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Y'all will say this industry evolves at a light-year a week, but refuse to believe modern professionals face different barriers than you did multiple years - sometimes decades - ago??
Make it make sense.
Make it make sense.
Let me just hop in my time machine, travel back to Silicon Valley circa 2015, have 300 dollars on hand for a DK1, have a $2000 desktop to run it, not to mention the technical knowledge and prowess to use it - and then flaunt my success years later.
Like, yes the hardware got cheaper and software/tutorials got better but with more access comes higher standards!
You can't break into this industry - a stable position, mind you - with just a basic knowledge of Unity and a couple portfolio pieces, you have to be exceptional.
You can't break into this industry - a stable position, mind you - with just a basic knowledge of Unity and a couple portfolio pieces, you have to be exceptional.
Not to mention that your basic VR rig is still $800 dollars, and most mobile VR is either completely outdated or outrightly unsupported.
And don't even get me started on AR where mobile is outrightly laughed at and the HMDs are either $2500 or you need to be an entire company.
And don't even get me started on AR where mobile is outrightly laughed at and the HMDs are either $2500 or you need to be an entire company.
That's JUST HARDWARE and education. I'm not even talking about the hoops you have to jump through to curate a network!
The money, time, energy: I'm FROM the US and I've still spent easily thousands of dollars on just passes to VRDC, AWE, PAX, SXSW, etc.
The money, time, energy: I'm FROM the US and I've still spent easily thousands of dollars on just passes to VRDC, AWE, PAX, SXSW, etc.
Curating an online presence will do you justice, but no one is going to recommend someone to a job with no previous experience that they've never met.
So what do you do? STARTUPS! Such an unstable part of the industry, but you have to start somewhere, right?
So what do you do? STARTUPS! Such an unstable part of the industry, but you have to start somewhere, right?
If (and it's a big if) you happen to know someone who knows someone who wants to take a chance on a junior-level developer, you then get the opportunity to be turned down again and again and again because you don't live in a tech hub down the street from their office.
You might meet an incredibly willing and caring individuals who wants to bring you in remotely on the ground floor (shoutout to @slukas for being my day one).
But then you'll have to dedicate a huge chunk of time to a part-time position, but that's not going to sustain you.
But then you'll have to dedicate a huge chunk of time to a part-time position, but that's not going to sustain you.
Nope, you have to take on other, simultaneous contract or part-time work outside of your part-time position.
God forbid you have full-time job as well that prevents you via non-competes to work on emerging tech (which is growing more and more popular by the day).
God forbid you have full-time job as well that prevents you via non-competes to work on emerging tech (which is growing more and more popular by the day).
And, maybe just maybe if you're lucky you'll get your name on a shipped title. And them maybe just maybe you'll be lucky enough to be hired by a full-time studio.
Oh wait, it's 2020. VR/AR studios are dying. Funding is drying up.
Oh wait, it's 2020. VR/AR studios are dying. Funding is drying up.
You now have to compete with all of the new graduating classes with an unemployment rate UNSEEN in America for decades, not to mention your previous coworkers and colleagues who have gotten dropped off.
I was lucky, still am lucky, to have a full-time position in this industry.
I was lucky, still am lucky, to have a full-time position in this industry.
So many others are not. So so so many others do not get exposure. They don't have the networks. They don't get the opportunity.
Telling them to "try harder" means nothing.
Telling them to "try harder" means nothing.
****a caveat since I did not elaborate on the "ivy-league" (or ivy-adjacent) credentials - you do not NEED higher education to get into the industry. They don't teach you skills needed for AR/VR.
But that piece of paper MEANS something to marginalized and international individuals looking to break in. It's proof they can operate within American capitalistic systems. It gives them access and exposure to the technology, and a network they never previously had.
