How to become a Metaverse developer? The complete guide in 5 steps
Monday, October 24, 2022
Want to become a Metaverse developer? But you don’t know where to start, what skills to acquire and in what order?
Then you’ve come to the right place.
When Facebook rebranded to Meta in October 2021, the world discovered what the Metaverse is all about. But more importantly, it unlocked new career opportunities, like that of the Metaverse developer.
Indeed, Meta has launched a set of Metaverse development tools for developers and users.
Competing companies have also launched.
This offers favorable opportunities to become a Metaverse developer and if you are reading this guide, then you are probably a pioneer.
I now propose to walk you through the program of this guide:
- Step 1: Find out what working on the metaverse is all about
- Step 2: Know the responsibilities of a Metaverse developer
- Step 3: Learn about the skills of a Metaverse developer
- Step 4: Walk through the 7 practical steps to get your first metaverse developer job ?
- Step 5: Consider other career options in the Metaverse
- Conclusion: Metaverse, the opportunity of tomorrow?
Step 2: Know the responsibilities of a Metaverse developer
You need to create interactive games, platforms or experiences where users can interact with each other in innovative and exciting ways.
In reality, the possibilities are endless.
You can also create:
- environments in the Metaverse that users can explore with friends or family
- educational projects where users can learn new skills such as guitar or cooking lessons.
Now let’s find out the next step:
Step 3: Learn about the skills of a Metavers developer
If you want to become a metaverse developer, then this is the part that will probably interest you the most.
The main part of a developer’s job for the metaverse is based on virtual, augmented and mixed reality technology.
You’ll also need programming skills and more general skills, like project management.
Here are the most common skills required:
Programming skills
The first skill to have for a metaverse developer is to know how to program.
Indeed, Metaverse developers must have basic practical experience in different programming languages such as Javascript, Swift, Python…etc.
Moreover, you must master the essential notions of object-oriented programming: loops, classes, objects, abstraction, encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism and others.
Software development
You must also have software development skills. This includes skills in web development, game development, and mobile application development.
A mastery of other skills such as:
- UI/UX development
- Connecting to client applications with APIs
- Third-party content library additions to enhance the experience
And that’s not all.
Printing and extended reality for XR
As a Metaverse developer, you will often have to deal with XR technologies.
XR technologies, also known as cross reality or extended reality, refers to technologies that create computer generated environments and objects.
You will need to know how virtual, mixed and augmented reality work, as well as the underlying challenges.
In the same line, you will need to master the XR SDKs.
SDK XR
As a reminder: an SDK is a software development kit, i.e. a set of tools provided with a hardware platform (usually), an operating system or a programming language.
You will probably have to work with XR SDKs like Wikitude, ARCore and Vuforia.
You will then need to use the XR SDKs depending on your feature needs and existing code architecture in the Metaverse development.
Vision for the user experience
The goal of the metaverse developer, as we have seen together, is to create immersive experiences that appeal to the user. Knowledge related to creating a good user experience, such as UX design, is necessary.
For example, you need to have a basic understanding of plane search optimization, occlusion features and depth mapping.
Graphics and animations
As I explain in this article, the Metaverse is about digital avatars interacting with each other in virtual spaces.
A metaverse developer will therefore need to focus on graphics and animation when developing the metaverse.
You should be able to prototype different experiences in the form of animations.
Soft skills
Obviously, project management skills are required. To create a complete virtual world, you will not be alone. So you need to know how to cooperate. But I’m pushing an open door by saying that.
Another skill also seems to be necessary: the ability to keep up with new things and adapt to new technologies. The Metaverse is coming, and fast. We will have to keep up with the pace of ever-exponential innovations. A learning and autonomous mindset seems essential.
Let’s move on to the 4th step:
Step 4: Walk through the 7 practical steps to land your first metaverse? developer assignment
Now you have an overview of the skills you need to develop to become a metaverse developer.
But you may still be struggling to determine the ideal path to pursue your career in the metaverse.
Here are some tips for building your career in the metaverse as a developer.
- Start by understanding what the Metaverse is with our article, the technologies involved and the building blocks
- Define clear goals why you want to become a metaverse developer. It can be to boost your career or simply to learn new skills
- Try to have a complete vision of the job and of what you need to do concretely. For this, you can interview developers on twitter or on linkedin.
- Learn all the core skills of metaverse developers like programming, UX design, software application development and graphic rendering.
- Deepen your skills with practical cases to learn more about the reality of being a metaverse developer. Trainings and hands-on demonstrations are great ways to enrich your knowledge of the best practices in the field.
- Join online communities and interact with metaverse enthusiasts and professionals to further expand your knowledge. This is a good way to get practical details while building your network. In these networks, you will probably also find your first job opportunities.
- Finally, know that it will take you enough time and effort to become a credible metaverse developer, so persevere!
Step 5: Consider other career options in the Metaverse
Other than metaverse developer, there are other career opportunities in the Metaverse.
You can find out about them below. If you see that the metaverse developer role is not for you, then you will have the flexibility to change and try other career paths in the metaverse.
Without further ado, here are the other options available:
- Metaverse Researcher to study the impacts of the Metaverse in our lives and related technologies
- Metaverse Project Manager to organize a metaverse implementation project from start to finish
- Security expert to ensure that the Metaverse is a safe place
- Metaverse Copywriter to develop stories that will engage users
- Game Designer to create games that will appeal to users
- Blockchain engineer
- NFT Consultant to orchestrate the launch of NFT projects
As you can see, there are many career opportunities in the Metaverse.
Conclusion: Metaverse, the opportunity of tomorrow?
The prospects for the Metaverse are enormous.
One of the biggest companies in the world, Meta, has taken the plunge 100%.
The big names in technology such as Microsoft have followed suit to develop solutions centered on the metaverse.
If the Metaverse is the future of the internet in a more immersive way, as I believe it is, then that means three things for you:
- The Metaverse in its final version does not exist yet
- The competition to become a metaverse developer is still low
- Starting to train now might be the best choice of your career
I therefore recommend you to read our articles on the Metaverse below:
- The real definition of Metaverse
- Comparison of the best metaverse
- 7 marketing ideas to launch in the Metaverse
Thank you for reading this article to the end,
Feel free to ask any questions in the comments,