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Immersive Learning & XR Technology Skills and Careers

Where the Future of Work Meets Economic Opportunity 

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Table of Contents

   

Why Extended Reality and Immersive
Learning ?

Extended reality (XR) technology and immersive learning (IL) have already reshaped how people have fun, learn, and work. Now, new career pathways can give businesses, consumers, and society access to the opportunities created by “metaverse” technologies. As XR technologies grow and adoption continues, we will see the enablement and growth of access to a number of skills certifications, short-term training programs, and other accessible education opportunities—instead of just four-year degrees—to support economic advancement. 

Jobs for the Future (JFF) presents a new framework of occupations and career paths created or transformed by the emergence of XR technology and immersive learning, as well as illustrative job titles, critical skills, and anticipated training and hiring requirements for each. We draw connections between currently available non-XR careers and their XR and immersive learning equivalents, presenting parallel career paths and skills for XR with a particular focus on ensuring on-ramps for populations that too often experience barriers to economic opportunity. We also highlight opportunities to disrupt typical career paths to develop more accessible on-ramps than currently established careers often allow. 

 

Our Framework

We define four clusters of jobs characterized by role, function, and training pathways. These career clusters align to the process of creating, developing, and deploying immersive technology: 

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XR/IL technical support specialists

facilitate ease of use by the user and address common issues with both the hardware and software.  

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XR/IL technology enablers

help customers develop requirements for products, note any technological limitations, and propose solutions.

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XR/IL innovation facilitators and solution architects

translate requirements into virtual spaces and help design learning and work in these new worlds. 

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XR experience builders and developers

design and build the state-of-the-art devices and software needed to sustain an extended or virtual reality. 

Key Findings

  • Existing familiar technical and non-technical occupations, such as help desk support technicians, software developers, and sales representatives, will readily translate into equivalent roles working with XR technology, thus offering opportunities for workers with transferable skills.
      
  • Populations who have been historically and remain systemically underrepresented in the technology sector, especially career changers and workers without degrees, will find new opportunities in emerging XR careers if these pathways are intentionally developed to support high-quality, work-based learning; stackable credentials; short-term training experiences; and other workforce development best practices. 
  • As digital literacy expands to include XR and metaverse literacy, equitable access to high-speed internet, low-cost headsets, tablets, and other devices, and the use of immersive learning in educational settings and community spaces will ensure XR alleviates digital divides.    

Recommendations 

Policy stakeholders, education and training providers, and workforce developers should support three key areas that ensure workers are prepared to learn, work, and thrive with the growth of XR technology and immersive learning: 

  1. Design jobs and career pathways based on skills and experience, not degrees. 
  2. Promote and incentivize a wider array of education-to-career pathways. 
  3. Democratize access to XR software and hardware. 


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About JFF & Meta

This report is made possible through the support of Meta. Jobs for the Future (JFF) and Meta are working together as partners to better understand and showcase the potential of extended reality (XR) technologies to transform learning and work. Learn more about JFF's work with Meta. 

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