Demand for engineers with niche skills spikes as firms bet big on the Metaverse 

Representative Image: Shutterstock

The founder of a metaverse startup is on a hiring spree, as enterprises started experimenting with the Metaverse last quarter. “But talent is scarce, and the cost of acquiring them, expensive,” says the frustrated founder.

This founder is not alone. Moneycontrol spoke to three other founders working on the Metaverse and are looking to scale up but struggling to find the right talent even as demand shoots up. According to a report by Xpheno, active job openings for techies with Metaverse related skills such as AR/VR, blockchain and AI have seen 8-18 percent increase in the last three months, with hikes going up as high as 80 percent.

This comes at a time when large enterprises, from banks and consumer product firms to IT companies, bet big on this emerging technology.  According to experts, the demand is likely to increase in the coming months with more companies joining the metaverse bandwagon.

Metaverse is a 3D virtual world, where people can interact in their digital avatars in a virtual concert, interviews or meetings.

Since social media platform Facebook rebranded itself as Meta in October 2021 to reflect its focus on the Metaverse, it has become more than a buzzword. After Meta, in November 2021, Microsoft announced that it is focusing on the Metaverse through Microsoft Teams.

The announcement spurred investments in this space from startups, IT companies and traditional enterprises, which are looking to get in on the action.

In February, US banking major JP Morgan Chase became the first bank to officially enter the Metaverse by opening a virtual lounge in Decentraland. Other US brands such as Nike, Disney and McDonald’s, too, are building their stores and experiences in this virtual universe, and are stepping up hiring in these sectors. The sector is expected to reach $814 billion in value by 2028.

“In India, we are witnessing a similar surge of organisations stepping up their Metaverse divisions, and hiring talent to enable this move,” says Vijay Sivaram, CEO, Quess IT Staffing – Recruitment and Search.

Consumer brands such as Tata Tea partnered with the startup Yug Metaverse to launch Holi celebration in the Metaverse. The Telangana government will launch its SpaceTech framework on PartyNite Metaverse, developed by the firm Gamitronics.

A Quess IT Staffing report revealed an uptick in demand for engineers in skills related to the Metaverse. “A comparison in the number of associates deployed in FY21 versus FY22, reveals that demand increased exponentially for professionals with skills in Blockchain (2100%), Unity 3D (1600%), and Board Support Package (BSP) Engineering (550%). Other Metaverse related skills such as Android, Cloud, DevOps, Embedded Software, AR, VR, and Computer Vision also witnessed a surge in demand,” the company said.

Specialised staffing firm Xpheno said that there are close to 65,000 openings in the sector across all experience levels, driven by IT firms and startups. In the last three months alone, there has been an 8-18 percent increase in active job openings in Metaverse related skills, the report said.

Skills that are on demand include programming languages such as C/C++, python, AR/VR skills, Unity and Android/iOS app developers.

“An estimated 80+ startups in the Metaverse globally could create demand for Indian skillsets. Add to this the 300+ gaming, AR & VR companies in India that are working on associating themselves in the Metaverse space. The demand funnel is hence healthy with enterprises springing up and serving different markets and production size needs,” Xpheno said in the report shared exclusively with Moneycontrol.

With demand on the rise, the salary scale is also on an upward trend. Based on experience and the type of skill, the salary could range from Rs 8 lakh and could go as high as Rs 55 lakh, with an average hike of 50-70 percent.

“When you are creating an ecosystem, it is not just the IT firms that are involved. Even companies such as Nike and other big brands are also planning to build ecosystems, and want to take the experience to the next level,” says Sunil C, head – specialised staffing, Teamlease Digital. “So, all these large consumer companies will also start giving projects to services companies, which would mean that they need to strengthen their practice in the metaverse.”

A case in point is the work IT companies are already doing with their clients. In a recent interaction with Moneycontrol, Ravi Kumar S, President, Infosys, says that the company has already developed over 100 use cases for Metaverse and is working with clients on the same. The firm recently launched Metaverse Foundry to help clients transition to the new technology.

Krishnan Ramanujam, President & Head of Business & Technology Services, TCS, said in an interaction that the company is investing significantly in the space and has put out deal proposals for customers. While deal sizes are small currently, he said that it is expected to go up in the next five years.

While demand is set to pick up, the supply gap will pose a challenge.

The pandemic has pushed up demand for technology professionals, and the industry is already facing a huge talent crunch, even as attrition has gone up across IT firms. This demand+supply gap will also impact the sector, said experts.

Consider the Metaverse startup founder cited earlier. The company currently employs about 30 people and is looking to more than double its workforce. “Right now, the problem is not lack of adoption. We are seeing enough interest. But the biggest challenge for our growth is talent,” the founder said.

This is even as companies are willing to pay a premium for talent. The founder quoted earlier is tapping engineering talent in smaller cities and towns in India, and deploying them in projects. Other startups are also working closely with communities to tap talent.

Teamlease’s Sunil said that the company is working with Teamlease edtech to train candidates based on demand.

IT firms such as TCS are training people internally to fill in these roles. Says TCS’ Ramanujam: “We have the conviction that no technology's too difficult for us to conquer.” He explained that one of key attributes the company looks for while hiring people is their attitude to constantly learn for the future. “So we are confident about generating the talent that we require to do this.”

Despite the challenges, India will continue to be a top talent hub.

Says Kamal Karanth, co-founder, Xpheno: “The availability of relevant and transferable tech skills will put India among the top choices of the Western market for building the tech and its use cases. Despite the elevated talent costs over the last year, India will retain its attraction as a talent hotspot for Metaverse ventures.”