertise can cover, for example, would be desirable. In the areas of Industry 4.0, it could be engineers.
There are already surgeons operating with AR glasses. In a metaverse development, patient information could be displayed during surgery, or surgeons could have access to the steps of previous colleagues. This procedure can also be transferred to technical fields such as mechanical engineering or the maintenance of circulation systems.
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Where can Metaverse professionals be found and what can they earn?
According to Sibylle Kunz, programming skills, design skills, proficiency in artificial intelligence, but also an understanding of the respective area of specialization are required.
“Finding professionals who cover all of this is relatively difficult.”
The competitiveness of the market is demonstrated by the strong incentives between Apple and Meta/Facebook corporations – the same corporations that want to shape the Metaverse in significant ways. Apple rewards selected employees with stock of up to $200,000. Apple is working on its own AR headset and has hired Meta’s AR marketing boss, Andrea Schubert, for it. On the other hand, more and more engineers are migrating to “Meta” (formerly Facebook). According to Bloomberg, Meta has hired 100 engineers in the past few months. Tens of thousands of technology professionals are needed for the so-called “Web 3.0” in the United States. You can read about an annual salary of up to 300,000 euros.
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Sibylle Kunz of IU International University warns against this hype. “These are IT and engineering jobs – and these people are traditionally expensive. Salaries here are usually between five and six figures. And she continues: “In the poaching campaign between Meta and Apple, sums of up to 180,000 euros have been reported in the press. We don’t see things that way in Germany. The information comes from a job profile assessment by Accenture. For the German and European area, however, they seem exaggerated.
“In terms of salary structure, I would make a clear distinction between the American market and Europe,” explains the expert.
“You have to be careful not to get carried away by the hype. Although there are more and more jobs related to virtual reality or augmented reality in Germany. These positions are traditionally called developers. A maximum gross salary of up to 80,000 euros is sometimes offered here,” says Kunz.
Develop skills for the metaverse – but where?
According to the media pundit, anyone who wants to help shape the internet’s virtually walk-in upgrade should show their own initiative. “The initiative is important to acquire skills for the metaverse. But there are already the first courses and the universities are looking at how they can adapt the curricula.
Are you looking for a job in the field of artificial intelligence? Then take a look at our job board.
Those interested can study virtual reality and game development at the University of Heidelberg, for example. HAW Hamburg offers a master’s degree in digital reality. IU International University students can add a bachelor’s degree in artificial intelligence.
The range of courses is widening, but Professor Kunz intervenes: “It will take time to train people. You need time, although we have students who are already developing skills in school and in their spare time. »
The next twist in online life
In five years, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg wants to have created 10,000 jobs for his large-scale Metaverse project in Europe. Sibylle Kunz is critical of whether this will “replace” our lives: “The metaverse could be the next variant of online life. After two-dimensional applications, now come more immersive spatial representations.
Are you paid according to the market? Find out in our salary study.
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For years, virtual reality technology has been hailed by experts as the next “big thing” in the digital industry – but the breakthrough hasn’t materialized so far. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, among others, now wants to change that with the so-called Metaverse and also convince the last virtual reality skeptics.
Podcast guest Klaus Bredl from the University of Augsburg is a digital media expert. Marco Dadomo and Sarah Janczura ask him if and how virtual reality could soon change our daily lives. Bredl and his students have created something unique on a digital island. Listen now!