How to Get Into Virtual Reality Without Tech Skills

At RT Virtual Reality, we have talked at length about virtual reality’s future. We are confident that this is going to be the largest source of job growth over the coming decade.

Most people consider virtual reality to be a programming and engineering dominated industry. And for the most part that’s true right now. If you type “virtual reality” into any career board, we’d guess that will describe 90% of open jobs. However, in the coming years when VR goes mainstream, the job availability will become much more diverse.

It will resemble the internet. In the early days, web developers and other technical jobs comprised the majority of openings. Now that most of the world is online and every business has an online presence, careers of all type interact with the internet.

So what jobs will be heavily demanded in virtual reality? Let’s explore…

1. Graphic Design. This will be the most common job outside of programming. We’re about to enter the greatest era for designers we’ve ever seen. Why? Virtual reality relies on visuals so realistic that they trick a user’s brain into thinking it’s real. This means you’ll need designers capable of getting the experience aesthetically perfect. Objects, scenes, and experiences need to look fully life-like. This includes the right shape, color, textures, lighting, motion, etc. And the average programmer doesn’t have the artistic talent to define, create, or test that. At some stage, everything will exist in virtual reality: cinema, websites, social experiences, learning, and more. That adds up to a crazy demand for 3D graphic design talent.
2. Marketing. Have you noticed how many people have gone into digital marketing over the past decade? It’s definitely one of the fastest growing industries in terms of investment and career growth. Well those same people will soon be migrating to VR marketing. As virtual reality becomes the dominant communication, information, and entertainment medium, businesses will soon find plenty of reason for big ad budgets. It will resemble the digital world but have so much more potential. Instead of text and 2D pictures/videos, it will all be in 3D. Social media marketing will be done in a 3D space. Ditto for search marketing. Email might look a lot different but whatever form messages take will be attractive to marketers. Commercials in VR entertainment. And so much more!
3. Story-telling. One of the most exciting aspects of virtual reality is the capability to create any world in your imagination. Imagine what movies can be like. Rather than sitting on the couch and watching on a screen, you can exist as a character in that movie. You can talk to your favorite movie star. You can witness the action and walk around in 360 degrees. But don’t limit yourself to movies. We’ll be able to live in today’s video games. You can create futuristic worlds or travel through time to the past. You can transport anywhere in the world or immerse yourself in wildlife. We’ll need a lot of good stories to make these experiences compelling. Combine a good story with outstanding graphics and development, and you have a highly demanded product!
4. Teaching. We believe education will primarily be delivered via virtual reality. Why not? You could put on a headset and be in a virtual classroom. Or take a field trip to somewhere that better illustrates that day’s lesson. Or maybe create a simulation to allow students to experience it. Teachers will need to adjust. Some lessons will be live, while others will be taught via simulation. However it’s delivered, we know there will be tons of great teaching jobs.
5. Sales/E-Commerce. Just like the internet is used for direct sales or opening an online store, these will largely shift to virtual reality. So sales professional and retailer jobs will be plentiful in VR.
6. Leisure jobs. Many of the leisure activities you know today will exist in the virtual world. Musical collaboration. Exercise classes. Improv. Virtual bars and nightclubs. Meditation groups. Tours. Sporting and other live events. Art. Lectures. You name it and it will exist. And we wouldn’t be surprised to see a few activities that don’t even exist today.
7. Support jobs. Because virtual reality will be such a dominant medium like the internet today, support jobs will be important. Legal, finance, HR, customer service, and much more.

So what’s the moral of this story? Virtual reality will be huge and attract jobs of all types. So what?

The main theme is that you would be wise to start preparing for virtual reality now. Learn a little programming design. Buy a headset and experiment with it. Follow the industry. And customize your skills toward the industry’s trends. With hindsight, you would’ve done the same for the Internet. You might have invested in gotten a job at some of the top internet companies. You might have developed better technical skills. You might have been a pioneer in marketing or at least establish your online business presence earlier.

You can still do these things for virtual reality. Don’t assess virtual reality by its current offerings. It will be so much more than games and app development. PCs and mobile phones weren’t very useful in their first version. But they eventually realized their potential. VR is going to realize its potential much quicker than those technologies did. Too many people and too much is invested in it. So start today!

If you’re interested in help, we have a lot of resources to do so.

Want to learn virtual reality skills? Check out Reverse Tide’s Virtual Reality page

Or if you prefer learning these supplemental skills, check out our programming, marketing, sales, and business learning paths at Reverse Tide Learning.

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