The metaverse has inspired creators to expand into new milestones of VR technology. People are using VR headsets and devices to dive into virtual worlds. Industries using this technology include healthcare, ed-tech, automotive, travel, gaming, etc.
On the other hand, AR places digital objects over the physical world to create experiences like PokemonGo. Additionally, National Museum of Finland and The National Museum of Singapore are transporting visitors to a different era.
Introduction to Skillsets for Employee Training
Depending on the mindset, XR enthusiasts can either be developers or designers. Employee training department must note the below skill recommendations to build a roadmap.
Skill 1 – Programming – Knowledge of Java, C#, Swift, Javascript, etc., is essential along with concepts like loops, control-logic, OOP principles like abstraction, inheritance, encapsulation, etc.
Skill 2 – Software development – It is of three types: web development, mobile app development, and game development. For web development, employees must know HTML, CSS, and JS, including UI frameworks such as React, connecting client-side apps to some API to show dynamic data using JSON Parsing techniques.
They could learn to add 3rd party libraries to prevent reinventing the wheel. These skills will improve app quality and scale it.
Skill 3 – General Extended Reality (XR) knowledge – Next, get familiar with XR by getting basic terminologies of XR and also understand the constraints. The three domains under this are AR, VR, and MR.
Developer mindset
Instead of using pre-existing SDKs, some might want to build custom SDKs and libraries to develop customized XR experiences.
Skill 4 – XR SDKs – SDKs like ARCore, ARKit, ARFoundation, Vuforia, Wikitude, etc., can create AR experiences for Android & IoS. Depending on app requirement and code architecture, select an SDK for development. For any problems, you need to invest time to solve them.
In VR, there is an SDK for each VR headset. The Oculus headsets have the Oculus SDK. So, it depends upon the headset in use for developing VR experiences.
Skill 5 – Machine learning and computer vision – XR works on underlying computer vision algorithms abstracted away in methods and functions of existing SDKs. There is research into optimizing plane searching, depth mapping, occlusion features, etc. It might seem tricky to develop and may seem like reinventing the wheel.
Designer mindset
They develop customer-facing XR applications and want experiences to look better than others.
Skill 6 – UX design knowledge – Those who want to make good experiences great can incorporate interactions, study users, and understand where an XR falls short. They study UX design first and understand design principles, usability, design thinking process, storytelling, human-computer interaction (HCI), and accessibility.
After learning UX design, apply the design principles to XR.
Skill 7 – 3D Modelling and animation – Tools like Blender, Maya, and Cinema4D are good prototyping tools with animated 3D models and environment designs. They let you show concepts to potential clients. Employees can use 3D Modelling to create prototypes for development and add to the XR experience.
Developer & designer mindset
This lies at the cross-section of design and development.
Skill 8 – Graphics Rendering – Shader programming languages like Metal, HLSL, and GLSL help developers customize the look and feel of models, animation effects, and VFX in their experiences.
Individuals able to think in terms of design and development can be UX engineers with a combination of design and development roles that include technical artists, AR/VR developers, creative technologists, etc. However, employee training must focus on skills and responsibilities rather than roles.
Implementing AR/VR Education as Part of Employee Training
Implementing reskilling and upskilling successfully enterprise-wide is challenging primarily because employee training teams have a hazy sense of in-demand roles and present capabilities.
Besides, it is challenging fror employee training teams to identify disrupted roles and functions, map employees to ideal roles, and move them to new roles in the shortest time.
Draup’s talent intelligence platform amplifies employee training initiatives. Our Reskilling Navigator provides insights on hard or soft skills, how to devise reskilling initiatives and which employee has the affinity to upgrade.
Explore roles and get insights into required skillsets, learning plans, and external resources. Draup also aids employee training teams analyze signals on adoption trends and skills at a company and segment level.
