Augmented Reality Developers

Job opportunities for augmented reality developers are expected to be strong during the next decade because AR technology is becoming more popular with the public, industry, and government agencies. The International Data Corporation (IDC), an American market research, analysis, and advisory firm, predicts that worldwide spending on AR/VR products and services will experience a five-year compound annual growth rate of 32.6 percent from 2023 to 2027. PC Magazine reports that AR revenue should be strongest in the following industries (listed in descending order of revenue) by 2025: video games, health care, engineering, life events, video entertainment, real estate, retail, and the military. Many experts believe that AR will eventually become more popular than VR because it has many more real-world uses in the aforementioned areas, as well as in industrial production, training and development, construction, tourism, vehicle navigation, and law enforcement.

The U.S. Department of Labor offers the following employment predictions for computer and creative workers (who also work in the AR industry) from 2022 to 2032:

• software developers: +26 percent (much faster than the average for all careers)
• hardware engineers: +5 percent (faster than the average)
• special effects artists and animators: +8 percent (faster than the average)

Augmented reality developers who keep their skills updated and who are willing to earn advanced degrees in computer science, software development, and engineering will have the best employment prospects during the next decade.