Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) really offer potential business opportunities in a variety of industries. The main use cases are mainly gaming, retail, and marketing. However, almost any business can reap the benefits of AR and VR solutions such as enhanced user experience, a better understanding of consumers, increased competitive advantage, increased sales… For businesses struggling to innovate, VR and AR are no longer optional but are becoming a must to reach, help, educate and entertain consumers and employees pellets. Growing demand coupled with the unequal distribution and development of technology around the world may make it impossible to hire capable, experienced, and able AR/VR developers to complete a VR project or Your business’ AR on time and on the budget is a challenge. This article by Tech Town will find out how to hire developers for AR and VR projects for the best results.

3 scenarios for hiring VR and augmented reality developers

All of the best practices for hiring software developers generally apply to finding and hiring AR professionals and VR. First, you need to formulate your needs, goals, and requirements as clearly as possible. They will largely determine where you should hire AR/VR developers and how you will collaborate with them. There are 3 scenarios as follows:

Build an internal AR/VR development team

You can set up an entire internal AR/VR team or expand your business’ existing internal developer team with AR/VR specialists VR if:

• Your AR/VR development is an ongoing full-time project and requires post-delivery support.
• You prioritize total control, free communication, and transparency in the development process, the team will fully dedicate themselves and fit the company’s culture.
• You accept the hiring, selecting, interviewing, and long-term background assessment.
• You are willing to pay a higher salary and offer better conditions and privileges than your competitors.

You can find VR developers in many places like:

• Platforms where software engineers post their CVs like CareerBuilder, Glassdoor, Indeed, GitHub, or LinkedIn.
• Community of developers like Unity3D community, Oculus developer center, Google VR, Vive/Steam, Gear VR, and PlayStation VR developers.
• Source code platform.
• Social media…

However, your business may face two problems during this period, namely the shortage or absence of qualified professionals in the area or the annual salary. Their prices are too high for your business to pay. 

When local talent is too expensive, business owners often just hire an internal team for pre-production – which requires the closest communication between developers and owners – and then assign the remaining work to an outsourced development contractor. 

Hire AR/VR freelancers 

It is easy to find professionals on freelance websites like Freelancer, Guru, PeoplePerHour, Toptal, and Upwork. Freelancers are a popular choice for small projects and short-term non-core jobs. More importantly, you can find a local developer that charges less hourly than developers in your city, or a foreign specialist whose rates will be twice as much as any other freelance developer in North America, Europe or Australia.

However, besides complex recruiting and onboarding, freelancers require a larger project management effort, especially if they are geographically dispersed. You will need to manage their schedules, coordinate and integrate their work, control engagement and motivation, deal with unplanned delays, etc. This increases the risk of project failure. Entrepreneurs can mitigate this risk by contracting with a dedicated team from a reputable software developer.

Contracting with a dedicated AR/VR team

A fully-tuned team of professionals focuses on a client’s AR/VR project and delivers numerous benefits:

• The agency can assemble the team within days, allowing The business you start growing quickly without hiring, paperwork, and referrals.
• The team can quickly assist in validating your business idea, taking projects from A to Z, and providing end-to-end project management support. 
• You can easily change project requirements and scope and grow the team up and down to meet current business goals.
• If the project lineup changes, you can be sure of a successful knowledge transfer. 
• Approved experienced AR/VR engineers ensure higher quality in software and content.
• You can ask their software developers to work 24/7.
• A software developer can provide active support seamlessly when your project needs some settings, updates, bug fixes, new content, and features to enhance the overall AR/VR experience.

 

However, this collaborative model is not the best solution for small tasks and projects.

Entrepreneurs often seek out software outsourcing partners on platforms like Clutch and GoodFosystem, networking sites like LinkedIn, and industry events and conferences.

While it’s more expensive than a freelancer team, a dedicated VR/AR team can come with the cost-effectiveness of outsourcing. For example, the annual salary of a Vietnamese VR developer can be 1.5 – 3 times lower than the salary of a comparable engineer in the US, UK, or Switzerland. There are no benefits packages, office rent, VR headsets and other equipment, software licenses, electricity bills, and management and training costs.

Whatever partnership model your business chooses, there are several aspects that must be addressed, which we will cover in the next section.

Things to consider when looking for VR and AR developers

1. Specific technical knowledge and hard skills

AR developers primarily need:

• Knowledge of major platforms, operating systems, and development tools.
• Advanced computer vision skills.
• 3D modeling (texturing, shading, and rendering)
• Desktop, web, or mobile programming skills

The most common desktop tools used by VR developers include:

• Unity 3D: Originally a game engine, Unity 3D provides a variety of libraries and functions for 3D, 2D, as well as other libraries and functions. It allows rapid prototyping of VR applications, design of applications in virtual environments, rapid iterative development, and exporting it to almost any platform: Android, iOS, Windows, Oculus Rift, Steam VR, Playstation VR, Microsoft HoloLens,…
• Unreal Engine: This gaming engine provides advanced graphics and features for the most realistic gaming visuals and experiences.
• Blender: This free solution is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS. It’s great for modeling, mapping, and animation.
• Google SketchUp: This VR development environment facilitates the creation of VR/AR applications for interior design, civil engineering, architecture, and landscape design. 

Unity is arguably the most widely used VR development platform today, it works with all leading platforms and device manufacturers, offering super-quality frame rates and a host of features paired with a flexible VR/AR API.

If your VR project involves iOS app development, you need mobile developers with expertise in Objective-C, Xcode, and the Human Interface Guidelines. If you’re targeting the Android platform, look for developers who code in Java and use Android Studio and the principles of Material Design.

Also, when screening resumes or CVs, ensure that candidates have hands-on experience with the following managed cloud service platforms:

• Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2).
• AWS Elastic Beanstalk.
• AWS Amplify.

 

DevOps engineers should also have experience with AWS DevOps infrastructure and tools. 

Also, when hiring testers for your project, look for people with the following expertise:

• Can use popular open source testing frameworks like Selenium.
• If possible, they can use frameworks to test Android apps (e.g. Espresso) and iOS apps (e.g. XCTest).
• Experiment with multiple browsers and mobile devices with solutions like pCloudy.

1. Experience working with popular SDKs and APIs

Software Development Kits (SDKs) and application programming interfaces (APIs) help combine key features into one application. The VR developers you hire must be able to integrate third-party APIs, databases, DevOps services, etc.

Look for VR developers skilled in the following. :

• The free Oculus VR SDKs facilitate the development of applications for the Oculus Rift S, Oculus Quest, and Oculus Go. They work with C++ and Unreal Engine. 
• Open VR provides an open licensing solution that can work with any hardware or software.
• The Google VR SDK allows building apps for desktop, web, Android, and iOS on the respective mobile platforms, Unity and Unreal Engine.
• Amazon Sumerian works with Oculus Go, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, HTC Vive Pro, as well as Android and iOS.

The choice of a particular technology depends on the project and the hardware used. For example, Oculus is one of the most popular VR headsets. Your VR developer must be knowledgeable about the Oculus SDK and documentation, C++, CryEngine, Unity, and Unreal. Samsung’s Gear VR headset uses the Oculus platform, so your VR developers should be at least familiar with the mobile Oculus SDK. They must code in C, C++, and C#, and be skilled with game engines like Unity and Unreal. SteamVR is supported by HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Open VR. You need to hire a 3D game creator skilled with Unreal and Unity tools, OpenVR SDK, and Viveport SDK,…

VR is evolving rapidly and requires constant learning. When new SDKs and devices are released, developers need to keep a close eye on the development steps.

Here are popular tools among AR developers, but not limited to those listed below:

• ARKit and RealityKit frameworks and creative tools like Reality Composer and Reality Converter enable the creation of apps AR for iOS devices, especially for games and other entertainment applications.
• EasyAR supports iOS, Android, Windows, and Unity platforms.
• The Maxst AR SDK provides many features in development for iOS, Android, Windows, Mac OS, and other platforms, as well as smart glasses. 
• Vuforia supports Android, iOS, Windows, and Unity platforms. Both local and cloud-based databases are supported for image processing.
• Wikitude supports marker and location-based object recognition for iOS and Android app development and on Unity.

1. Knowledge of Device and Content Interactions

VR developers are required to understand 3D images and models, how the content they create will be perceived on different devices, and which platforms are best suited for them in each case.

Each device comes with both benefits and challenges. Device-first entrepreneurs run the risk of investing in a costly custom application that is not portable and may become obsolete or unsupported for several months with no chance of replacement.

Experienced professionals prioritize content over devices. Once the content is created in 3D and curated, they can easily adapt it for different devices. Putting 3D content first and making it flexible, relevant, and manageable will help protect your investment in an AR/VR project.

1. Relevant field experience

To take advantage of current reusable expertise, try to find virtual reality developers who have experience in your particular industry or have solved addressed similar challenges in the relevant field. Look for agencies with rich portfolios and teams that have developed visually appealing AR and VR products relevant to your project. 

Example: If you want to create a VR game, look for a game developer whose team members should include:

• Expert in a game engine like Unity or Unreal
• Artists with experience in 3ds Max, Photoshop, Substance Designer, Substance Painter, and Zbrush.
• VR environment designer who will take care of all the details of the experience you want to create and make sure that the user feels great in VR.

1. Proof of concept

If planning a major innovation project, you can ask candidates to provide a basic prototype to test their motivation and competence.

Besides testing the technical feasibility of your idea, a proof-of-concept (PoC) application will help you assess the skills and understanding of your project developers and have A glimpse of what they can offer. The PoC also provides a tangible sample of the overall vision to share among stakeholders before investing in a full-scale project.

If you hire a dedicated team, they can quickly deliver a PoC application with a nominal investment.

1. Efficient software development workflow

Look for a partner with established product development, release, and maintenance workflows specifically for VR and AR, provide training support and take requests demand and analysis. A standardized manufacturing process with templates, methodologies, and best practices speeds up the development process, saves you money, and facilitates higher product quality.

Developers must have a deep understanding and experience with major software development life cycle (SDLC) models. In particular, the continuous feedback, rapid iteration, and close collaboration throughout the project cycle provided by Agile workflows are very beneficial for AR and VR development. Setting a detailed production and sprint schedule with your team will support a structured process that drives delivery quality.

An efficient Continuous Integration (CI) environment enables continuous application analysis, building, testing, and deployment. It requires close collaboration between developers, testers, DevOps engineers and scrum masters.

1. Soft skills

When you contact developers to discuss your requirements, try to understand immediately whether individuals and companies can communicate effectively. Assess your willingness to take the time and ability to understand the complexity of your project. Choose a team that you will enjoy working with and socializing with.

Avoid candidates with a fixation on a particular device or even technology. Find someone willing to explore and develop your use case and suggest solutions for the specific goals of your project. They will be able to come up with completely new ideas and push the boundaries of new technology while demonstrating operational prudence. A passion for emerging technology and a close eye on recent research in the field is required. The AR and VR developers, testers, and DevOps engineers you hire must be motivated and collaborative.

1. Cost 

If you choose to outsource VR/AR application development, which is often a lower-cost option than in-house development, you may still have to consider many details regarding pricing. 

Example: Large VR studios that have built a strong reputation can charge very expensive fees. Try searching for VR app developers at midsize companies and overseas outsourcing destinations. For example, Asia is full of highly skilled, experienced programmers, designers, content creators and other professionals at a reasonable price thanks to a lower cost of living.

Lessons Learned

Most businesses looking to hire an AR/VR developer always require a combination of software programming, 3D modeling, UX/UI design, and video/audio production skills, an obsession with constantly developing technology and the ability to solve complex problems using the medium’s own strengths.

It is important to choose developers with considerable experience and minimize potential risks by:

• Clearly articulating your project requirements and goals
• Choose an outsourcing or outsourcing service provider with reliable
• Assess hard and soft skills of selected candidates
• Carefully negotiate project development stages, reports, means of communication, and work schedule

Tech Town hopes the information brought above will be useful for business. If your business is looking for a reputable AR VR application development company with a team of highly qualified engineers with reasonable costs, Tech Town is confident to become the right choice for your business.

Tech Town is a technology company from Vietnam, with representative offices in the United States, Japan, Canada, and the Netherlands,… We provide AR & VR application development services for businesses, optimize content delivery with immersive technologies, enhance the performance of decentralized systems, enhance customer experience, and delight next-generation users. For more than 4 years of operation, Tech Town has become a reputable technology partner trusted by startups and enterprises from many countries around the world such as the US, Canada, the Netherlands, Japan, the UK, and other developed countries.

Contact us if you have any technological challenges.